The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1903-07-09
sheep on the Farm.

A sheep HAN in 4 recent letter to The
EpitomiSt. gives some points of interest
about sheep. He Very truly says:
A few sheep should be found on 81
most every farm. They will yield as
good a profit for the money invested
rs any other animal, and they come in
handy 10 keep down weeds and brierS.
A few yeas ago | had 4 field that was
grown up in grecr5ricrs and vines so
that it was almost impossible TO get
through it. l hacked the vines down
and when they got dry set fire to them.
l set fire to every grccnbri"r patch that
would burn. and turned the sheep into
the field. The sheep kept every young
greenbrier SprOrt nipped close to the
ground. made it I rule to set every
match aGre rs soon as it was dry
enough &c burn. and At the end OF three
years the Slcep had the field so well
killed out that it was ready for the
pillow. 1t would have been almost i'm
possible to kill tie Dr.crs by grabbing,
as they continue 10 sDTout as long as
n root is left in the ground. The sheep
killed them by keeping them so closely
nippcd to tie ground that they could
have no show 1T all. There are many
weeds and brush that can be killed in
the same way ard thus be turned into
wool and mutton. Many do not keep
sheep on account of the difficulty OF
keeping them healthy. The sheep
seems to be heir to more, troubles
from parasites than any other animal.
There is the sheep tick, the sheep louise.
the CAD fay and a number OF different
kinds of worms that trouble the sheep.
1t is thought by many that the sheep
tick will not stay on a fat sheep, but
the reason for this is the fact that q
sheep cannot stay fat and be troubled
with ticks. Whenever any consider
able number of ticks attack a fat
sheep it begins to lose flesh, so the
poorer the sheep is the more ticks there
are likely TO be found. While the
sheep louise is common 1t is as bad if
not worse than the tick. The sheep
AuuSS IL NCLN iiti ~ 10 bOo '"N
same color as the sleeps skin, so it Is
difficult to detect them. If q sheep
is seen hitting his sides. first Il side
and then the other. and pulling out
wool from his sides with his teeth.
the chances are that he is troubled
with lice. l always look for lice when
/ sec wool in a Sleeps mouth or see
it biting its sides. \ very good REMEDY
for both lice and ticks is to give the
sheep sulphur in their food two or
three times q week. Neither lice nor
ticks will stay with sheep fed sulphur
regularly. The CAD fly lays its eggs in
the sleeps nostrils during the months
of May and June. These hatch and
develop into the grub that troubles
the sheep and is known as grub in the
head. If sheep have a dark place to
resort to during the heat Of the day
they can get away from this trouble
to some extent. Smearing tar OF the
feed trough is also q valuable aid to
the sleep in combating these flies, as
tho scent or the tar on the sleeps nose
will to 4 considerable extent keep the
flies away. There are quite 4 number
of intestinal worms that infest sheep:
the only remedy for these is some
good worm powders or some other
remedy that will destroy the worms.
Often a change Of locality for sheep is
the best thing that al be done for
them: if a large number Of sheep are
confined on the same pasture the field
will boone infested with sheep para
sites and become unfit for sheep pas
ture until the sheep have been kept
off Of it for 4 considerable time. A
few sheep kept on a farm usually
prove more profitable than n large
number. Sheep raiSerS often make the
mistake of attempting to keep too
many sheep. They get diseased and
do not y.'!d the great profit expected
If them Ide owner is likely to get dis
couraged. I'D the next thing we hear
from him. is entire flock is sold and
he invests Il: something else, persuaded
that ere is nothing in raising sheep.