The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1914-05-26

the corn is full grown. AS scaven-
ger, even a goat is not more useful
than a sheep.
AS meat-food animals sheep have
never been sufficiently appreciated in
the United States. They are, however,
of very great value They must be
classed with hogs and poultry as the
most available animals to supply meat
for home use on the average farm.
They are readily slaughtered, the
meat can be kept without difficulty,
it cuts up without waste in sizes which
are convenient for the average family,
and the meat is nutritious, wholesome
and palatable when properly cooked.
The healthfulness of the sheep alone
gives it front rank as a meat-food
animal. Sheep rarely have tubercu-
losis or other diseases communicable
to man.
The foregoing statements are axio-
matte. If the sheep industry is SO in
viting, why do the farmers seem to be
showing a tendency to curtail sheep
IdlSluS 1uSIc dIS PiOUdDly luISO
principal causes.
First = Intestinal parasites, princi-
pally stomach worms, cause serious
losses in farm fiocks over the whole
country, and almost entire lamb crops
are sometimes exterminated. In no
farming sections are sheep free from
this danger, and no breed of sheep is
immune, although some breeds-the
Merinos, for example-are less sus-
ceptible than others. No infallible
cure for stomach worms rs known.
but it is possible to control them eco
nomically by keeping the lambs away
from the ewes except when nursing,
and by system Of pasture rotation.
Unless farmer is willing to take pre-
cautions in the management of the
flock he should not raise sheep.
Second-Cur dogs are almost as
great hindrance to the sheep indus
try as parasites. The only protection
against them is to keep the flock dur
ing the day where it can be watched
and to put it into dog-proof inclos-
ure at night An authentic case has
recently been reported from Michigan
where a flock of more than 200 head
were all run to death in one night by
two cur dogs. Dog-tight night folds
can be built of woven wire at small
expense.
Third-Farmers have not generally
recognized the proper place of the
sheep in agriculture in the settled
regions. Too much Importance is
placed on wool. Except on the range
where land is cheap, the wool should
be regarded as an incidental side
line to help defray the cost of han.
ding. Raising sheep for wool alone
does not pay on farms, and the at
tempts of farmers to make it pay is
undoubtedly largely responsible for
the prevailing opinion that sheep are
not profitable on expensive land. Sheep
are raised in England on some of the
most expensive land in the kingdom,
but they are raised as meat animals
and not as wool producers; the wool
is by-product, as it should be in
farm fiocks.
If only 25 per cent of the farms on
which there are now no sheep should
have a flock Of not over 20 or 80 ewes,
managed with reasonable care and
protected against dogs, not only would
farm revenues be materially increased
but decided step in advance would
be taken toward the solution of our
meat supply problem.
Decline of Hogs on the Farm.
Although the estimated number of
swine on farms January 1, 1914, 49,
$4,000, was 1.3 per cent more than
the census number for 1910, the de-
cline from 1918 was 81 per cent. This
decline is partly accounted for by the
extensive prevalence of hog cholera,
by high-priced corn, by the deficient
production of 1913 because Of a Sc
we're long-continued and extensive
drought and because of the high prices
of swine for slaughter Notwithstand-
ing the high price of hogs for slaugh-
ter, farmers found that they could not
profitably feed the high-priced corn.
per hundred pounds was high relative
ly, although not as high as corn. In
this situation hogs were often sent to
market understood
The average size OF hogs on the
farm January 1, has never been direct
ly ascertained, but it may be com
puted from the average price per head
divided by the average price per hun
dred pounds, as ascertained by this
bureau. AS result of this operation.
the average weight of a hog on the
farm January 1. 1914, was las pounds;
IN 1913 it was 144 pounds, in 1912 I40
pounds; and in 1911, 131 pounds. The
marketing of DOWNRIGHT hogs which
has been frequently commented upon
in livestock and commercial papers
during the last three years, is appar-
ent in the foregoing average weights.
which are apparently high because
the lighter hogs have been sold of.
The average value Of swine on