VICTORIAN EXAMPLE FARMING.
The < Leader' contains the following. We uive it as useful information respecting the keeping of a Lincoln flock on arable land :— Near to Mr Dougall's is the farm of Mr William Gibbs, one of the oldest settlers in the district. This farm— 2oo acres in extent — attracts attention by the extremis neatness of the stonewallings with which the property is subdivided into a number of fields. The farm is stocked with 200 very superior Lincoln and Leicester sheep, purchased from Mr Dougall, who found that they did not do along with the cattle. The soil consists of about half and half of the rich volcanic and poorly grassed rangy forest, the fre^ quent alterations of which have already been alluded to as characteristic of this neighborhood. The arable portion of the°property which, during its lengthened farming career, has produced splendid crops of wheat and oats, has been sown last year with rye-grass and cow-grass (perennial red clover), and is all used for grazing with the exception of a small field used to raise hay for feeding the ewes at ldmbing time, at which season tliey are kept in the stockyard at night. The shelter and food thus provided is abundantly repaid in the number and size of the lambs reared. Mr Gibbs' experience as a sheep manager has only yet extended to having had one shearing and one lambing, but, so far, he is quite satisfied with his results. These he setdown roughly at not less than 25s per ewe per annum, counting her wool and the value of the increase with its wool. Considering these profits, which are additional to the admitted good that sheep do in the way of recuperating the soil, the value of this important auxiliary in farming should not be overlooked by agriculturists, whether their holdings be new or old. Of course it has to be remembered that the sheep in question are of the class that are large and broad in carcase, and long and silky in the wool, the initial expenditure involved in which precludes the man of moderate means from beginning on a very large scale. But success depends upon a start being made from the right sort, and it is better to begin small and work into a good flock than invest in a large number of inferior stock whose wool and carcase are of small value. It should not be forgotten that it takes as much land to feed an inferior animal as it does for one giving double the returns. The experience of farmers who have been successful with sheep inclines to a preference for the Lincoln, not the least of its merits being that it is least liable to foot-rot, the greatest difficulty met with in keeping sheep on farms.
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Bibliographic details
Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 21, 3 December 1874, Page 3
Word Count
465VICTORIAN EXAMPLE FARMING. Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 21, 3 December 1874, Page 3
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