358 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



for their surplus rams. This is one reason, I believe, why sheep 

 men should unite. Few breeders are strong enough to stand by 

 themselves. If producing mutton for the market, if a few breeders 

 in one locality will get together and produce sheep of a certain 

 type, they will get a better sale and better prices. When a 

 breeder wants to ship, and has not a car load, several breeders 

 can put their sheep together and make a car load, getting better 

 rates in this way from the railroad. And when breeders unite 

 and talk things over, they will produce lambs of a uniform type, 

 and this is very important to get the highest price. In buying 

 rams, a great many breeders, by themselves, don't feel like they 

 want to pay a price for the kind that will bring good results. 



I have been spending all of my time in the past few years 

 in the sheep business, and I find that a great many of the breeders 

 who come to our farm don't like to invest in the best grades of 

 rams, and if they want to start in the sheep business they don't 

 like to buy the best, because they feel that they won't get a good 

 price in return. Especially in the purebred business (and I be- 

 lieve that that is the one that appeals to most of us), they must 

 work together, in order to get a reputation that will draw breeders 

 from outside parts of this State and from other states. By them- 

 selves, they might sell part of them around home, but they can not 

 expect to do much business far from home. 



The best lambs will sell readily to small farmers throughout 

 the corn-belt, but those that are not just up to the highest class 

 must go where people won't pay quite such a price, and where 

 the business has not made such advance, and that is in the west. 

 The breeders from the west come east to breeders whom they 

 know, who have a reputation, whose sheep have been of such a 

 quality that it has created a demand for them. If breeders would 

 v»^ork together and get sheep in larger flocks, and get up a repu- 

 tation, then they could draw these western buyers to them. The 

 advancement made in the sheep business in Missouri has been so 

 great that it seems to me that Missouri breeders could get together 

 now and work up fine prospects. With the great numbers of 

 sheep that have been brought into this State, it seems to me that 

 with the help of this association great profits should be derived 

 from this industry. It is true that the best class of breeding ma- 

 terial will tell, and especially I believe that we must pay a great 

 deal of attention to English blood. Our cattle are as good as those 

 of England, but their sheep are far ahead of ours. 



As I have said, the sheep business up until recently has not 



