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Show A PLACE FOR SHEEP ON THE FARM The department v( agriculture urges the desirability of m lintaining a small i flock of sheep upo. the farm. With I proper care and attention a flock of 25 I or 30 ewes can be kopt at very little expense, and they will prove of inesti-j I mable value in freeing the farm from ! weeds and adding something to the farm income. In addition to providing a considerable con-siderable supply of wholesome food for the farm table, there will be a surplus i for sale, and an additional item of reve-j reve-j nue in the form of wool, j Many farmers make a practice of ; buying ewes in the fail, breeding th m land selling the lambs the followirg j summer. Such ewes; can be carried through the winter on wheat and rye fields if not pastured too closely, or on c'oer hav with soni? roots and a little linseed meal. If the clover hay is not available, corn foddi r may be used as roughage, in which case it should always al-ways be supplemented with bran or linseed meal. Lamf --- should come early and should be taug''!' to eat as soon as they are old enough. Give lambs access ac-cess to corn by providing a creep throu h .' which they can go without allowing the j ewes to follow. j For farm purposes the black-faced i ewes are more popular than the others, I although good result can frequently be obtained from the white-faced ones. In , buying ewes, be sm that they stand I well on their feet, have good straight J backs and good mouths. Ewes that have broken teeth or teeth that are j badly worn down should not be bought. As a rule, a sheep has one pair of i permanent incisor i.-eth when it is 1 j year old, two pairs when it is 2 years ' old and three pairs, or a full mouth, r when it is 3 years old. A full-mouthed ewe, if the teeth are in good condition, can be used for brf .'ding with good results re-sults although she hir.y be as much as 5 years old. Never buy a ewe that has a broken mouth, thit is, with teeth that have been broken .'! or lost. None but a pure- bred ram should be used. It is not necessary to have a show animal, but a stror g, vigorous buck is essential. Shropshire, Oxford, Southdown, South-down, and Hampshire rams sire excellent excell-ent mutton lambs, and these breeds are j recommended for the farm States. A I suitable ram can be bought for $8 to j $20. The two principal drawbacks to the sheep industry in toe farm States are dogs and stomach worms. The dog nuisance can be obviated to a great extent ex-tent by placing dog-proof l'ences.around the p istures. The United States Forest Service has h id excellent results in protecting pro-tecting sheep from coyotes and wolves by building fences constructed in the following manner: A barbed wire is first stapled to the posts right on the surface of the gro.i.'id. Three inches a-bove a-bove this is placed a panel of close-woven close-woven wire, 36 inches high, and above : this two strands of ordinary barbed wire. Care should i-e taken to see that there are no opt -lings between the ground and the lo;t barbed wire. An j inclosure made in 'his manne r, into I which sheep may be turned at night, is inexpensive, and dogs will not get through it. Most -.f the damage by dogs is done at nip hr. The presence of ,-tomach worms is a very serious drawback. The young lambs become infested with them by eating grass to which the worms have attached themselves, the eggs being deposited by the ir-iure sheep. It is therefore desirable to keep the lambs on land on which the mature sheep have not run, and if po-nible, in cases of bad infestations, to k. -p the lambs away from the mature ic ep as much as possible. pos-sible. In the farm St-1 us the farmers will find it to their b'.-t, advantage to regard re-gard the wool iron, the sheep as a byproduct, by-product, and direct! their principal attention at-tention to the prr.da :tion of lambs and mutton for the ts |