The True Northerner

FARM AND HOUSEHOLD,

Effect of Care and Food on the Quality of Wool.

The quality and soundness of wool depend more than is generally supposed on the care and proper feeding of the sheep. When sheep are poorly fed and uncomfortably housed, the wool is harsh and devoid of strength and elasticity. When irregularity prevails in the feeding, and the sheep become out of condition, a break in the regularity of the staple occurs, a weak spot is produced, and the fleece is deteriorated as much as twenty-five per cent. at once. A few years ago the writer made an experiment in feeding sheep, which resulted as follows: Sixteen full-blooded Leicester ewes were put up in two flocks of eight each. One lot was fed on corn-fodder, cut and mixed with ground feed (corn, oats and rye), of which two bushels mixed with four quarts of the feed was mixed twice a day. Clover hay was fed at noon. This lot raised seven lambs and forty-four pounds of wool, which on account of unevenness in the staple, brought only thirty-five cents per pound. The other lot was fed on clover hay morning and night, with half a bushel of turnips cut and sprinkled with two quarts of same food as above at noon. These eight ewes raised twelve lambs and sixty pounds of wool, which brought sixty-five cents per pound. In all other respects the sheep was tended alike, and oat-straw was given for litter in abundance. A mixture of salt and sulphur was always at hand.