| Show THE PROFIT OF OE KEEPING SHEEP BY BT wellington HICKMAN tread tr ead before the farmers club of 0 chester county penn twenty five years ago when I 1 was a boy there were very few sheep kept in this part of chester county compared with the last five or ten farmers generally thought they aers poisonous to the land thirty years ago farmers would buy eight or ten ewes inthe in the fall and keep them over a year or more for he be purpose of 0 getting the th wool for manufacturing use in their families but bat with no idea of positive pecuniary profit my lyly father went into sheep keeping more extensively he generally bought bough twenty anve hive five or the thi thirty arty ewes in the fall and put a good buck amon among them about the first of october so as to have them lamb iamb in march it was part of ny my work to take car caro of these sheep in winter and spring but after they were turned out to pasture there was very little care taken of them we bad a jarge larra r tract of woodland that was low and marshy which I 1 think is not the place for sheep they were turned there in the spring and hardly allowed to look into a field the whole summer within ten or twelve years yearb I 1 have generally bought from fifty to seventy ewes of the common coalmon stock in the fall an and kept a good buck to io put with wil them I 1 may as well mention here that I 1 have tried almost all of the I 1 improved in breeds of bucks and think the southdown the best for my purpose as the lambs are ready for market earlier than any olbers others ks aa a general rule in buying sheep I 1 select pretty good ones about one fourth merino as ag I 1 think they are the best suc klers and makes the fattest lambs Aft erthe lambs are taken off the ewes get ready for market earlier than coarse or open sheep I 1 have paid from to per head for tor ewes I 1 think they have not averaged more i than the last five years I 1 have sold them within the same length of 0 time at from 4 t to per head while I 1 have sold the tho wool at from ito 1 to A fleece averaging 1 I sell my sheep except the buck every year and buy in a new nev lot the past nast season I 1 had seventy two ewes from wh ich I 1 raised and sold ninety two lambs at 4 per head for wes ewes and lambs twelve or fourteen years aeo azo I 1 bought some ome adjoin adjoining ilig landof land of which about ten acres were new land partly cleared I 1 fenced it off and cut the timber and cleared it up by cutting away the briars and rubbish sli part of it was thin land I 1 plastered it and then pastured e d it with sheep for about ten years ye arsand ind at the end of that time I 1 it was as fine a green grass sod as I 1 ha ve ever seen in the spring of 1858 1838 1 I plowed it and planted it with corn in the faily fall fali our chester county aca agli cill cili cultural tural society offered a premium tim for the best five acres and also for the best one acre of corn I 1 had been baen called upon by one of my ne neighbors to help measure some corn of which he had a very good crop for the purpose of competing for the premium I 1 happened to speak of it before my men when thy they said we had llad a larger crop than that they took a barrel out tha th next day and measured some heaps and told me the result I 1 called on two two of my bors and after carefully mea inea measuring suring surins it they made 0 t the following report the abst astone one acre yielded bushels of shelled co eon con n the best five acres yielded 95 93 bushels bushes per ac ace efy for which I 1 received the first premium I 1 think ink it was owin oving to its ita being pastured by sheep as it never had hard any manure on it except the pl plaster ster while speaking of this land I 1 may as well mention that it was ent eni endre ire lre ly out of i of the buildings and I 1 never bring sheep 11 i t dt at on my try beig bb rs heep liepp which were in an ad adjoining J oin oln fild frequently attacked by logs tiegs but mine w r nover dist disturbed I 1 have had but two shepp sheen killed by dogs dog gs for ten years I 1 think the reason of it is that I 1 put a number of bells on thin ihm from two to three dozen on a flock some farmers pasture the land very closely with cattle be oi ole oia e turning their sheep on it the corseri corse qi lleisa ce is a bare field but if you lt let the gra eras fi up and do not permit it to be eaten caten off wih vib sih sib cattle or horses first I 1 think sa p are ahei I 1 0 h aderon ader on grass than other sock the cpr aprin in cl 1 1 he year is the most diffin time tune toke p tham from eating down the thet t lac a 1 F is a grea vantage 1 an tage fur fir ewes that 11 1 la lambs ni bs to b 11 lass ass tass early I 1 freouf iv y let them run on my wheat bield field r the i in I 1 i amt ami a lit early pru pro s to save the grass lud iud idd field 1 lep le kep 1 C p them s ion lon tons ions as I 1 can on ti bf field I 1 11 i o end ond nd to plit pitie etli lith nith c corn rn that s ianno is ii no i N MH ing it uroil urn ite ate te in april I 1 lve lve tot not lot 11 1 having a g ju J clop snap I 1 aa abed ed tl ti ain lin p in and VP lvir nver bad rr n cui col 1 ii injun 0 o i v extent wita cut worms or i acts s I 1 it would be profitable fi fol firmer I 1 k ther tiler farms alt ait altogether ogeth er v nth ith ibee heel d en i I 1 r rf cf til lip mail inre iare alth aith r p the ete verv very ht of it 1 to lo U ank wok up siide alid C cirii tista stalks iks ike r e r t I 1 leip keip eop my all together in a good dry di airy place in winter keeping them in at att n g a d and nj an 1 e n it i t i is s 6 stonily 1 0 i lii lil v b but t i t 1 lifting t t I 1 r q tb them e VU tuini X r n D L i n we cpr AL ab ut be first r biar u a 11 r r ri 1 m b ng I 1 ak ake out the ewes emes that have lambs and put them in a separate inclosure making a pen in one corner for the lambs to go in alid aid ald eat meal which they will do when they are three weeks old |
