The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1907-07-26
Sheep as Cleaners.

! snip, writes the michigan Tar ue1 do
follows:
OF the several hundred different kinds
of weeds and grasses growing in this
country it Is estimated that upwards of
96 per cent are consumed by sheep. This
being fact the farmer VINO has small
flock of sheep can proitably utilize them
in the eradication of large portion of
| the foul weeds to be found upon most
| farms.
With the employment of sheep in the
carrying out of this important mission,
two objects are accomplished. In the
| first place it furnishes the owner solu-
tion for the labor question At the high
price of labor few farmers feel it profit
able investment to hire man or two to
cut the weeds that grow up in fence
corners and out-of the-way places. Sheep
| are non-union laborers. They belong
to no union that rates their wages or
time of labor They put but one con-
dition upon their work and that is plen-
ty of time to do good job. With
such generous. hearted offer to labor
for their owner it is to be wondered at
why farmers do not more literally en-
ploy their services.
When sheep are permitted to conduct
the mission of weed destruction at
their pleasure they are thorough and
effectual. Very few weeds are passed
by them, for they are thorough, because
although pasture may be abundant they
relish the change of diet, even though
it be less nutritious The digestive sys-
tenn of the sheep is complete and when
food is once on its way to supplying
nourishment for the body it is practi-
cally decomposed before cast out. There
fore any weed seed consumed by sheep
is effectually destroyed.
In driving through the county the
writer has been forcibly impressed with
the idea that sheep could be proitably
employed about the farm buildings in
the capacity of lawn.mowers. The
manner in which many farmers neglect
their dooryards is shameful. I have
passed hundreds of farm homes where
it would seem great blessing to the
community if the owner would fence
house and barns into a field and give his
sheep an opportunity to do him favor.
Sheep are not unpleasant about the
dooryard if properly managed. Give
the sheep chance for dav or so just
for an experiment and let them tell the
story.
Pasturing roadsides is practice very
commonly seen in some of the live stock
growing districts in Canada. Recently
was conversing with gentleman who
had just returned from years study
Of the live stock condition in Ontario.
During our conversation he remarked,
II was deeply impressed by the manner
in which our Canadian farmers main
tain their roadsides. In the live stock
growing districts did not find farmer
who did not pasture his roadsides.
Every roadside is kept well pastured
down and they appear neat and pleas
| ing to the passer-by." Sheep can be
proitably utilized for this purpose as
they can be easily controlled and Craze
closely. If flock owners would permit
their flocks to Craze along the roadsidcs
for an hour or so once or twice week
they would be able to maintain we'll
kept highways at very low cost, and
thus utilize the large amount of feed
that grows along such places.
The great secret of utilizing sheep as
cleaners about the farm is employing
them when co editions are most favor
able for effectual work. AS sheep are
lovers of short pasture they must be
utilized when the pasture is short
and tender. When employed for pas
turing the lawn it is advisable to have
low fence to keep them within bounds
and eliminate the necessity of watching
them constantly. At Forest Grove
Farm we are planning to put six acres
into small park with a low wire fence
surrounding the lot. While possibly
this is more land than the average farm
er would feel able to give to a lawn, we
believe, everything taken into consider
alton, that we can obtain more profit
from this area in this way than from
tilling the soil. If more farmers would
give attention to utilizing sheep as
cleaners about their farms they could
maintain heater and more tidy farm
homes
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