St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1888-02-04
MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP.
How They May BE Kept SO That Their
Wool VIII BE a Clear Gain.

Wool Will BE a Clear Gain.
In many parts of the country flock
Of sheep can be so managed that the
fleece will be clear gain, as the early
lambs and matured fat wethers will
sell for enough to pay for the feed the
flock will consume and the time re-
quired to take care of it. This has re-
peatedly been demonstrated in Penn.
| sylvania. where sheep have been kept
on high-priced land. The owners Of
f1ochs aim to have many of their eve ;
drop lambs early i'll the spring, SO that
they will be ready to sell before the Alb
of July, as up to that time they are
certain to bring a high price. These
lambs sell for more than enough to pay
for keeping their dams during the ell
tire year. Not unfrequently u fine
lamb brings enough to pay the cost of
keeping several sheep through the sea-
son. Spring lamb rank among the
luxuries of the table, and luxuries COM
mand high prices even when what are
called the necessities of life are very
low The earlier lambs are ready for
the market the higher is the price that
can be realized for them, though lambs
can ordinarily be, sold at good prices
till quite late in the season.
If lamb is not sold it will be worth
to the owner of the flock sum equal
to the cost of keeping its mother. A
eve that raises lamb every year will
pay for her keeping as long as she con-
tinues to breed. If fattened and killed
before she begins to exhibit marks of
age her carcass and pelt will sell for
enough to pay the cost of her support
during the last year of her life. If
town butchers do not want the flesh to
dispose of to customers it can be sold
to neighbors at a fair price, or be con-
sumed at home. Apparently few peo-
pie in this country know that corned
mutton is in all respects the equal of
corned beef, and that for some purposes
superior to it. For boiling with gar
den vegetables it is better than corned
beef, and it has a superior flavor A
sleeps ham, properly cured and boiled,
furnishes as fine food as boiled hogs
ham, while it looks quite as well on the
table. Corned mutton is not IN article
OF commerce in this country, but it de-
serves 10 become one. Put up in half
barrels, it would command good prices
as soon as consumers were made aware
of its value.
To derive the most profit from
wethers they should not be kept much
beyond the period when they attain
their full size. They should be con-
stantly kept in good growing condi-
ton. The testimony of English raisers
of the large breeds Of sheep is that NUT
ton is more chiefly produced than
either beef or pork. If killed when
three years old their flesh has cost the
producer no more per pound than beef
or pork, and he has had two shearings
of wool to dispose of. He does not have
to wait, as in the case of steer or hog,
till the animal is slaughtered before he
derives any benefit from it. He can
have several fleeces in advance of the
money he receives for the flesh of the
animal. With the right breed of sheep
and proper feeding the wool will be a
clear gain. as the mutton will pay the
cost OF raising the animal. For selling
to farm neighbors or to people in
small villages that do not support
butcher-shops, mutton is better than
beef, or pork. Mutton will keep longer
than beef, and as nearly all persons in
the country keep pigs there is little sale
for either fresh or salt pork.
AS respects feed, sheep are kept at |
less expense than any farm animals.
They can be turned out to pasture ear
lier in the spring and kept there later
in the fall than can cattle and breeding
horses Sheep will eat greater variety
Of food than any farm animals except
pigs. In the pasture they will eat
grasses that cattle and horses will re-
Jet, and will also deyour many kinds
IF weeds and the leaves and small
of bushes. They will pick
every thing from Il cornstalk that has
my value rs food. With little pre-
iminary training thy will eat all kind
If roots without putting the farmer to
he trouble of cutting them or reducing
hem to mass of pulp. As consumers
If the straw of small grains they have
40 equals. In England and France, as
we'll us in some parts of this country,
sheep eat hardly any hay. They are
Kept through the winter chiefly on
straw and roots, to which are added
some oil-cake. cotton-seed meal and
grain. In preparing them for market,
yrass and turnips, instead of more ex-
,ensive kinds of food, are relied on for
aging on flesh and fat
In respect to shelter, sheep are more
'heaply provided for than cattle or
logs. Buildings for protecting them
iced not be high. III Scotland, where
be economy of sheep husbandry has
'een most carefully studied, buildings
Or protecting sheep are low so as to
insure greater warmth. Sheep, being
veil protected by their natural cover
ng, will stand a very low degree of
fla building for protect
Nc sheep during the winter be built on
nv and tolerably hion ground il will