P R Q G R E S_S IV E SHEEP RAISING 



p . There are still great areas of these 



Present f ree ran g es> it is economy and in the 



Eastward public interest that they should be 



Trend fully utilized. In fact, more attention 



should be given to this than ever 

 before. In iqi6 our public lands suitable for grazing 

 amounted to about 750,000,000 acres and supported 

 1,750,000 cattle and 7,850,000 sheep. 



However, that condition is passing and will soon go 

 the way of the Buffalo and the Longhorn Steer. The 

 increasing population of the country and the decreasing 

 acreage, of these ranges, due to settlement, have com- 

 bined in recent years to take up som ; of the slack and 

 force a closer grazing, which makes it necessary to use 

 more and more concentrates to finish range sheep for 

 market. These conditions are gradually bringing up 

 the cost of range sheep until now, under favorable con- 

 ditions, sheep can be raised and finished for market on 

 the farm almost as cheaply as on the ranges. 



The farmers who settle this land will, of course, continue 

 to raise sheep on it, but it will be on a basis similar to 

 that of the small farmer in the East. The cost of raising 

 these sheep will never again be so low as it was on the free 

 range. 



The high prices of mutton and wool, suddenly sharpened 

 by the world war, were no doubt responsible for the 

 awakening of the farmers to this change in the economic 

 situation with regard to sheep raising and the resulting 

 nation-wide movement to get our farm lands re-stocked 

 with sheep. 



We are now beginning to learn for the first time what 

 the sheep really stands for. We are beginning to appre- 

 ciate it as a national asset. Of all meat animals it may be 

 that the sheep will eventually prove the most indispensa- 

 ble. Lamb meat already stands at the top and wool has 



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