Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1908-08-05

on their farms, will it pay to invest
few dollars in few good sheep and
lay the foundation of a flock that
from present indications Will certain
ly prove a profitable investment?
asks writer in the New York Trib-
une Farmer. 1t is not an easy matter
to offer information on the advisable
ity of making such an investment, be-
cause of the fact that there are a great
many problems involved in sheep
raising on the farm that can be
solved only by the man himself who
makes and looks after the investment
It is, however an apparent fact to
me after years of study and observa-
ton of the sheep raising industry of
this country that there are thousands
of farms over the central and east
ern states that ought and should be
maintaining profitable f1ocks of sheep
These f1ocks I have every reason to
believe would be returning large div
idends on the investments and at the
same time returning to the soil an
Unreasonable amount of fertility that
materially assist in the reclamation
of a very large number of WORKOUT
and abandoned farms. Instances are
numerous in this state where unpro.
ductive and depleted soil has been
recruited to high state of productive
ness entirely through the feeding and
maintenance of profitable f1ocks of
sheep or the farm.
What has been done in these in
stances can easily be repeated and
applied to thousands of other farms,
regardless of their location, providing
the land is adapted to sheep raising.
| If one domestic animal could be
placed above another as more perman-
emily and actively associated with
al lands I would be tempted to place
the sheep at the head of the list.
Michigan, the state l am most IA
miliar with, has ever been steadfast
and ardent friend of the sheep. The
very early New England immigrants
who come to this state to take up
land and make homes, brought with
them oxen to assist in the tillage of
the soil and later sheep to Craze the
cleared up lands. The oxen have
long ago been eliminated, but the
sheep through all these years of ag-
ricultural development remain. To-
day thousands of fiocks can be found
upon Michigan farms; but in pro-
portion to the number of acres under
cultivation far too few sheep are
being maintained in this state for the
highest development of our agricul-
ture. Many of the f1ocks that were
years ago established exclusively for
wool production have been replaced
by a type of sheep more on the nut.
ton order, not only producing good
f1eeces of wool but mutton for the
market as well. 1t has been found that
the exclusively wool producing f1ocks
are less profitable than those furnish
ing both products, for generally when
one is low in market value the other
is high, consequently affording the
producer an opportunity to market
flock products on a higher market on
an average than could be obtained
otherwise
Whether or not a few dollars in
vested in few good sheep would
prove a good financial investment in
a large measure depends on the man
who makes the investment. When
the market is strong in its demand for
any one commodity there are always
some people who, regardless of their
adaptability, are ready to dash head
long into any enterprise simply be-
| cause the market is demanding and
paying a good price for that particular
| commodity. The result is that when
| the market goes down the investor
follows, and in the course of a short
time the flock is disposed of. There is
no room in the Sheep-raising indus
| try for such investments. On the
other hand, if there is an inclination
on the part of the investor to take up
| sheep raising with the intention of
giving the matter careful thought and
attention there is, in my opinion, a
| grand opportunity for profitable re-
turns from a few dollars invested in
few good sheep. Sheep are kind of
farm stock that, while they do not re-
| quire close attention, demand proper
care at certain periods of the year,
and unless it is provided they will
not prove profitable. There never was
time when our country needed
fiocks established on a permanent ba-
sis and maintained on the same farms
| from generation to generation more
urgently than now. Flocks that have
been maintained and bred along def
mite lines for series of years are
| invariably the most profitable, be-
cause of the fact that the owner has
learned how to reduce cost of pro-
duction of the highest maximum pro-
duction
[ A great advantage that sheep rails
ing has over all other lines of live
/ stock production is that it may be es-
tablished at very small outlay of
capital and upon farms where the soil