The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-12-06
Shg8p Industry in
North Carolina
By C. H. NIMSON,
Read Before the Sheep Breeders and Wool Growers As
ISOLATION of North Carolina
+ FIRST PAPER.

breed. You must not use ram of one
breed of sheep one year to head your
flock, then change your mind and select
an animal of some other breed for use
the following year. 1t is all Il mistake
to base an opinion for or against the
breed you select the first or second year
YOU try them. 1t takes five years before
your efforts viii begin to show the type
of sheep you are likely to produce from
it. under the conditions you afford them.
Do not hunt for new crosses. or new
breeds abandon all such folly, this is
II work that belongs to men who hold.
at their finger ends, all the accumulated
experience of ages, of which you know
comparatively nothing These then are
the things you must not do
What you must do il you wish TO
raise sheep. and make success of it. is
this: First. select the breed Of sheep
that suits Your fancy best. 1t matters
not if you select a Southdown or Shl'op-
shire. Cotswold, Leicester, Il McrinO
or any other of the many well-established
breeds. only so you like the breed. and
can take enough interest in them to
comply with their necessary require
ments, then you will make ii complete
success with them.
Second. examine into their adaptahility
to your farm and your system of farm
ing.
Third see how their product will suit
your market.
Fourth. start with a small flock.
Then after you have selected your
breed and secured your ewes, buy, Dor
row, beg or steal. thoroughbred ram
of that breed, if you can afford it; if
not, then get the highest grade ram of
the breed you have selected and use
him with moderation. In making your
selection, whether you buy n thorough
bred or Il grade, remember that the ram
is half the flock, and be guided as much,
or more, by the record of his ancestors,
for good breeders and feeders than BY
your eye.
Never select for size. 4 medium-siZed,
well-built animal, is worth more, ten
! times over, than an extra sized or over
grown ram. If you want large sheep,
you must select a large breed to work
| with. DO not expect to get Il large
| sheep from Il small-sized breed. You
may, with good success, expect from Il
large-sized breed small-sized sheep if
you do not give the extra care and eX-
| ira feed they require. So also, if you
/ want long wool, you must select long
wooded breed, and not expect Il long
I fleece from a short-wooled sheep, and do
not try to raise Il first-class wool sheep,
and first-class mutton sheep, all in one
| animal; if you do. your success will (,
!, very Indifferent. If you want both, keep
| the two kinds of sheep, but don't mi,
them, and give the large, long-wooled an.
/ imals the additional care. attention and
/ feed necessary in this climate.
At Bellevue we selected the South
down, because we believed that these
( sheep were better adapted to the climate
soil. and the surroundings we could af
ford them than any other, and after
five years experience with IA flock num-
bering from 800 to 700 head, graded III
i from the native sheep, we could not be
induced to even experiment with other
!, breeds.
Bnt allow me to repeat. that it mat
tiers not what breed you select to work
with, only so they suit your fancy