The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1901-09-21

Il
Care and Breeding of sheep.
John Howat, at the Iowa State
Farmers Institute, spoke on the breed
ing and care Of sheep. IN part he.
said: y. "
In breeding sheep the first necessity
is q knowledge Of conditions and an
understanding Of what market demand
you want to meet. IL you expect to go
into business as breeder of fine stock
to supply the market for breeders, then
you need the best there is to be had
unreasonable figures. If you expect to.
raise fat lambs for the market, then
you may be satisfied to get your ex-8
perlence with common sheep. Good
natives make a very satisfactory foun-
dation. But be sure and use a good
mutton ram Of known family. Avoid
buying a cheap ram. We have seen
men men pay $500 for bull and S25 to $50.
for a boar pig, and Sc. for a ram. The
Longer the leg, the poorer the WOOL
the more mongrel the appearance, the
better he suited. We have never seen
the arguments for breeding to good
stock SO thoroughly fortified as in
breeding a half hundred native ewes to.
a Shropshire ram and having every
lamb bearing on its face the image OF
its SIRE. a i s5 5 @z. 4. b. s #ss
I will say that in personal expert
ence the April lamb is the lamb for
iowa conditions. The early lamb needs
too much feed before the grass comes
and the late lamb gets the stomach
worm and the hot weather. Breeding
sheep is simple matter, but caring
for them is different. They need the
closest watching. ~ sz ~. q
In building sheep barns or sheds, we
always have the doors in the ends and
never Less than eight feet wide. Sheep
are the most gentle and docile animals
On earth, and yet are tne biggest fools
in creation. It makes no difference
how well fed and cared for they may be
they will wedge themselves in a door
way or a gate and strain and pull and
cause abortion. We have never been
able to go through a season without
some cases of abortion, especially in
young ewes. RI T.. -. .->.
We rarely shut our breeding ewes in
the shed, except at lambing time.
Unless the wind blows hard the coolest
nights will find the bulk. of the flock
in the open yards. Avoid close sheds;
sheep must have an abundance Of air.
II a man will go into a close shed
where flock Of sheep has been penned
over night, the stencil will almost
sicken him. Even in the open yards,
in moist muggy, heavy weather the
smell is foul. Fresh air is the first
great requisite. r: 2--.--.
In going around among your sheep,
go quietly; don't hustle things and
make them jump and run. We often
go through our sheep with a lantern,
and scarce a sheep gets on it's feet, but
If stranger be along they get on their
feet with a bound. We have lain
among them by the hour, watching
Landing ewes, but a quick movement
will get them up in an instant. The
lambing season is a delicate time with
the shepherd. Where it is possible it
is profitable to have some one with
them all the time, especially at night.
Lambs are apt to come at all hours.
We have heard men say at stock
breeders meetings that sheep were safe
from 10 pm. till a. NJ, but we have
to confess we have never in our ex-
perience had the pleasure of handling
sheep possessed of such capabilities or
good manners. We have sometimes
thought that daybreak was the most
popular time with the ewes, but we get
experiences that confirm us in our
opinion that a. eve drops her lamb
whenever she gets ready. On one oc-
casion we had seventeen lambs dropped
between the hours of II midnight and
1870 a. m.
When the lamb is dropped it is nee
essary to see that the eve milks freely.
A black, stringy matter ilAs the teats,
and in many cases the lamb cannot
start the milk. It should then be done
by hand. The long ends and tags of
the wool surrounding the udder should
be clipped SO the lamb won't get them
in it's mouth. We let our lambs run
with the ewes till August, when they
are weaned. -. {, It RI a. ID.
VIII England Exclude Our Horses ?
The importation into England an
nually of about 10000 American horses
has stirred up the English horse rails
ers, who are trying to find some ex-
cuse for excluding the foreign COM
petitors. Up to this time they have
been able to charge American horses
only with pink-eye and influenza, and
both of these diseases are common in
England. Recently deputation Of
English horsemen waited on the Eng
ish department Of agriculture and
asked that steps be taken to prevent
cheap American horses from spread
ing ruin and disaster among valuable
honne-bred thoroughbred and carthorse
stock. = The deputation was asked to
give some cases where American
horses had given disease to English
horses, but the. deputation acknoWl-
edged itself unable to do SO. The Dresi-
dent OF the board OF agriculture then
said that they had investigated the
matter and had been able to find but