I’m Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
If you have a few hectares ofland, it might be a good place to raise sheep. Some years ago, themagazine Organic Gardening, from the Rodale Institute researchcenter, offered several reasons to consider.
Sheep can be raised for their meat. They produce milk which canbe made into excellent cheese. Sheep have wool which can be madeinto weaving material. The wool is cut off once a year in thespring.
Sheep eat grass. They are good, natural grass cutters. And, sheepprovide a good supply of waste that can be used to fertilize thevegetable and flower garden. In fact, sheep manure contains morenitrogen, phosphorus and potassium than horse or cow manure.
The report in Organic Gardening offered some advice from a fieldcrop expert in New York State named Carl Bannon. He said it ispossible to raise as many as eighteen sheep on one hectare. And, hesaid it is not necessary that the land be completely covered withgrass. A mixture of grass and trees will do.
Mister Bannon said the sheep will keep the grass cut low. Theywill even eat weeds and the remains of crops harvested from yourgarden. The waste they leave behind will add nutrients to the soil.The manure can be collected and spread in the garden.
Sheep manure is not like that of cows. It does not have a badsmell. It is like waste produced by rabbits, only there is more ofit.
You should not plan to become rich selling the wool of yoursheep. But, you may be able to sell the wool to people in your areawho weave clothes or other things. Or, you can send it to a companythat will clean it and prepare it for you to use.
There are many different kinds of sheep. Your choice of whichkind to raise should depend on your plans for them. For example,Dorset sheep are good milk producers. Suffolk sheep are raised fortheir meat. Rambouillet sheep produce fine wool that is prized bycloth makers.
If you decide to begin raising sheep, you need to choose theright kind for the weather in your area. But you do not need toprovide much shelter from the weather for adult sheep. Just be sureto provide a secure fence to keep dogs from attacking the sheep.
And there are other considerations before you go out and buy asheep. For one thing, it might be a good idea to make sure that thelocal laws permit people in your area to have farm animals.
This VOA Agriculture Report was written by Bob Bowen. I’m GwenOuten.