The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1876-09-01
Profit i'm Sheep.


The editor of the Michigan Farm
er gives the following results, be-
ing the practical experience of a
wool grower in that State. The
editor says: The estimates of our
friends are as follows: Take one
hundred wether yearlings Oh the
1st Of July, at their estimated act
ual value in the market, say
shorn the first time. These year
lings to be full bred merinos,
such as he has on his place, and
they ought to average, in ordina-
ry fair condition as store sheep,
seventy-fve pounds each in
weight, and be worth three and a
half cents per pound live weight,
or two dollars and sixty two and
Il half cents per head. We then
would have
100 yearlings, first cost 1902 so
Cost OF pastuIDge and feed at the same rate
as he would Keep for hire 100 sheep oflike
quality, for the months of July, August,
September, October, and November, al
lowing them twenty five scrcs of grs>s,
and the run Of the fallows and stubblcs,
at two cents per head per week, twenty
one weeks Si3 90
Feed from May lst TO Dec. lst-ljO days:
$50 bushels Of corn at ti5ty cents SI5 90
10 tons Of hay at IS per tou ~ 90
acres Of corn stalks at 81 1890
z acres Of straw aSl 90
Cost of man 10 feed 20 90
One barrel Of salt 200
-233 90
Washing and shearng Is 90
Marketing and care Of heeces 90
May and June pasturing 10 90
Total cost of sheep for the year S575 80
At the end Of the year, on the
1st Of July, we have the sheep at
two years old, and supposing
there have been no accidents, 10
deaths, no shrinkage from dis
ease, but a healthy growth from
their feed as above given, we
should have one hundred sheep,
averaging ninety-fve pounds in
weight, and worth four cents per
pound live weight in the field, as
nothing extra is counted for their
quality as line WOODS:
100 two -year-olds, Of 95 pounds at 4c $3.50 90
Manure made during the season-l0O loads at
81 per loud 100 90
Total $3.50 90
We caviled some at the value
put on the manure, as somewhat
high, but our friend was a practi-
cal farmer, and he said that a load
of sheep manure made under coy
er, as such manure was generally
made, was worth one dollar, and
that he knew that one hundred
sheep would make that amount
of manure if fed and Uttered as
he had allowed. Hence we had
the following result:
Paid originally for sheep S262 81
Cost of pasturagc 50 GO
Cost of winter keeping 233 GO
Cost of care of heeces 20 %
Total cost of sheep for one year S513 so
Value Of sheep and m&nUre 4SO W
Cost of 100 1ccces of wool $93 so
These two-year olds were esti-
mated to produce seven pounds
each of washed wool. That was
the average he found they would
shear; generally the fleeces would
go over that. if bred from good
fine wool rams and ewes thor
The produce would
therefore be seven hundred |
pounds of wool, the production of
which would cost the wool grow |
er at a fraction less than fourteen
cents pound, or to give it ex-
act it would be thirteen cents and |
fve-sevenths. So that wool sold
at thirty cents would fully yield |
one hundred per cent. on its cost,
not counting the value of the in
crease of the sheep or the manure
left on the land.
He had been satisfied that the
better the sheep the better they
paid for some time, but these
facts which were taken from his
own experience, had satisfied
him that. those who kept thorough
bred sheep had great advantage
over those who kept sheep whose
lleeces were not of the first quail
ity. He had kept sheep at first
whose fleece only yielded four
pounds on an average. They
consumed just about as much,
and made tho same amount OF
But his one hundred
sheep only yielded him four hun
lred pounds Of wool, and accor
ling to his figures the wool then
cost him at the rate of twenty
four cents per pound to raise it;
hence his profit, with wool at
thirty cents, would only be TWEEN