Emmons County record. [volume] (Williamsport, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-current, 1900-08-31


.office as second-class matter.
DAKOTA SHEEP.RANCHING,
Address of pHgazd Campbell,
Esq, Of EnoDao,as County,
President Of the North Dakota
Sheep-Breeders' association,
at the Tenth Annual Session
of the South Dutotz Sheep
I Breeders, at ByoohinGs, lyne
Is, 1000.
Continued from Last Eeek.
A moment ago 1 mentioned a forage
plant. All our western agricultural
colleges are ut present engaged in ex-
perimenting in this direction. They
could not put their appropriations and
intellects to better use. But the ut
most they can do is to make q; short
leet for us to try. 1t is the farmer
owning the land he uses that will
carry on those experiments and finally
believe he will find out a plant-one
perhaps not tried yet-which will ip-
crease the stock raising capacity of
our states many fold.
have already said enough to let
you know that I am not particularly
enamored with life, either for man or
beast, under range conditions. But
some of you may wish a few particu-
lars regarding those conditions.
shall take flock of 1900, as ON De-
cember 1st. That flock will probably
be divided up as follows: About 1900
will be the main lot, made up of ewes,
which are fed hay morning and even
ing, and if weather is favorable will
be grazed on the prairie during the
warmest part of the day. Another lot
will be about 500 lambs which are fed
the choicest hay, and being too few to
pay for u herder will not be turned
out at all. Then there will be a
hospital lot, for with sheep as with
humanity, "the poor ye have always
with you." In addition to hay, this
lot will have q daily ration Of grain,
Besides those already mentioned there
will be the ram lot of about 25 or 80
rams, which lot will get two pounds of
grain per head daily, fed morning and
evening. Each Of the lots will be
supplied with salt, and watered at
least once a day. II they have easy
access to water for several hours in the
day all the better.
About the 18th of December VIC turn
the rams in with the main band.
About halflthe time they are with the
ewes, and half the time they are kept
separate in part Of shed prepared for
them, where IL ey are fed and watered.
AS "the day lengthens the cold
strengthens" and the hospital lot in
creases in number Generally, by the
middle of January we abandon graz
ing altogether to begin again sotaee
time in March. Early in April we
remove all the strong sheep out to a
camp two or three miles from home;
but chosen so as to allow sheep to get
back to sheds in case Of threatened
storms. The rams and the weak ones
are kept around headquarters and fed
grain. Later in. April the main lot
are moved to some outside camp
where they, remain until about the 7th
Of May, when lambing begins. The
ewes in lamb are then drawn out to
be kept in or near the sheds, while all
the dry sheep are sent to camp. There
are so many different methods of hand
ling lambing lot of from 1000 to 1900
ewes that it is hopeless to attempt to
describe them. None are easy, and all
require patience and hard. work, skill
and aforethought, but the greatest Of
these is patience. About June 18th,
we begin to shear the dry lot, aiming
to finish shearing the milk ewes not
later than July l. Then, the voice Of
the wool buyer and the commission
man is heard in the land, and a well
come voice it is. For with the sheep
raiser as with those famous Governors
from south of Dixie's Line ssits a long
time between drinks" I, for one
have no hard words to say regarding
those same wool buyers. My expert
ence has been that ii we treat them
honestly, they will do as much by us,
and will not expect to retire on one
seasons operation; but that il we at
tempt to pull the wool over their eyes
we are apt to find ourselves the fieeced
ones when all is over. But the sheep is
more than the wool, and it has yet a
long hot summer to go through, before
it gets home for the winter holiday.
A week after shearing we dip sheep
and lambs and then move to an out
side camp. Everything has to go
except the rams. Il one could move
camp every few weeks it would be all
the better, but that is impossible to
do now. During.summer we plough our
firebreaks and get up at least 25 tons
Ut hay for every hundred sheep. Du-
ring the latter part of September and
October our greatest care is watching
prairie fires; principal diversion is
trying to catch some unwary feeder
from South Dakota or Iowa, who may
have ventured up among us, to whom
we sell our wether lambs, and to whom
i-if we find him of a hnneful tenn