Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1902-02-20
The Fax ma. $ Institute.

The Fasma.s' Institute.
The following article was read be-
fore the Farmers Institute by George
Spencer.
AS took up the county paper on
Friday after eating dinner, / was
looking through its columns came
across the Farmers Institute and |
said to myself l will try to go this
year and as l looked through the
names of its speakers found my own
name there and was surprised to
think that / had been put on to talk
on such a subject as sheep, but as l
have been chosen to talk on the SUBJ
ject will try to explain what little I
know OF the sheep, its usefulness on
the farm and its usefulness as a
mortgage litter.
Now l will go back to the days of
Noah and we find that he took them
into the ark and as time goes on we
come to the shepherds leading their
| sheep before Christ was born and as
we go along we find the lamb repre-
sented as the emblem of purity and
innocence. Now do not know what
kind of sheep they had before the
| llOOu uO hllON Wndl hlHu VI
sheep they had on the plains of Beth
lehem but do know what kinds or
breeds of sheep we have got in this
nineteenth century.
DIFFERENT BREEDS OF SHEEP.
We have got quite good many
different breeds of sheep in our day.
Now some one might ask the question
which is the best breed for a farmer
to keep, that is hard question to an
swer for it is the same with sheep as
with cattle, hogs or chickens. Some
| farmers have one fancy and some
another, some will say the Lincoln s
are best some say the Leicester, some
the Southdown and some the Oxfords
and might name several other dis
tinct breeds that other farmers could
recommend but / will endeavor
| to show what | think the best breeds
| fer the farmers of Iowa to raise. Now
l have never handled but two dis
tinct breeds of sheep and that is the
| Lincoln and Oxford. The former is
raised on my native soil and it is no
great thing to clip from a Lincoln
eve from fourteen to twenty pounds
of wool and some times more, while
| the OXford's is closer and shorter
wool and the sheep are not so large.
/ think they are better suited for this
country. But the question might
arise and some one might say we dom t
want the Oxford wool sheep that they
cannot stand the climate, it is to cold
in winter. / am aware it gets pretty
cold some times but if you will dip
your sheep with the right kind of dip
in the fall, it will make their wool
waterproof and shed all the wet that
comes on them and the sheep will
will stand the winter as we'll or better
than your cattle ami another might
say we want to much shed room.
have fattened $50 head this winter
and all the shed room they had was
l6x40 feet the sides were three feet
high and the whole thing did not cost
more than four dollars. There is no
need of expensive shedding or fancy
buildings for the average sheep far
mers. Now am not speaking of the
thoroughbred sheep man for he wants
little better fixtures but it is the
average farmer with the grade flock
that | am talking to for would not
advise a man to go into the thorough
bred stock until he has thoroughly
weighed. the financial part of it be-
| fore he commences, for there is MANY
a man loses his fortune in trying his
hand at thoroughbreds.
You might ask what kind of sheep
| would keep, would say the Oxford
for two reasons, first because they
are the largest sheep that we have
| got in this western country and Sec
ond because their wool is worth more
taking one year with another, we'll
you might say that the mutton of the
Moreno is worth more a pound than
the big sheep. Yes that is true of
the mutton but not of the wool but if
you only get six cents per pound for
the sixty pound lamb and you get five
and one half for the one hundred
pound lamb and the last is no more to
take care of the big sheep than the
small one, what would be the differ
ence in your check from your com
mission man.
Well had better turn to the sub
| ject on which | was to talk on, that
is "Sheep On the Farm For Profit. -
Now | would say the sheep is very
nearly all profit. In the first place it
fertilizes the land quicker, better
and more lasting than any one ami
nal. You take the farmers in the
old countries and they could not live
on their farms today If it were not for