The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1915-07-29
Sheep and Fish.
III E[Correspondence of Boston Herald.

III Correspondence of Boston Herald
| y The Mystery of Fewer Sheep.
Z. Why do not M aine farmers 90 back to
raising sheep? Why is it that the sheep
in Maine have decreased about 10000
year for the past generation? Is there
not good money in sheep? These are
some of the questions often asked in
Maine, and especially by the many Wis
itors to W. B. Kendal's Long Branch
farm in Bowdoinham. This farm is one
of the show places in southwestern
Maine, and it never lacks visitors at any
season of the year. On it's broad and
beautiful acres Mr.. Kendall keeps the
largest flock of sheep in New England
about thousand in number this sum-
mer. Mr.. Kendall is busy man of
many interests, and the raising of sheep
Is his side line, his amusement, yet he is
enough of business man SO that he
would not keep on increasing the size of
his flock if it did not show a profit.
Mr.. Kendall is very enthusiastic over
his sheep. He is enthusiastic over
whatever he attempts, a quality that
makes him particularly valuable man
to his community and one whom it is an
iA's Pa oeioii ~ iiASSt. Va all oIIdSlullo lle
breaches the gospel of sheep raising to
Maine farmers and gives them substan-
tial reasons why they sh 1uld all have
t1ocks, hut unhappily for Maine and its
farmers he makes few converts. His
own sheep farm IS the result of 20 years
OF study and experience, but this partic
ular flock has been growing for only five
years. In that time he has not killed or
sold eve lamb, and so the increase is
fast and he proposes to let it continue
for years to come. He has land enough
and the bigger the flock the better. He
Wlntered PA sheep in 1911, 343 in 1912,
$50 in 1918, about 600 last winter, and
now the flock numbers more 1000. Its
value is i'll more things than numbers,
too, for in the past four years it has won
no fewer than 1853 prizes at the fairs of
Maine. Massachusetts, New Hampshire
and Vermont
New EnslanG's Largest Flock.
This year the clip of wool was 5000
pounds, with, value of 81, 500. Each
sheep gives from 81 to So worth of wool.
This. with lamb that will sell for SIS,
makes a sheep bring in 81 to So yearly
which is very profitable investment,
Mr.. Kendall argues. Twenty years or
less ago sheep was worth about 81 and
a lamb half as much or little more.
Then mutton was worth cents pound
and lamb or 10 cents; now mutton is
quoted at 8 to 10 cents and lamb from 16
to 35 cents. These figures, with fleece
of wool worth from So to So, make sheep
raising more profitable than it used to
be when Maine had hundreds of thou
sands more sheep than today. Moreover,
a fence for sheep pasture costs not
more than one-tenth as much as it used
to-a woven wire fence, which is far
better than the stone, board, rail or
brush fences of earlier days. The item
OF labor is heavier, but two men can care
tor LOCO sheep and do much besides.
Name has dog law which is particular
ly favorable to sheep raisers, and in any
case the damage that dogs do has been
greatly exaggerated. Some farmers
say that the sheep that die in winter
take the profit out of the business, but
in the past four winters the Long
Branch f1ocks have lost but five sheep,
and four of these were by accident and
not by disease, the rate of loss being
only one to 400 per annum. This result
follows proper care, housing and feed.
The farmer who keeps sheep in a barn
cellar and feeds them straw will hardly
De able to figue up profit in the spring.
sheep must have light. dry quarters and
have plentyof hay, with occasional turnips
and gram. Maine, as matter of fact,
is particularly well adapted to sheep
raising, both in it's climate and in its
variety of feed that they like. Mr.. Ken
dali and his foreman, Mr.. Clifford, ex-
plain these things and thousand more
to the hundreds of visitors who come
summer and winter to the farm, only
few minutes from the Bowdoinham sta
ton, and they show the flocks in the
broad pastures or in the long barns, and
the visitors are always duly impressed.