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Show A BUNCH OF SHEEP ON EVERY FARM By P. G. HOLDEN. wr N GOOD farming nllow nothing to go to waste. H On ninny forms every year grass and weeds around buildings. In barn j3 lots, along fences and roads, in corn or stubble fluids, go to seed and be come wnste material. These weeds could be turned to good account If there was a bunch of sheep to cat them. No furm animal will respond more readily to care and feed than aheep, They need but little attention If such ns they require Is given at the rlghr time. There is n world-wide shortnge of sheep. The consumption of mutton Is on the Increase. The wool supply of the world is about exhausted. Fnt lambs nnd wool bring good figures. ot on account of the war. but from a gcuulm demand of the people. There Is wonderful Interest In sheep-growing everywhere, every-where, but the demand for mutton and wool is so great that producers cannot meet It. There should be sheep on every form. BBeep need tt chongo of pasture. Turning them from one field into another an-other furnishes this change nnd keeps the sheep healthy. Expensive housing Is unnecessary. Warm shelter Is essential only when the lambs nre very young. The roof Is the Important part of the sheep house. Keep the aheep dry during the winter season and the fleece will provide the warmth. A bunch of good ewes will return good profits. Their requirements nre simple and their returns In fleece and fat lambs will surprise you. There Is no better winter feed for the ewes than good silage and alfnlfn hay. A good ewe will give more milk for the feed consumed, than will the beat J Western Lambs on Soy Bean and Corn Pasture. dairy ciiw. Her lumb will do the milking nnd by converting tho milk Into fat lamb, the farmer can get much more per ono hundred pounds for the ewe's milk than for the cow's, and In addition, the ewe furnishes a fleece each year to sell. Care should be token tok-en not to feed sour or moldy silage to sheep. It will kill them. Large ewes raising lambs can be fed sweet silage up to four 1 or five pounds per day, after they have become accustomed to It. During the winter before the lambs arrive, the ewes If in good condition at the start, need only a light silage ration with alfalfa hay and corn fodder. Sometimes a feed of bright straw Is relished by the ewes. Sheep kept lu muddy yards for long periods are almost sure to get sore feet. Give them dry footing nnd there will be no trouble. Raising Lambs Profitable. Selort a bunch of rugged "mutton-shaped" ewes and mate them in the fall with a purebred sire of good form and fleece. Have the lauibs b rn in March if ther Is plenty of good feed for the ewes and warm shelter for the j Inmbs. Otherwise the lambs had betternot nrrlve until Inter when the weather Is warmer and the ewes can get some gross to Increase their flow of milk. Some farmers have the lambs born In January or February and fatten j them for earlier markets. This neeessltntes mueh care, abundant feed and ' warm shelter, but It is a profitable business when well managed. "Whn tho lambs are ten days eld they will begin eating grain and hny. Fix n creep for them so they can have a trough opart from their mothers, give them some wheat bran oud cracked corn nnd continue to feed them all they will cut while on posture, If they are to bo fattened and sold when three or four months old. The best time to sell the lambs is before they are ouc year old. Some good farmers allow the ewe-i nnd lambs to graze during the summer sum-mer with little or no grain, wean the lambs In August and turn them Into the stundlnc corn. There Is no place whore a lamb will fatten foster than In a cornfield eating grass and weeds nnd weed seeds and the lower blades of I corn. Lambs should not be kept on old pastures that have been grazed by older sheep. There Is danger of stomnch worms. However. If tobocco dust or stems tare kept before the sheep ot nil times, they will not be troubled with Internal parasites. Three hundred farmers' reports give 3.69 ns the average cost for keeping a ewe and lamb as against 510 ,15 as the average return in wool. Nearly all good sheepmen keep n few of the hest ewes each year to add o the ewe flock and take the place of the older nud discarded ewes. |