The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1885-02-20
Sheep Notes.

OF Colorado to Kansas TO 1eeu IOT NUT
ton.
A Kansas farmer, who had nine head
of sheep, put the money that came to
him from the sale of mutton and wool
into more sheep. Innine years he had
seventeen hundred sheep, worth S5,-
900.
A good shepherd dog is a great con-
venicnce for q lazy herder, and, as the
dog costs nothing but a bone, he is
also a great saving to a penurious pro-
prietOr, who will keep m man with
his locks where he should keep two.
Mutton sheep require much more
care and attention than the MerinOs,
but especially the mutton breeds can
not be herded in great focks as can
the MerinOs. Yet, where excellent at
tention can be paid, as on well-cuIti-
waited farms, the profits are large.
The Importation of wool from Aus
tralia this year has exceeded any prior
year by about four hundred bales.
The American buyers Outdid the Eng
lish buyers for the article they wanted
and got it. The demand was princi-
pally for long staple Merino in the
grease, and extra light in condition
Teas Farm and Ranch.
The statistical account of the pro-
duction of wool throughout the civil
lied world shows that in the year 1880
it was 500, 600, 600, in 1871 it was near
1000, 900, 900 pounds, while in 1883, in
the United States alone, the produc-
ton of wool was 800, 600, 900 pounds, or
as much as was produced in the whole
world in 183O.-ET.
One of the most prominent charac-
teristics of the Shropshires is their fe-
cundity. This quality was developed
by selection during the period of the
development of the breed itself-Only
twins being used for breeding pur-
poses. Twin lambs are not desirable
unless the ewes are able to properly
nourish them; but the Shropshire
dams are good nurses and give a lib
eral supply of milk especially if well
led and properly treated.
All other breeds in this country are
outnumbered by the Merino. The
great popularity of this breed, evil
denced by its numbers. is due more TO
the superior foraging qualities of tho
Merino than to anything else. In fact,
it may be said that the Merino is al
most a necessity upon the free w estern
ranges. But for our farms other breeds
are rapidly becoming more popular;
and, as the conditions of sheep raising
on the ranges approach those of the
sheep industry on urfarms, the Mer-
inc must lose ground as compared
18th nfha,. hynn1c a1Nnnio1lry 70 thu
tariff on wool remains at the present
relatively low tigure.-TeEds Farm and
Ranch.
A correspondent of the Rural New
Yorker Y ''Sheep will thrive In
pastures and get fat where cattle would
almost starve. They also scatter their
droppings over the field, and never
fail to enrich lands where they are
kept. On poor farms they are most
emphatically the best factors for in
creasing fertility. On rich land the
same rule holds good, as they will
make them richer. By the simple
means of a portable shed, which can
be moved about the field and under
which the sheep will readily congre-
gate, the poorest spot may be made
fertile, and the whole field, by FREE
quent and regular changes of the flock.
may be thoroughly enriched" This
Is a ~well-known chal acteristic of the
sheep, and by such management as
mentioned above the thinnest farms
may be readily enriched and made fer
tile.
In speaking of the breeding and
rearing of sheep, the Kansas Farmer
says: The first thing necessary is the
farm. For it is not every farm that is
suitable for sheep, although but few
are wholly unsuitable. Rolling and
even hilly land is the most desirable
surface, and limestone gravel that is
dry and tree from swamps or low wet
places is the best soil. Clear running
water that is w~holly-free from marshy
banks or borders. or well water, which
is preferable, is Indispensable, be-
cause wherever there are low wet
places, there the much to be dreaded
liver fuke and the lung worm are to
be found, with lung disorders and foot
rot. and these are more troublesome
than all other complaints of sheep put
together. The great needs of sheep
are dry footing, good grass, or other
heritage, rather short and sweet than
rich and luxuriant; pure water, pure
air and plenty of it, and shelter from
rains and SHOWS. With these needed
comforts. and clese watching TO avoid
accidents and dogs, sheep will always
belle the old Virginia adage thai
.sthey are an unhappy flock" and
will pay their way better than other
farm stock.