Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1894-08-23
A LIVE STOCK FARM.
Here Is One New England Farmer Who Is
Really Making Money.

Here Is One New England Farmer Who II
Really Making Money.
In an interview with correspondent
of The Rural New Yorker Mr.. Charles
E. Lyman Of Middlesex county, Conn.
says:
II endeavor so to manage that each
year finds the farm, as whole, more fer
tile than before. For strictly cash crops
] grow potatoes and timothy hay, but in
the rotation clover hay is grown. and
also large quantities Of corn for ensilage,
which constitutes the principal coarse
feed for the lambs Much of the corn
would yield 100 bushels per acre il
husked.
II have about 100 lambs. which
were bought in Buffalo last November,
costing. delivered here, about Az cents
per pound. house them all under one
roof. They are divided into flocks OF
100 to 400 each. The larger number
seem to do as we'll together as the small
er. keep rock salt by them always. Of
which during the winter they consume
/. 500 to 1000 pounds. AS you see, they
have running spring water by them
When at pasture, sheep drink very little
water. rs they feed when the grass is
wet with dew. but confined and fed as
we feed them they drink much water.
As soon as the lambs are brought into
winter quarters they are sheared, for ex.
perience has taught that they do better
without their fleeces than with them.
Everything is SO arranged that in the
coolest weather they do not suffer from
the cold.
II avoid the wrinkled Merinos. as
they do hot make first class mutton and
are not good feeders. / like the best
grade Shropshire and Hampshire Down.
but as am not able to get all want of
these buy medium wooded lambs OF
other crosses of 60 or 70 pounds weight.
II have not lost over Is lambs from
the lot. estimate loss of / per cent
in bringing them from Buffalo ! cal
culate gain of two pounds week per
head. There is lamb there that will
dress so pounds now. There is another
that will do as we'll. do not, however,
expect to begin to put them on the
"
and the last will be gone before May
Is. The men are giving them their
daily feed of clover hay-what they will
eat up clean. Come this way and see
what comprises the principal part OF
their daily ration. Herei in this pile is a
bottom layer of ensilage, then layer
of equal parts Of bran, pea meal and
corn, which are mixed thoroughly to-
gether and fed two parts of grain and
three parts of ensilage by weight. OF
this I give light feed, and by the time
they have been fed around the first are
ready for more. This operation is re-
peated night and morning. No more is
fed than will be eaten clean.
II have been at the point Of despair
in feeding ensilage to them, but l was
determined to learn how, and now I
think have learned how to feed it to
the best advantage. I have made Il thor
ough study of how to manage this bust
ness successfully. and it has cost some
thing, but have learned how to keep
the lambs in healthy, thriving condi-
ton upon heavy grain ration until
ready for the butchers. !"
How much grain are you feeding
per day."
About 2,70O pounds. I expect to
work up to 5000 daily. My lambs are
better than any that come from the
west Butchers say that they cut up
better. They are kept growing from
start to finish, and their feed makes
meat of the very best quality-nearly
equal to genuine spring lamb. All my
lambs are sold to wholesale butchers,
who have worked up good market for
them as 'Lyman's lambs and they
bring several cents per pound more than
ordinary lambs.
There are about 1000 pounds of
wool in that pile do not expect any
severe shrinkage in price permanently
on account of tariff reduction, but can
keep it awhile if the price is too low
temporarily to tempt me to sell. Come
and see our silo. Here are stored 800
tons of ensilage, which is fed to all the
stock except the horses. / would not
know how to do without it. In fact,
could not do without it in my manage
ment of the farm, for it affords the bulk
of coarseness of the heavy feeding. 1t
allows me to sell timothy hay and buy
the cheaper grains. Timothy hay is
nearly worthless to feed lambs.
Live Stock Points,