SHEEP ON THE FARM

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1612, 21 January 1903, Page 64

SHEEP ON THE FARM

"Wool has almost ceased to be a factor in the sheep industry, as farmers have discovered that there is more money in selling early iambs and fat wethers than to depend solely upon wool as a source oi pgrofit from sheep. The fleece is simply a by-product, and no progressive farmer now expects to make sheep pay with the wool as the principal source of revenue from the flock. The majority of farmers do not have large flocks, twenty-five sheep being considered as above the average, and they are kept largely because they are of valuable assistance on the farm m consuming weeds and other waste matertals that possess no value. It is well known that a flock of sheep will clear a field' of weeds rapidly, and they_ will also keep the pests down. While so doiug flhey distribute manure evenly on the ground and press it into the soil with their feet. For these advantages from steep there are farmers who would not be without them, as they save labour and demand but little attention. It has been frequently demonstrated that from fields upon which large flocks of sheep have been hurdlel the yields of grain have been doubled, due to the fertility added to the soil by the sheep. Farmers who give their attention to early lambs and the production of choice mutton have •found Southdown rams excellent for -> he improvement of the common flocks, as the Southdown is hardy, and such sheep cun be kept in larger flocks than the Oxfoids or Shropshire®, though the latter breeds are larger in .size than the Southdown. The preference for the Southdown is also due to -the fact that the grades are excellent foragers, and can subsist on .scanty herbage compared with some other breeds or crosses. Wherever cattle are kept sheep can find also a place, as the «beep will clean up land® upon which the cattle may leave much that could be turned into profit. No farmer, however, can expect the best results from sheep without care; but sheep require less attention than- other animals on the farm.