THE ART OF SHEEP RAISING 



FOR 



WOOL, MUTTOI, AND MONET. 



PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS FOR BREEDING AND HANDLING SHEEP IN CALIFORNIA 

 WITH REFERENCE TO DIRECT PROFIT — SHEEP WORK FOR EACH MONTH IN 

 THE YEAR. 



BEING A SERIES OF PAPERS •WRITTEN FOR THE SACRAMENTO DAILY RECORD AND 

 RECORD-UNION, BY A. A. RITCHIE, OF GUENOC, LAKE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, BREEDER 

 OF SPANISH MERINO SHEEP. 



SHALL I BUY SHEEP? 



Sheep raisers may be divided into three classes: First, those who 

 make sheep breeding, for wool and mutton, their main business; subsidi- 

 ary and auxiliary to this, they may do more or less general farming. 

 Second, those whose main business is general farming; subsidiary and 

 auxiliary to this, they may breed a greater or less number of sheep. 

 Third, those who raise thoroughbreds — who look to the sale of bucks 

 at fancy prices as one of their leading sources of profit. These three 

 branches of one business are usually prosecuted under such different 

 circumstances as to be almost three distinct things. Yet, success in each 

 requires very much the same sort of attention to the same sort of details. 

 Underlying it all is the proposition that increase of lambs is increase of 

 wool and mutton. Here is where the money is really made in sheep- 

 raising. And when once embarked in the business, the first thing to be 

 learned is the detail of so handling the flock that the fullest increase 

 may be insured. But with many, the first question will be: Shall I 

 embark? 



In the course of this series of papers I shall endeavor to so fully 

 explore the whole ground that one who has never worked in sheep will 



57_(agri) 



