Sheep
Categories:
DOMESTIC ANIMALS
The sheep was perhaps the first animal domesticated by man, and to-day
the domesticated sheep is found wherever man lives. It is found
domesticated or wild in almost every climate, and finds means to thrive
where other animals can scarcely live; it provides man with meat and
clothing, and is one of the most profitable and most easily cared-for of
animals.
Sheep increase so rapidly, ma
ure at such an early age, and have flesh
so wholesome for food that nearly every farm should have its flock.
Another consideration that may be urged in favor of sheep-raising is
that sheep improve the land on which they are pastured.
Sheep are docile and easily handled, and they live on a greater
diversity of food and require less grain than any other kind of live
stock. In mixed farming there is enough food wasted on most farms to
maintain a small flock of sheep.
GOLDEN-HOOFED ANIMALS]
Sheep may be divided into three classes:
I. _Fine-Wooled Breeds_
1. American Merino.
2. Delaine Merino.
3. Rambouillets.
4. Hampshire Down.
5. Oxford Down.
6. Cheviot.
II. _Medium-Wooled Breeds_
1. Southdown.
2. Shropshire.
3. Horned Dorset.
III. _Long-Wooled Breeds_
1. Leicester.
2. Lincoln.
3. Cotswold.
The first group is grown principally for wool, and mutton is secondary;
in the second group, mutton comes first and wool second; in the third
group both are important considerations. Wool is nature's protection for
the sheep. Have you ever opened the fleece and observed the clean skin
in which the fibers grow? These fibers, or hairs, are so roughened that
they push all dirt away from the skin toward the outside of the fleece.
Wool is valuable in proportion to the length and evenness of the fiber
and the density of the fleece.
EXERCISE
1. How many pounds ought a fleece of wool to weigh?
2. Which makes the better clothing, coarse or fine wool?
3. Why are sheep washed before being sheared?
4. Does cold weather trouble sheep? wet weather?