Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1875-08-06
Farm & Grange.
Ten Reasons Why Sheep Raising
Will Pay.

Ten Reasons Why Sheep Raising
Will Pay.
Rev. Pardee Butler, q practical shep.
herd in two.fold sense, and man who
speaks as one'' having authority" COM
,nunicates his views to the Atchison Cham
pion. ard gives the following ten rea'
IONS for the faith that is in him. He says
Wool growing should be the leading az.
ricultural interest OF Kansas. shall
arrange numerically my reasons for say
ingso.
j. 1t bears transportation better than
any other agricultural product. have In
previous article called attention to this.
It costs no more to take q pound OF
wool to market than a pound Of corr.
but when we get them there the wool is
worth fifty cents and the corn only two
cents.
2. It costs less to stock a farm with
sheep than with any other live stock.
3. II we'll taken care of, they multiply
faster than any other farm stock except
hogs.
a. The returns come in regularly and
every year, whereas 1t takes four years to
ft a beef for market, and one year and
half for hogs.
s. The keeping of sheep requires less
grain than the keeping of any other kind
ri stock; and we are now passing through
the ttroes Of most bitter experience.
that the raising Of grain is not always a
safe business.
6. The keeping Of sheep is safe bust
ness, provided always it is in the hands
Of men who understand it. and who are
yigilant and thorough 10 their manage
men:.
Z. This country prceminently and in 8
most marvellous manner is fitted for rails
ing sheep. They need high, dry, roll
ing country. with pure air and good wa
ter, and are less injured than any other
stock by pastures dry, bare and parched
with drouth. In winter they will stand
intense cold, provided always they are
kept in dry. clean place andtheir feeces|
are not saturated with snow and rain.
s. III raising wool we are just as near
to market as we want to be, the transpor
tatlon OF wool costing so little that we do
not feel it as burden.
8. There is no probability that the mar.
ket for good wool will ever be overstockcd.
10. 1t is unanimously admitted that
there is no stock on farm so favorable
to keeping up its fertility, as sheep.
do not think it would be best to tuyI
flock OF sheep in Missouri. They should
be bought where the keeping Of sheep
has been specially; otherwise men would
he liable to get flock OF sheep with long
legs. thin light quarters, thin fleeces,
nnquict in their habits, given to jumps
ing fences, and which, when kept in
large focks, would pine away and be-
come unhealthy. Myjndgment would be
that better quality of sheep could be
secured in northern Iowa or Wisconsin.
But such details do >ot belong to the
purposes of this paper.
10 men who are disco. ,ged with thel
calamities of the last two ears, I hayeI
now few suggestions to offer. All the
cattle that could be spared in the older
settled portions of Atchison county have
been taken out on the prairies west of us
and are doing well in spite Of the grass
hoppers. Flocks of sheep could have been :
treated in the same way. Last fall far !
mers sowed largely of rye, and this fur,
nished feed for hogs, cattle and horses
whenever the ground was bare. A flock
OF sheep could have been wintered in the
same way. Blue grass would have served o.
equally well. The grasshoppers did not
BEGIN their destruction on this rye and =
blue grass until the cattle were fairly out
on the pranics. It is now utterly destroy
ed. 1t might have been plowed under
at first; have done it at last. but it was
after the gras hoppers had taken all they
wanted. l might have made hay Of my
rye If l had cut it before the grasshop-
pers had reached 1t. Now the ground is
ready to be planted with corn, which
will make good fodder. admitting that it'll
does not make marketable corn. SO far =
rs am raising stock, lam able to save !
myself, so far as am raising grain, ami
dead broke.
A number of farmers of moderated
means might unite together and buy one
Or two thousand sheep in Wisconsin,.
They would employ four months 10
brlr ging them here, corraling them avcryI
night in portable corral. They should
be kept as much as possible on the open
prairie. Sheep left 70 themselves will
travel of their own accord six miles a
Gay apd this should be days travel.
All possible means should be taken to-
keep them in healthy condition. Arri-
ved in this county, they might be divided
among the parties who furnished the
money, each owner wintcring his own
sheep. Then in the spring, after shear. I
Ing, they could be brought together
again into one herd, and, placing them
under the care Of a competent shepherd,
thew could be sent ont on the prairies.