The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1914-03-06
(By X. l., HILL

u very proHtapie pracIiSe IL mas
proven. That more of them do not cash
"the products"of their farms in this
maner is no doubt due to the fact that
not all are familiar with the methods
used, and the ease with which it is
accomplished.
1t was just by chance that A. W.
Terrill, better known to his friends
as "Jim", began several years ago to
feed, each fall, load of Mexican pee
wee" lambs. His farm is in the cen
trail part Of Boone county. His invest
ment has proven so profitable for him
that he is enthusiastic over the enter
prise, and says that it not only pays
him well, but that in addition he gets
much pleasure in handling the lambs.
At the time he began he had sur
plus of roughage and "a lot of weeds
and second-growth pasture to be eat
en- off and had nothing to cat it. 1t
was then that he heard of the pee
wee" lambs and purchased deck of
them. These he found relished his
roughage, weeds and extra pasture,
made good growth on it, and with a
little extra concentrated feed and care
gained flesh. They also enriched his
soil, killed out the weeds and made a
profit now on to feed deck of these
lambs each year. The early part of the
year 1918 found Mr.. Terrill with a
surplus Of cowpeas, soy beans and
and oats. The oats had been seeoed
early, and so We're cut for hay and
stacked. They made fairly good hay,
of course the straw was short. The
towpeas and soy beans had been dou-
BILE rowed with a corn PLANTER, so that
they could be cultivated. 1t was this
r'ethod of planting that enabled him
to harvest good lot Of hay from the
peas and beans. Some Of this hay was
stacked, some of 1t put in the barn
and some baled. The hay in the stack
Ia in field where he now has rye for
the lambs, and the lambs are running
to the cowpea hay and rye, eating
what they want just when they want
1t. On October 8, 1913, Mr.. Terrill
purchased his lambs, having placed
his order about week earlier, des-
cribing to his commission firm at
Kansas City just what he wanted.
Because Of previous purchases this
firm had come to know about what he
wants when he writes for lightweight
feeding lambs ranging in weight from.
81 to 10 pounds--western or Mexican
lambs They are known as "pee-wec"
lambs on the market and in the coun-
try where they are handled. This is
merely a stock term yernacular. In
the market report columns they are
listed as lightweight feeding lambs"
The lambs MIR. Terrill handled this
year were purchased at $5.25 hun
dred weight on the Kansas City mar
ket. Their weight, as he had ordered,
was from 81 to DO pounds A single
deck was shipped with freight charge
of s26.50, commission Of $500, yard
age $500, the whole bill for the lambs
delivered at the farm amounting to
something like $2s5.00 for lao head.
Usually he tries to find somebody else
In his neighborhood who wants to feed
a deck Of lambs and will order at the
same time he does. When this Ia done
the freight and other charges is cut
in half, making the lambs come much
cheaper, and increasing the mrgin for
profit when they are marketed In the
spring.
When brought to the farm. the
lambs were thin, light looking bunch
that appeared half starved. They were
put on the light bluegrass pasture at
first and allowed to fill up gradually.
It was but few days until they had
the paunchy appearance which grad
ually worked OF into smoothness,
whea they were given access to a sort
Of aftermath where some cowpeas had
been cut for hay. Thay wore allowed
on this patch but q half hour the first
day, an hour the next, two hours the
NEXT, until finally they had became ac-
customed to the peas and there was
no danger Of their bloating. They
were given the run Of . piece whore
corn had bean hogeed down. This they
elsaned up in excellent shape. Such
laanhs lssss no waste. Everything
they get It they clean up. this bsing
one Of their best characteristics.
II they are not given q shelter Mr..
TerriIl has observed that they will al
ways sleep on the poorest or barest
piece Of ground. There they leave
their droppings where manure ia most
needed. He always arrangss shelter
for,them. however, putting them in 1t
the first night they are on the farm
and driving, than up every evening
until they have become accustomed 70
their permanent quarters. Here they
20 every night, close TO the house and
Il -