The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-11-10
Good Profit in Sheep.

OF the Government; Dut there mas Deen
markedsincrease in the value of the
whole. If this value increases every
year for two or three years more there
will be great inducement to the far
mers to raise more sheep. Unfortu-
nately for farmers, they have given
! more attention to wool than to the
sheep itself as a source of profit, and
they have been Influenced to certain
extent by tariff laws, but sheep can be
made profitable Independently Of the
wool. There is no more reason why
the sheep industry should be affected
by tariff enactment than the raising of
other animals, as there is the hide
from the COW, which is made the sub
ject Of discussion also; yet no farmer
keeps COWS for the hides he obtains,
and no farmer should raise sheep for
wool exclusively. 1t is we'll enough
to secure good feeces as a product,
but the profit from sheep should be
expected only from the sheep itself.
The actual amount Of wool produced
by each farmer is SO small that the
greatest difference in the tariffs that
have been made would not detract or
| add more than 81 for each farm-a
sum too insignificant to be worthy of
consideration except where large
ranches of sheep are devoted to wool
principally. Free wool, which means
good and cheap clothing, is better for
the masses, including the farming
masses. The farmers should turn
their attention to sheep as meat pro-
| ducers, and twill be but short while
before they will be convinced that
mutton breeds are profitable.
Take 100 farms in any community
and the average number Of sheep per
farm will not exceed Is. Some farms
may have SO or more sheep. butothers
| will not have over 10 or Is. Farmers
do not keep such aocks because the
wool is an important produce, the
amount being very small, frequently
there not being over two pounds of
washed wool per sheep. But sheep
are assistants to the farmer. They
get at weeds and other undesirable
vegetation on the farm in a manner
which is not possible for the farmer
to perform without expending more
labor than is desired, and they con-
Vert this material into mutton, the
cost of which is nothing, while the
sheep really perform a certain service.
No matter how prices may be there are
some farmers who would not do with
out sheep, oven if they were valueless
in the market; but as they can be
consumed by the farmer himself there
is always value to sheep. They can
Craze where the COW cannot approach,
and they will eat foods that are use
less to the farmer for other purposes.
They evenly spread their manure and
benefit the land upon which they feed.
That they improve the soil more than
may be known by some has been
shown by the fact that in England it
is claimed that 100 sheep hurdled on
one acre of land for fifteen days will
double the crop of grain, and this is
verified by the fact that on every Eng
lish farm, no matter how high priced
the land may be, will be found a hock
Of sheep, but the English farmer does
not keep sheep for wool.
Farmers who expect to keep mutton
breeds have the advantage of selec-
tion. On rough land, where the hocks
are somewhat large, the Southdown
will prove more suitable than the lar
ger breeds. 1t does not equal the Ok
ford or Shropshire in size, but is une-
qualed in quality Of flesh. AS the
Southdown has black legs, the English
farmers who sell dressed carcasses
always leave this black skin on the
legs as convincing evidence of the
quality of their mutton. The Ok
fords, Shropshires and Hampshires are
also of excellent quality of flesh,
but thrive best on rich pastures.
Farmers who have never seen these
breeds would be astonished if COM
parison could be made between them
and the ordinary scrub sheep: 1t is
not at all unusual to find hocks Of Ok
fords that average 300 pounds per
sheep, live weight. The amount de-
rived from the sale of such sheep is
greater than from scrubs, not only by
reason of the heavier weight, but also
in the higher prices obtained for
quality. Theincreased value of sheep
in this country during the past twelve
months shows that the mutton breeds