The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1885-12-10
THE SHEEPFOLD.

ne wool cIlp Oh Tue county 10
reported to be about 20 per cent.
short.
When wooden goods manufactu-
rers have to import millions of
pounds of wool annually, our wool
growers ought not to lose faith in
the future of their business.
1t will not pay any way it can be
fixed up to winter worthless sheep.
Such sheep should be fattened and
sold to The butcher if possible; but
if this cannot be done, it may pay
to take the pelts of a few of the
oldest and most worthless, rather
than to winter them.
All the thin and the little and
weak lambs should now be put in
focks by themselves and be fed
meal twice a day. II this is not
done all such sheep are likely to be
lost before spring; but if they are
given proper care and a little feed
twice a day they may become valu-
able sheep.
Farmers should be careful to use
sufficient number of rams. Where
too few rams are used they are like
y to exhaust their vitality and
their offspring to be lacking in
stamina and vigor and to grow up
inferior ANIMALS. Besides this, it is
liable to injnre the ram and, if he
is a valuable one, to cause consid
era Die loss through his impotency
A farmer should Gull his flock, So
that there will be but one grade OF
wool. 1t is a mistake to have as
many different grades Of wool as
sheep, and bunch of wool of such
| quality, no matter how meritOrious
each individual fleece may be, will
never bring the highest prices Ii
is much better to keep sheep of q
uniform quality and the fleeces Of
a uniform grade.
The best time to improve the
flock is in the fall, when the ewes
and rams are coupled. Then the
stock can be graded and sorted sc
As to adapt the male and female
members to each others peculiar
characteristics, and the poorer ones
can be eradicated from the breed
ing Aocks. In this way the quail
ties of poorer sheep will not be per
petuated, and the flock can be
rapidly graded up to high stand
ard.
The history of growing fol
the last half century points out the
significant fact that periods of de-
preston in the prices of wool have
always been followed by period:
when prices ruled considerably
above the average. There is now
every indication that such will be
the case after the present one anC
it may be we'll for our sheepmen tC
grow as great a quantity of woo
as possible, so as to meet the higher
values.
II is much the best plan to keel
sheep in good condition all The
much better than to allow them tt
run down and then attempt to fix
them up again. Sheep are the
most dlfliculS of all animals to put
into good condition after they have
been once allowed to run down, anC
such management of the flock is
twice as expensive in the end as
where they are kept properly all the
time. Sheep that are starved part
of the time, especially when grow
ing, will never grow to any size, MOI
be as vigorous and healthy as they
otherwise would be.
The secret of successful sheep
husbandry is to keep the animals
in small flocks. The importance OF
this cannot be too thoroughly i'm
pressed on the minds of sheepmen.
There are many cases where a large
| flock of sheep that is doing no good
at all may be divided up into several
small flocks, when the sheep will
soon show marked improvement.
Every one, perhaps, has noticed how
well pet sheep generally does,
or where there are only two or three
in bunch. This is a leading fault
of flockmasters. They keep their
sheep in entirely too large 1ocks.
Divide the focks up, sorting the
sheep according to age, size and
condition, and see if this stock does
not do very much better another
season.