UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION ~~.. • .-*%- ■«.,- . ~_.^.... -r.. nr - BENJ. IDE WHEELER, President COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE _ ■».... THOMAS FORSYTH HUNT, DEAN AM OinECTOR BERKELEY h. e. van norman, vice-director *nc dean University Farm School CIRCULAR No. 184 November, 1917 A FLOCK OF SHEEP ON THE FARM By B, F. MILLEB Sheep production in the United States has decreased about twenty per cent during the past fifteen years. We have been annually im- porting (up to the present embargo) over one-half the wool consumed in this country. The mutton trade on the principal markets has also doubled during the past ten years. In view of these facts and the present threatened shortage of food and clothing materials, sheep raising should be especially encouraged. In the west we are prone to think of sheep as being primarily adapted to the range and herded in large bands. They are, however, equally well adapted to valley farms. On the British Isles, an area of about four-fifths that of California, thirty million head of sheep are grown, and most of these on the arable farms. In California there are only about two million head of sheep, which are largely run on the ranges. These figures would indicate that sheep husbandry should be receiving far more attention from the farmers of the state than it does at the present time. Furthermore, the available ranges are fully stocked and we have to turn to the farms to increase our mutton and wool supply. A campaign for the improvement of sheep husbandry has been started in other states with "A Flock of Sheep for Every Farm" as its slogan. This might be well adopted for our own state as there are few states in the Union better adapted to sheep husbandry than California. The average farmer would not miss the feed consumed by a flock of sheep and the returns from wool and mutton come at a time when a cash income can be turned to good advantage in carry- ing on other farming operations. Furthermore, the farmer who keeps a flock of sheep contributes to increasing both the much-needed wool and the meat supply. ADVANTAGE OF SHEEP ON THE FARM Sheep may be kept very economically, as they graze over the fields most of the year and when feeding becomes necessary hay is the chief diet. They yield two crops per year, wool and mutton, and are use- ful in keeping down weeds in fence corners, along roadsides, irriga- tion ditches, in orchards, or on summer fallow. A flock of sheep may be started with little capital. FINANCIAL RETURNS It is commonly estimated that the wool clip pays in a large measure for the cost of keeping the ewe. Average farm sheep shear about eight pounds of wool annually, which has usually sold for about twenty-five cents a pound. Before the war, early spring lambs were selling for about $5 each. Even though the wool would not pay en- tirely for the keep of the ewe, the profit on the lambs would still leave a good margin. Under farm conditions twins are commonly raised and the increase in lambs should be over 100 per cent, while the investment in such a flock would hardly be above $8 per ewe on a pre-war basis. At the present time wool is bringing over fifty cents a pound, and lambs have been contracted for at $7.50 to $8.50 a head. HOW TO START A good way to start is to buy well-built black-faced ewes carrying considerable Merino blood, and mate these with a good pure-bred mutton type of ram, or it may be possible to buy ewes already bred. Grade ewes properly mated will produce very satisfactory market lambs. In buying sheep examine their mouths so as to secure young ewes, yearlings or two-year-olds being most desirable. It is sometimes possible to buy old, broken-mouthed ewes very reasonably from rangemen; such ewes might not be able to withstand another winter on the range, but by special care on the farm could well raise another lamb. After weaning the lambs in June or July, the old ewes are usually fattened on alfalfa pasture and sold to the butcher and the ewe lambs are kept on the farm for foundation stock. From twenty-five to forty ewes make a satisfactory flock and one ram would be sufficient to breed these. This would also make a unit large enough to warrant proper care and building necessary fences. It is not advisable to begin with only three or four ewes, as they are often a nuisance about the place by getting into the garden or culti- vated fields. MATING AND BREEDING The natural breeding season of sheep is in the fall, although in California, where it is desirable to get very early lambs, the ram is turned in about August 1st, and should remain with the flock two months. The ewes should be shorn in July or just before the buck is turned in. A ewe will come in heat every fifteen or eighteen days and the gestation period is about twenty-one weeks. Ewes should not be bred until they are eighteen months old. Breeding them the first fall or when they are only eight to ten months old, checks their growth and development. WINTERING THE FLOCK The ewes are usually turned on the grain stubble as soon as this is available. They may remain on stubble during the fall, but when the rains become excessive, which is usually the case during January and February, the ewes should be taken off the field, and provided with shelter and fed hay. Three pounds of bright alfalfa hay is sufficient per sheep per day. In addition to this, sheep may be turned into a vacant lot or pasture when the weather permits. Exercise is important. For shelter an ordinary shed or barn that will keep the sheep dry and protect them from the wind is all that is necessary. LAMBING SEASON If the buck is turned in with the flock in August, lambs will be dropped in January. It is highly important when lambing occurs so early to provide a barn for shelter. The barn should be partitioned off into a number of pens so as to be able to separate the ewes that have lambed from the main flock and keep each ewe and lamb separate for a day or so. It will not be necessary very often for the shepherd to help delivery, but he should assist before the ewes become exhausted from laboring. If a ewe is too weak to attend her lamb when born, the shepherd should remove the mucous from the nostrils, rub it dry and get it to nurse. Occasionally ewes in poor condition with a scant milk flow will not own their lambs. In this case the ewe and lamb should be put into a small pen and the ewe held four or five times a day for the lamb to suckle. In a few days the ewe will usually take the lamb. When a ewe loses her lamb it is advisable to put the twin lamb of another ewe with her. The best way to transfer a lamb is to skin the dead lamb, pulling the legs out like stripping off a stocking, sprinkling a little salt over the inside of the skin and then fastening it onto the twin lamb that is to be transferred. The ewe will accept it as her own by the scent. THE EWE WITH LAMB AT SIDE As a rule when producing mutton lambs, good bright alfalfa hay will suffice for the ewe, although mangels or silage in addition to hay are especially valuable for ewes which are suckling lambs. In some sections of the state, the foxtail grows up quickly after the early rains, and there is nothing better than green pasture for ewes with lambs. Where grain feeding is practiced, one-half to one pound of grain per day per sheep is sufficient, beginning gradually after the lambs are three or four days old. If the ewe has more milk than the lamb can take, she should be milked out once a day. Sometimes if the ewe is well fed and the milk flow heavy, garget or caked udder may develop, especially if such ewes are compelled to lie on cold, wet ground, causing the udder to become chilled. The trouble usually appears only on one side. As soon as garget is noticed, the udder should be thoroughly milked out and bathed daily with hot water to which two tablespoonfuls of baking soda has been added. The udder is then dried and massaged well with a mixture of lard and turpentine mixed into a paste. When the lambs are two to three weeks old, they will begin to nibble at hay and grain. Under farm conditions it is usually con- venient to feed them separately by means of a creep. A good grain ration is two parts of whole oats and one part wheat bran. FEEDING ORPHAN LAMBS There are always a few "bummer" lambs about the sheep fold, and at the present prices of wool and mutton it is very desirable to save every lamb. These lambs can well be raised on cows' milk, pre- ferably milk that is high in butter fat. This should be fed warm either by means of a nursing bottle or lambs may be taught to drink from a pan. The latter requires considerable patience, but is much simpler when once started. The first two weeks a lamb should not be fed over one and one-half pints of whole milk per day. This should be given in five feeds, about two-thirds of a cupful at a feeding. This amount may be gradu- ally increased during the next two weeks, feeding four times a day. After the lamb is four weeks old, feeding three times a day is suffi- cient, and when three months old, the lamb should be fed about two quarts a day. It is important to get orphan lambs to eat as soon as possible. A ration of two parts of whole oats and one part of wheat bran is excel- lent for young lambs, and may be placed before them when two to three weeks old. Any grain left in the trough should be removed daily to keep the feed sweet. The waste may be fed to the ewe flock. Turn the lambs out to graze in a field or pasture near the barn. If lambs are eating well, they may be weaned at the age of three months. This should be done gradually, feeding milk once a day for a week or so and then discontinuing entirely. DOCKING AND CASTRATING These are both simple operations when done in time. Lambs should be docked when ten to fourteen days old; the simplest way is by means of a sharp knife, cutting the tail off about an inch and a half from the backbone. Bleeding may be quite profuse at first, but it soon stops. There is also a docking iron on the market. This is made in the form of a chisel with an eighteen-inch handle, and is used hot. It cuts and sears the arteries, thus preventing loss of blood. Castrating is usually done at the same time the lambs are docked, and consists in cutting off one-third of the scrotum and then simply pulling out the testicles, cords and all. SPRING AND SUMMER FEED During the spring native pasture affords excellent feed, which is usually abundant until April or May, when the grass dries up. It is important that the ewes and lambs be provided with good feed at this time, as the lambs should be ready for the market about June 1st. Where alfalfa is available, this makes good feed, but there is some danger of loss from bloat. Sudan grass may be seeded in April and affords good pasture by June 1st; it does quite well without irriga- tion. Winter rye and dwarf Essex rape are also good forage crops. WEANING THE LAMBS Lambs should be weaned when from four to four and a half months old. The ewes and lambs are separated, leaving the lambs in the field where they are accustomed to grazing, and penning up the ewes for a few days or turning them into a vacant field with scarce feed. Usually they are dry in a few days, but should any show full bags, they should be milked out once or twice. When marketed about June 1st, the early lambs are taken directly from the ewes and sold. SHEARING In most sections of California, sheep on the farms are shorn twice a year, namely, during March and July. This is usually done by professional sheep shearers, whose services may be obtained in most localities. DIPPING A week or ten days after shearing it is well to dip the entire flock. As the wool is short the flock can readily be dipped at small expense, and all external parasites, such as ticks and lice, may be eradicated. The dipping is preferably done in the morning of a quiet, warm day, so that the sheep will be dry by night and will not catch cold. It should be repeated in ten to fourteen days to destroy the parasites that were in the egg stage at the time of the first dipping. A dipping vat is quite essential on a sheep farm, and may be built of concrete, wood, or galvanized iron. The latter may be pur- chased from stockmen's supply houses. A convenient size is ten feet long at the top, three feet long at the bottom, twenty inches wide at the top, eight inches wide at the bottom, and four feet deep. (For plans and specifications apply to the Division of Agricultural Engi- neering, University Farm, Davis, California.) The vat should be set in the ground so that the top is about six inches above the surface. At the entrance a pen is provided to hold the sheep, and built in the form of a chute to the mouth of the vat. At the exit a drain pen with a tight floor should be constructed, so that the dripping will drain back into the tank. There are a number of dips on the market which are effective, and should be used as per directions on the can. It is best to use the dip at a temperature of 105° to 110° F. It is not necessary to hold the sheep in the dip for any length of time, but it is well to see that the head is submerged twice. When dipping for scab species precau- tions must be taken, and it is best to notify the State Veterinarian at once should scab be discovered, who will take the case in hand. SALT Salt is very essential for all classes of livestock, and it is especially so for sheep. It should be placed in troughs where sheep have free access to it at all times. Rangemen prefer the half-ground salt, although the brick form is very convenient on the farm as there is no waste. MAGGOTS Occasionally the young shepherd will find a ewe or lamb infested with maggots. ' These are the result of eggs laid by the blow-fly on a foul or bloody place on the wool. The eggs soon hatch and the maggots crawl down near the skin and greatly irritate the animal. They are most commonly found about the hindquarters, or in rams at the base of the horns where the latter injure each other in fighting, The symptoms are restlessness, scratching, and tearing at the wool, wriggling the dock, and usually lying down separate from the flock. Clip off the wool from the infested part, making sure that you have located all the maggots. Treat with a 5 per cent solution of ordinary sheep dip (2 tablespoonfuls to 1 pint of water). Then apply pine-tar to keep off the flies, and watch the animal closely for several days. BLOAT ON ALFALFA Bloating on alfalfa causes considerable loss in some seasons, and especially with sheep that have not been raised in alfalfa sections. On the other hand, there are hundreds of sheepmen that graze it practically all year with very little loss. The following precautions should be taken : Never let the sheep into the field when hungry, but feed them well with dry hay before turning them on. If possible allow them the run of a barley stubble field besides the alfalfa. 11; is also advisable to have two fields, so that when one is eaten down or being irrigated the sheep may be turned directly into the other. Should bloat develop the following drench is recommended: One-half cup of raw linseed oil, two teaspoonfuls of turpentine. This may be given by means of a small-necked bottle, holding the sheep in a corner, raising the head slightly and giving the drench slowly. DOGS In many sections dogs have been a great menace to the sheep industry, and farmers have been reluctant about starting a flock on this account. However, by corralling the sheep at night in a tight corral, dog depredation may be avoided. Also the sheep pasture should be properly fenced with a 32-inch woven wire fence with three barbed wires on top. STATION PUBLICATIONS AVAILABLE FOR FREE DISTRIBUTION REPORTS 1897. Resistant Vines, their Selection, Adaptation, and Grafting. Appendix to Viticultural Report for 1896. 1902. Report of the Agricultural Experiment Station for 1898-1901. 1903. Report of the Agricultural Experiment Station for 1901-03. 1904. Twenty-second Report of the Agricultural Experiment Station for 1903-04. 1914. Report of the College of Agriculture and the Agricultural Experiment Station, July, 1913-June, 1914. 1915. Report of the College of Agriculture and the Agricultural Experiment Station, July, 1914-June, 1915. 1916. Report of the College of Agriculture and the Agricultural Experiment Station, July. 1915-June, 1916. 1917. Report of the College of Agriculture and the Agricultural Experiment Station, July. 1916-June, 1917. No. 230. 241. 242. 246. 248. 249. 250. 251. 252. 253. 255. 257. 261. 262. 263. 264. 265. 266. 267. 268. No. 113. 114. 115. 121. 124. 126. 127. 128. 129. 131. 133. 134. 135. 136. 137. 138. 139. 140. 141. 142. 143. 144. 145. 147. 148. 150. 151. BULLETINS No. Enological Investigations. 270. Vine Pruning in California, Part I. Humus in California Soils. Vine Pruning in California, Part II. 271. The Economic Value of Pacific Coast 272. Kelps. 273. Stock-Poisoning Plants of California. The Loquat. 274. Utilization of the Nitrogen and Organic Matter in Septic and Imhoff Tank 275. Sludges. Deterioration of Lumber. 276. Irrigation and Soil Conditions in the 277. Sierra Nevada Foothills, California. 278. The Citricola Scale. 279. New Dosage Tables. 280. Melaxuma of the Walnut, "Juglans regia." 281. Citrus Diseases of Florida and Cuba Compared with Those of California. 282. Size Grade for Ripe Olives. The Calibration of the Leakage Meter. 283. Cotton Rot of Lemons in California. 284. A Spotting of Citrus Fruits Due to the 285. Action of Oil Liberated from the Rind. 286. Experiments with Stocks for Citrus. 287. Growing and Grafting Olive Seedlings. Correspondence Courses in Agriculture. Increasing the Duty of Water. Grafting Vinifera Vineyards. Some Things the Prospective Settler Should Know. Alfalfa Silage for Fattening Steers. Spraying for the Grape Leaf Hopper. House Fumigation. Insecticide Formulas. The Control of Citrus Insects. Spraying for Control of Walnut Aphis. County Farm Adviser. Control of Raisin Insects. Official Tests of Dairy Cows. Melilotus Indica. Wood Decay in Orchard Trees. The Silo in California Agriculture. The Generation of Hydrocyanic Acid Gas in Fumigation by Portable Ma- chines. The Practical Application of Improved Methods of Fermentation in Califor- nia Wineries during 1913 and 1914. Standard Insecticides and Fungicides versus Secret Preparations. Practical and Inexpensive Poultry Ap- pliances. Control of Grasshoppers in Imperial Valley. Oidium or Powderv Mildew of the Vine. Suggestions to Poultrymen concerning Chicken Pox. Tomato Growing in California. "Lungworms." Round Worms in Poultry. Feeding and Management of Hogs. CIRCULARS No. 152. 153. 154. 155. 156. 157. 158. 160. 161. 162. 164. 165. 166. 167. 168. 169. 170. 171. 172. 173. 174. 175. 176. 177. 178. A Comparison of Annual Cropping, Bi- ennial Cropping, and Green Manures on the Yield of Wheat. Feeding Dairy Calves in California. Commercial Fertilizers. Preliminary Report on Kearney Vine- yard Experimental Drain. The Common Honey Bee as an Agent in Prune Pollination. The Cultivation of Belladonna in Cali- fornia. The Pomegranate. Sudan Grass. Grain Sorghums. Irrigation of Rice in California. Irrigation of Alfalfa in the Sacramento Valley. Control of the Pocket Gophers in Cali- fornia. Trials with California Silage Crops for Dairy Cows. The Olive Insects of California. Irrigation of Alfalfa in Imperial Valley. The Milch Goat in California. Commercial Fertilizers. Vinegar from Waste Fruits. Some Observations on the Bulk Hand- ling of Grain in California. Announcement of the California State Dairy Cow Competition, 1916-18. Irrigation Practice in Growing Small Fruits in California. Bovine Tuberculosis. How to Operate an Incubator. Control of the Pear Scab. Home and Farm Canning. Lettuce Growing in California. Potatoes in California. White Diarrhoea and Coccidiosis of Chicks. Small Fruit Culture in California. Fundamentals of Sugar Beet under California Conditions. The County Farm Bureau. Feeding Stuffs of Minor Importance. Spraying for the Control of Wild Morn- ing- Glory within the Fog Belt. 1918 Grain Crop. Fertilizing California Soils for the 1918 Crop. The Fertilization of Citrus. Wheat Culture. The Construction of the Wood-Hoop Silo. Farm Drainage Methods. Progress Report on the Marketing and Distribution of Milk. Hog Cholera Prevention and the Serum Treatment. Grain Sorghum Seed. The Packing of Apples in California.