KEEP A FEW SHEEP

Shannon News, 4 December 1925, Page 3

KEEP A FEW SHEEP

A WORLD SHORTAGE. PROFITABLE INVESTMENT. The world is bhort of 100,000,000 sheep, and the United States alone is short several millions, according to Will C. Barnes, assistant United States forester in charge of grazing. The United States wool manufacturers are now using about 900,000,001 b annually of raw wool, of which only about 225, 000,0001 b are produced in that country. With this enormous shortage,. the people demanding clothing made from virgin wool, ana the ever-increasing demand for lamb and*mutton, the most delicious of meats, the future of the sheep busi. ness was never more bright, says an American contemporary.

Land, Labour,,, and farm equipment are the farmer's factory. It ha s a high market value. In order to get fair market returns from the Invest, nient the maximum, must be obtained from this factory by utilising the lab. our and equipment throughout the year, and converting all the products of the farm into cash. There is no better method of obtaining these results than with a flock of breeding ewes or feeding lambs for market. Sheep are sometimes spoken of as scavengers. While it is true that sheep -will > eat almost any feed or plant that grows, no class of animal will respond 'to good feed and care like sheep; no other class of animals will give as great a return for every i'.l invested; and no class of live stock will build up the fertility of the soil as quickly or as efficiently as will sheep. the last reason alono they have been called "goldon-hoofed animals." A flock of from 50 to 150 breeding ewes should be maintained on practically every farm. These ewes will produce two cash crops yearly —wool and lambs in the early summer —and the returns from the wool will almost pay for their keep.