Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-02-27
g&AAAs1-A-A-&@AI%I-=,S
! FARM and GARDEN.
SSEE~N~~ENNEEk
Sheep Raising.

Any farmer in the Eastern or Mid
die States having farm of one hun
dred acres in good fence can keep a
flock of fifty sheep and receive larger
profits than from any other investment
of the same amount, provided they
will care for them in the following
manner, namely:
Have sheltered pen, with plenty
of room, to protect them from the cold
and storms; have an out-yard where
they can be allowed to go in on nice,
sunshiny days, in which throw corn
stalks, oat or wheat straw, if you have
plenty Of it, for what the sheep do not
eat will make manure, so there will be
nothing lost. Also keep the sheltered
pen dry by throwing IN straw as fast
as it is cut up in manure. Feed them
on clover hay. If you do not grow
any, buy it, for one ton of clover hay
is equal to two tons of any other for
sheep.
Try and have your lambs dropped
in January or February. Build a
small pen alongside of your sheep pen
cut small hole so the lambs can get
in, but not large enough to admit the
sheep. Put troughs in the lambs pen
and feed them on ground feed. They
will soon find the hole and learn to
eat, and, if you have never tried it be-
fore, you will be surprised how much
faster they will grow, and you will
also find that the butcher will buy
your lambs earlier, and pay larger
price for them than he will for your
neighbor's, who does not observe the
above advice. Sheep are very profit
able, and every farmer should own
them. They are great renovators of
the soil, scattering manure evenly and
pressing it in, thus improving the
ground on which they feed.
The months of July and August are
the ones when sheep in many locali-
tics are subject to most aggravating
annoyance from a fly (oestrus bovis),
which seems bound to deposit its larvae
in the nostrils. 1t infects wooded dis
tricts and shady places, where the
sheep resort for shelter, and by its
ceaseless attempts to enter the nose
makes the poor creature almost frantic
If but one fly is in a flock they all be-
come agitated and alarmed. They
will assemble in groups, holding their
heads close together and their noses
to the ground. AS they hear the buzz
ing of the little pest going from one
to another, they will crowd their
muzzles into the loose dirt. made by
their stamping, to protect themselves,
and as the pest succeeds in entering
the nose of victim, it will start on a
run, followed by the whole flock, to
find retreat from its enemy, throw
ing its head from side to side, as if in
the greatest agony, while the oestrus,
having gained his lodging place, assid-
uously deposits its larvae in the inner
margin of the nose. Here, aided by
warmth and moisture, the eggs quickly
hatch into small maggot, which,
carrying out its instincts, begins to
crawl up into the nose through a
crooked opening in the bone. The
annoyance is fearful and madde ming
as it works its way up into the head
and cavities. The best known remedy
is tar, in which is mixed a small
amount of crude carbolic acid. If the
scent of the acid does not keep the fly
away he gets entangled in the tar,
which is kept soft by the heat of the
animal. Any kind of tar or turpen-
tine is useful for this purpose, and
greatly promotes the comfort of the
sheep, and prevents the ravages of the
bot in the head.