The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1875-07-15
LONG WOOL SHEEP.
] From ths Michigan Former.

ed some long wool sheep in the town
of sodus, Wayne county, New York,
with a view of testing both the fine
and long wool sheep. Since that time
I have imported several flocks Of long
wool sheep from. Canada. While
testing the two different breeds in
winter, some Of my racks were placed
under an open shed, and some in the
yard. The racks dividing the yards,
each flock eating from the same rack,
and same kind Of hay; no grain given
to either flock. In the spring when
turned out to pasture the merinos
looked like skinned foxes compared
to my long woods. This test was for
six successive seasons. One thing was
peculiar to the long woods in contrast
to the merions in the coolest wealth
er the long woods invariably cleaned
every thing from the outside racks
first, while the opposite was the case
with the merions. They seemed to
dread the cold, and stuck to the
sheltered racks as long as anything
was left in them. This is the Ian
guage Of action which speaks louder
than words. The hardy sheep choos-
ing to battle the blast and storm,
while the more tender merinos shrank
away from the open yard and sought
protection from cold under sheds.
Give sheep plenty of feed, summer
and winter, and their respective quail
tiles will be faithfully and fairly test
ed, resulting in the large amount Of
combined cash materials with the least
expense and risk to the farmer. Ma
ture has provided the long wool sheep
with large framse, neck and shoulders,
short backs, deep carcass, great vital
ity and corresponding digestive pow
ers, and covers the whole with their
layers Of wool from eight to fifteen
inches in length which amply pro-
tects them from suffering during the
cold and violent weather of our lati-
tude. With that long thick mass Of
wool hanging down in close and
continuous layers, the bodies are about
as well protected from rain as horse
is with a good shingled roof, and
when a person approaches the yard
they stand square as fat OK, with
head up like a horse. So far as my
observation and experience extend,
the coarser the wool the harder the
sheep. The shorter and finer the
wool the less protection, and the great
er liability to be saturated to the skin
by drenching rains, chilling and de-
stroying the tender animals, produc-
ing the necessity Of resorting to close
housing.
I do not mean to be understood
that we should discard the fine wool
sheep altogether. Both the fine and
long wool should be raised, for
both kinds Of wool are necessary to
supply the varied wants and tastes of
our people, one for the light and fan
ciful, the other for the strong and
serviceable. Experience has taught
me that the long wool mutton sheep,
from their size, adaptation to fatten,
hardness, -proli6cness, generousness !;
their attachment to offspring, their
early maturity, and lastly, their full
average weight of wool per head with
the merino flock, without yolk or gum,
with oil sufficient for softness of wool,
growing with cottony whiteness, are
worth more in market per pound than
the fine wool, and by natural cleanli-
ness, shrinking less in securing. Ad-
ded to all this, is their superabund-
ance Of desirable mutton, more nutri-
tious than beef, and worth more per
pound than any fine wool mutton, as
tested by Eastern market reports.
Possessing all this mass of valuable
and remunerative qualities in combi-
nation, they far surpass the merino
breed for profitable investment. AT.
ter testing the two breeds of sheep for
six years, I became convinced that
the long wool sheep were the most
profitable, and disposed of my fine
wool and have raised none but the
long wool since.
There is an increasing and perma-
nent demand for com bling wool, and
American people are determined to
produce supply for their own wants,
to be independent of foreign countries,
paying our gold to our own operatives
who will return it to US in pay for the
necessarles of life which they do not
produce.
1 am satisfied that no farmer can
succeed with the long wool sheep if he
allows them to be enclosed summer
and winter with the strong scented,
eummy, fine wool breeds. I wish it
disticntly understood that the long
wool sheep should be raised and kept,
summer and winter, entirely separate
from the fine wool breeds, as a pre-
requisite condition of success.
Marengo, Calhoun Co., Mich.
ROTATION AND FALL-PLOWING.