Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
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Starting with Sheep
“SHEEP ARE THE DUMBEST ANIMALS on God's green earth,” our
neighbor avowed, with a vigorous shake of his head when he saw the newest
additions to our farmstead. His belief is not uncommon. In fact, sheep are
love-hate animals: People either really love them or really hate them. And
the people who really hate them love nothing more than to malign them.
But sheep don't deserve the bad rap they've received. They fi ll a niche
that needs fi lling: they provide economically effi cient food and fi ber, they eat
many kinds of weeds that other livestock species won't touch, they're rela-
tively inexpensive to begin raising, and they reproduce quickly so that a mini-
mal capital outlay can yield a respectable fl ock in short order.
On top of all that, sheep are simply nice, gentle animals. Watching a group
of young lambs charging wildly around the pasture or playing king of the hill
on any mound of dirt, downed tree, or other object that happens to occupy
space in their world has to be one of life's greatest joys.
Admittedly, there are some diffi culties to raising sheep: They think fences
are puzzles that you've placed there for them to fi gure a way out of. Their
fl ocking nature can sometimes make handling a challenge. Although they're
less susceptible to many diseases than other critters, they're more troubled by
parasites. They're also vulnerable to predators. But with the help of this topic,
even a novice can learn to manage the negative aspects of raising sheep while
enjoying the benefi ts.
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