THE WISCONSIN FARMER.



         Sheep-aiing in Xinota.                           Sheep and Wool.
  J. W. HOYT:-Partly from the timely advice  Mx. EDITOR:-As there has been
for the
given in the FAnRME we were induced to buy last year much excitement upon
the subject of
a small flock of common sheep one year and a sheep and wool growing, I with
to say a few
half ago. I bought seven for twenty-one dol- words in regard to what my sheep
have done,
lars.  Only four were ewes; they brought and then let every intelligent farmer
judge if
eight lambs.  Soon after lambing one ewe, they do not pay as well or better
than other
died, apparently from water around the heart, branches of farming.
the heart-case being full of it, one of her  In the tall of 1860 I bro4rt
from V



lambs also died at the same time



  From the seven I got thirty-seven and one
fourth pounds of unwashed wool.   The first
of October dogs killed one lamb, that had three
and one-half pounds of washed wool. This
year I got nine lambs-lost two.
  Notwithstanding these losses, I now have a
flock of nineteen, old and young. This year
the six old ones and six yearlings sheared
sixty-nine and three-fourths pounds of wash-
ed wool; one unsound one lost half or more
of her wool in February, so that she sheared
only 2' pounds each year; this is a fraction
over six pounds each for the eleven sound
ones. Who says keeping dogs pays as well?
  I attribute the gain in wool principally to
better keeping.  Having plenty of timothy
pasture after wild grass failed, they came in-
to the winter yard, the 1st of December, as fat
as I ever expect to see grass-fed sheep. Then
with warm sheds, plenty of hay and water,
and one and sometimes two ears of corn each,
a day, they kept fat till spring, but in Febru-
ary of each year they shed considerable wool.
  Before next winter begins I would like the
best advice I can get, through the FARMER,
for feeding and sheltering sheep so as to keep
them fat without shedding wool.
  Minnesota is admirably adapted to sheep-
raising, and farmers are beginning lo see
their interests in this direction,-and also the
number of dogs in their neighborhood.
                       W. P. UNDERWOOD.
 RICHLAND, Mmnn., July 13, 1863.

 BALLS OF HAIR IN THE STOMCHI -The Irish
 Farmers Gazette states that balls of hair or
 wool in the stomachs of calves and lambs can
be dissolved by giving the animal a teaspoon-
ful of soda in water, twice or thrice a day.



74 full blood Spanish Merinn sheen-thA h.st



I could get from some of the choicest flocks.
Since that time I have purchased from Ver-
mont 27 more, making 100.  From that flock
and their increase I have sold bucks to the
value of $622, ewes to the amount of $278,
and wool $534, making in all $1434; and I have
yet on hand my this year's clip of wool, 924
lbs., and 123 sheep of the best end of my
flock; being, aside from what I have sold, an
increase of 23 sheep above the original num-
ber, besides my last spring lambs, 47 in num-
ber.
  MNy sheep are heavy shearers, as facts will
show. I have a buck lamb, 14 months old,
from which I clipped 13 lbs. 12 oz. of long,
beautiful wool. His weight was 73 lbs., being
one pound of wool to 5X pounds of carcass.
Some object to the Spanish Merino on account
of their small size, but is it not better to get
large fleeces from small sheep than to furnish
from 25 to 50 per cent. extra feed for large
sheep and get no more wool?   I also sold a
buck lamb to one of neighbors, Mr. Brown,
which sheared, at the same age, 13A Ibs, and
I have several other lambs which sheared from
10 to 1 lbs. each.  The 123 sheep, as I said
above, sheared 924 lbs. of clean, washed wool,
making an average of 7A lbs. per head-100
of which sheared 800 Ibs; forty-two ewes of
the 100 went 7J lbs., and 28 of said ewes av-
eraged 83f lbs. per head.  My sheep were all
washed as clean as could be in clear running
water, after being well soaked in a long rain,
except some 8 or 10. My sheep have only oc-
cupied, at most, 89 acres of land, as follows:
25 acres for pasture, 10 for hay, and 4 to raise
their grain.



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