Times-promoter., 1907-07-05
SHEEP IN THE SOUTH.
No Animal On Earth Can Reclaim
Worn-out Lands Like Sheep.

No form of live stock can turn feed
into money SO quickly as sheep. You
own bunch Of ewes that cost you
81 per head. These ewes are bred
for early lambs. One the first of May
you have bunch of lambs ready for
market at a cost of not over fifty
cents per head in pasture and hay.
In three months your lambs are on
the market at cents per pound. At
rs pounds you get $3.50 per head for
your lambs, which is about $3.50 clear
money per head, for the flJeces on
your ewes, if they are good ones, and
the proceeds from the 10 per cent
surplus of lambs will come close to
paying for the wintering Of the ewes,
if you are not too particular in charg-
ing up pasture which would other
wise go to waste in the fields. Your
"a ewes have yielded over Is per cent
on the original investment, and under
proper care you have not lost over 3
per cent of your eve flock, and are
ready for another years business.
This is not a dream. | can name
several men in Virginia who have
done better than this during the. past
year. In what other way can you Sc
cure such profits? You can't do 1t
with corn, or wheat or cotton. IL
farmers in Virginia can do it, why
not farmers in Georgia? If farmers
in Kentucky can do it, why not farm
ers in Alabama? There may be rea-
sons now, but let me say that If there
are reasons in the future the whole
fault may be yours. We want sheep
in the south because no animal on
earth can reclaim worn-out lands like
sheep. Sheep choose the high, dry
places to lie on at night. There they
leave their droppings, that pound for
pound is worth more than any plant
food on earth. These very high places
are the poorest, worst washed, barest
places. Don't you see what flock OF
sheep will do? They will during the
day gather the grass in the valleys
and hollows, where it grows luxuri-
antly from whence it came. was
once walking over farm with man
who remarked that he never saw such
a sod ON hills as he saw on this farm.
Kicking over pile of sheep drop
pings that lay in a clump of dark
green blue grass, he said: Here is
the secret" Nothing equal to sheep
for reclaiming land. In England, ]
have seen twenty sheep to the acre
grazing over a sod that would put our
best Kentucky sods to shame. We
want sheep to clean up these weeds
that are crowding everything else out.
Sheep were not made to live on weeds,
but with every meal they will take
goodly supply as a sort OF dessert.
l watched a lamb one afternoon for
one hour, and in that hour listed
16 different kinds of weeds that saw
her bite off. The heads of ox-eye,
rag-weed and carrot that she ate In
this hour would certainly have run
up close to 100.
In the winter-bound north expen.
sive sheep barns must be constructed
to protect the sheep from the rigors
of the cold and wind The cold rains
make it necessary to provide good
shelter and the outlay is considerable.
During the winter months the sheep
can find nothing to eat in the fields
for two or three months. No grass
food can endure the cold. Blue grass
is dry and worthless, and the filling
of the Sleeps stomachs with this un.
nutritious stuff is simply cheating the
poor animals out of living. In. the
balmy south there is not much winter
for sheep. In fact the sheep must
feel that their overcoats are not need
ed. Some form of green food can be
kept in the fields nearly all winter
II. B. Arbuckle, in Southern Planter.