Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1892-04-22
IN THE SHEEP BUSINESS,
Good Advice for Those Going Into Sheep
Raising in the Northwest.

1000 ADVICE tOr IhOse Going Into Sheep
Raising in the Northwest.
Try to get from some place west neaz
the Rockies a a or two of young ewes,
graded Shrop OF Merino, making sure
that the skins are clean, for scab is a
bad thing to introduce on new ground.
Two and three-year-old ewes are best,
and if you must take any inferior ones
in the lot. Gull a. fast as you can, sell
the culls and not doing the reverse, as is
sometimes the case. Culling and keep
ing the best, selling the rest for what
they will bring, is the strongest point of.
sheep management here.
One advantage possessed by western
sheep is that they n very sound inside
and do not need so much care at lamb
ing time as big, we'll bred sheep, and
make good nurses afterward. They
raise n good lamb worth, as a rule, at
4 months old, what was paid for it's
mother. The fleece at clipping time is
worth from sixty cents to one dollar,
but if it were not so awfully dirty it
would bring more. If you hear of any
other sheep nearer home, such as grade
Cotswolds, do not be afraid to buy if
they are all right. You are safest with
a 2-year-old ram to breed from, and
whether your ewes are small westerners
or big ones, such as are in small lots as
pets, your ram will leave good stock
either way. A flock that keeps two males
is better than with only one.
If the sheep are bought in winter, care
should be taken that they are kept cool.
but in a draft. A shed facing
south, a yard in front, swing doors a
foot from the floor and big enough for a
sheep to go in and out at pleasure, the
lower foot being a cross board, and in
this way the door will always swing
clear Of the bedding. They will, if all
right, lie out in the yard nearly all the
day and OF fine nights. Constant access
to water and a block Of rock salt, with
all the fine hay and sheaf oats they can
eat from racks will keep them in good
health. No snow eating on any &C.
count.
They should go on their pasture as
early in spring as possible, so as to make
sure that they will nibble out all the
shoots of spear grass, which only does
harm when sheep are turned on it after
the seed is formed. No sheep will eat a
bite Of long grass if it can help it, and
one advantage of letting them out early
is that they keep the grass short. If
fenced in, the lot should be in two divis-
ions, and the flock shifted every week or
fortnight. This is an important point
that beginners never think of. Foul
grass is an determination to sheep, and
they will nibble any other to the bare
earth before they will touch what they
have gone long upon. The grasses COM
mon to flat land are as a rule too coarse
and bushy for sheep, which are the
incest of all feeders, and if the grasses
are allowed to get rough in spring, the
sheep will hardly ever bite them.
If cattle were put in the same inclo-
sure they would help to keep the grasses.
in such a shape that the sheep would eat
them, but if the grass gets long and
coarse the game is up for the season. A
field with access to pure water is a great
thing always, and it is folly to try with
out pure water in some form. With
constant vigilance and long talks with
born sheepmen a new man may in time
learn in the same way as a Frenchman
learns English-not perfectly, but fairly
we'll. Unless your heart is in the bust
ness the best way is never to BEGIN
Nor'west Farmer.