Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1904-09-22
Sheep are Money.Makers.


CT stock, and more profitable than
graln-ralsing, but the sheep business
has encountered more vicissitudes and
had more ups and downs than the cat
tie interest, mainly on account of the
changes and threatened changes in
1Ahe tariff on wool, says the Tribune
Farmer. In January, 1897, there were
56,SlS,643 sheep in the United States.
a falling off in four years of 1O,454 $40.
On January l, 1903, there were SO 1884,
S76 sheep, valued at S16S.315, $50.
That rough, hilly farms, with thin
soil, can be used for sheep-raising
more profitably than for any other
kind OF stock is generally conceded.
but it is believed by sore that sheen
cannot be kept probably on rich,
high-priced land. where grain-raising
and dairying can be followed to good
advantage. There must be some mis-
take about this. The better the land
the more grass and grain it will pro-
duce for the maintenance of the sheep.
and the more animals can be kept to
the acre. 1t does not follow that be-
cause sheep are more profitable on
poor land that thy will not be equal
ly profitable on good land.
In England and Scotland the farmers
almost universally keep more or less
sheep. They are kept not only on
the highlands and heathers, but on the
richest and most productive lands in
the valleys, for which the farmers pay
an annual rent of Sc to So an acre
and they say that sheep pay them bet
ter than anything else they raise. The
conditions under which they raise
sheep are no more favorable than ours.
They get more for mutton, it is true,
but the hay, grain and turnips con-
sumed by the sheep if sold would
bring more than with us. There are
no closer calculators in the world than
the farmers of Great Britain, and if
they can raise heep profitably on high
priced land so can we. Tariff or no
tariff on wool, sheep well cared for in
situation favorable to their health
are as profitable stock as a farmer
can raise, and more farmers should
keep them than have ever done so. 1t
IS an old story, and a true one, that
they furnish two crops year-a
crop of wool and crop of lambs.
They are more cheaply kept than any
other stock, because they are not at
all particular about the heritage they
eat, and will devour more of the wild
grasses, leaves of bushes, sprouts,
briers and weeds, which no other ami
NAL will eat unless it be goats.
In England and Scotland it has been
found that some breeds of sheep do
better than others in certain local.
ties. For instance, the Southdowns
do the best of any breed on the chalk
hills of Sussex, one of the most south
erly countries of England bordering on
the English channel. They stand at
the head of the middle wool sheep,
have long been celebrated for the
quality of their mutton, and will thrive
on comparatively scanty heritage.
Their heads are small, without horns,
faces speckled or gray, belly and back
straight bodies round like barrel,
with wool on the belly and legs.
Henry Stewart, in his book on
Domestic Sheep" says of the South
down breed: st is one of the most
beautiful existing; its smooth, even
body its round clean barrel, its short
legs fire head and broad saddle, with
the sweet tender, never overfat meat,
make it especially the ornament of
well-kept lawn on any country place,
as we'll as the profitable stock of the
farmer or special breeder.
The Cheviots take their name from
the Cheviot hills, which lie on the Dor
der between Scotland and England,
where they originated, or are indigen-
Gus. They have white faces, without
horns. ears large, with much space
between ears and eyes; bodies long,
back straight, legs small in the bone
and covered with wool. They are
hardy and thrive well on poor keeping.
They are longer and heavier than the
black-faced heath breed, their high
land rivals. Their wool. is fine,
medium fleece weighing about three
pounds. A carcass, when fat, weighs
udrora IL to is pounds quarter. Their
hly defect of form is want of depth in
sfksks yet. with this exception,
geaeral form, hardy consti-
t. wool are combina-
n which as breed
can hardly be
rivaled in Scot
I'D breed, which