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Show INTERESTING EXPERIMENT WITH PASTURE CROPS FOR PRODUCING WOOL AND MUTTON IHKHlfiKrtflfllR' ' JLJuMBgB' r,tjaMAAt j5-PEjS8a 4B?BcBHBvJi Sheep Relish Frequent Change of Fresh Forage Crops. (Prepared by tho t'nltrit States Depart-I Depart-I meat or Agriculture.) The old dictum of making two blades if grass to prosper where ono formerly Miccumhcd has been npplled to sheep farming In an experiment conducted by specialists of thu United 3ti tes department de-partment of agriculture. A field of 30 acres has been used exclusively during dur-ing the past four seasons, for producing produc-ing forngo crops to bo hnrvestcd by ' heei. Tho Held Is divided Into ten ! pints, nud during the recent hensnn every portion grew at least two different dif-ferent crops, while on somo of the unit ureas three cropi were grown mil grazed. Oats and Peas Follow Wheat, Fall-sown wheat provided the earliest earli-est available pnsturago In the spring, mil nfter this was exhausted tho Oicep were shifted to nn early spring lowing of oats and peas. Thence they moved to another tract of onts nnd pens, which they grazed luxuriantly nnd well until tho supply of green stuff wns curtailed, when they wore transferred to nlfalfa nnd rnpe pasturage. pas-turage. This medley mlxturu of green feed furnished good grazing until about tho middle of July, when tho soy benns were iivnllablo for pasture purposes. pur-poses. As n consequenco of tho Intensive utilization of pasture crops for mutton mut-ton nnd wool production, this field of !I0 ncres furnished sufllclent feed for TO ewes nnd GO lambs for n 200-dny period. Tho best grazing resulted from n patch of threo acres of soy benns, which carried CO sheep for 80 v'nys with satisfactory results. The system of management followed was to move tho lambs and, ns far ns possible, pos-sible, tho old ewes nt regular Inter-villa Inter-villa of uot less thnti two weeks from one patch of green feed to another. This practice of moving the sheep frequently fre-quently to fresh ground, ns well hs the plnn of plowing the Innd for the subsequent crop, eliminated tho danger dan-ger of loss from stomnch worms. Although tho system requires some extru preparation of the Innd nnd seeding, ns well ns shifting of the sheep from one pint to another nnd providing plenty of wntcr for tho mut-I mut-I ton makers, It nevertheless, Is believed be-lieved worthy of trlnl, especially In sections of high-priced' farming Innd whero a maximum return must b realized from every acre used. The Results Applied. On the basis of the results In this experiment a flock of 200 breeding owes would require 80 ncres of forage crops. It would require the services of two men nnd ono tenm to produce 80 ncres of fornge crops, In nddltlon to curing for the sheep. Winter feed for such n Hock, together, together with thnt for , horses, would require 35 acres of slm-llnr slm-llnr Innd, mnklng n totnl of 115 ncres of farm Innd nccessnry for tho main-tennnco main-tennnco of n 200-ewe flock under this system. On tho bnsls of tho 1010 mnrket prices, the gross Income from n rensonnbly wcll-mnnnged owe floclc hnndled In this wny would be nbout $3,000. This figure represents tho return re-turn of tho ewes on 115 ncres of innd nnd n yenr's work of two men nnd four horses. There would bo n higher expense for seed thnn In ordlnnry fnrmln-;, but tho nmount of lnbor required and Its distribution throughout tho year would nfford n very mnrked ndvantngo In favor fa-vor of sheep farming ns compared with other agricultural activities pro duclng nn equnl revenue. |
