MIXED GRAZING

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21938, 12 November 1936, Page 10

MIXED GRAZING

REASONS AGAINST THE PRACTICE The general reason against running sheep and cows together is summed up in the common statement that "the sheep take the cream off the milk.” This means that in the old system of setting the milk in open flat pans there was not such a thick layer of cream formed when sheep and cattle were grazed together as when the cows had all the grass to themselves. The reason is, of course, that the sheep—which is one of the closest grazers of all herbivorous animals—picks out the finest and sweetest grasses, clovers and other palatable plants, leaving the larger and coarser ones for the cows, and these in their turn show their effect in the milk yield. There will probably be a smaller yield as regards quality as well as the quantity of risable cream. The difference in the methods of the grazing of the two kinds of stock is easily seen: the cattle will eat their pastures over more evenly—taking the coarse with the fine—while the sheep will leave the coarse parts and eat the finer and sweeter patches “into the bone,” so that it is no wonder the cows suffer when only the rough inferior parts are left to them. The matter is one of degree; a large flock of sheep with a smallish herd of cows will probably cause a disastrous deficiency in the yield of the latter, while, on the other hand, half a.dozen or half a score, of sheep running with the herd will probably have little effect.