330 REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF ANIMAL 



when the prices obtained for wool and mutton are apparently suffi- 

 cient to justify the additional outlay for winter provision, upon 

 ranges of the West and Southwest, the increase is easily perceptible, 

 the reverse being the rule under directly opposite conditions. 



The sheep interest of the western plains and mountain regions has 

 undoubtedly an important and beneficial place in the domestic econ- 

 omy of the United States, inasmuch as the supply of wool and mut- 

 ton obtained has greatly decreased the cost of both mutton and wool 

 to the consumers. I have heard the number of range muttons to be 

 marketed the present year from all points of the range country placed 

 at 2,500,000 head, and the entire wool clip to be no less than 75,000,000 

 pounds. The estimate would place the number of range sheep at 

 about 15,000,000 head. The tendency of the times is for the sheep- 

 raiser of the West to acquire range by purchase, then to gradually 

 work towards a proper system of stock-farming, changing his meth- 

 ods as means and intelligence dictate. Sometimes this causes a de- 

 crease in the flock, but it generally leads towards safety for the in- 

 vestment, and more uniformity in the amount annually derived as 

 the income. 



My observation for several years of the nomadic sheep-raiser causes 

 him to be placed in the category of a public nuisance. With a band 

 of 3,500 head, or two or three bands of 2,250 head each, his sheep 

 patrol the streams of a district, and being herded closely, eat out 

 the choicest portions of the ranges, then seek new fields and pastures. 

 The abandoned ranges are useless for cattle, and if used for other 

 sheep generally produce a vigorous epidemic of scab. To this heavy 

 pasturing of watered districts, of large, dry,' public ranges, can be 

 attributed the original ill-feeling between cattlemen and sheepmen 

 which has caused so many disgraceful encounters for the possession 

 of public lands. 



As stated in a former report, cattle will not willingly range upon a 

 grazing district which has been closely grazed by sheep. The word 

 "closely" is necessary to the statement, because it is the smell of 

 the sheep that is offensive, and when a large band of sheep passes 

 over a range the grazing is necessarily short. I know, however, that 

 in many instances reasonable numbers of cattle and sheep are using 

 the same ranges and pastures with evident satisfaction to the 

 owners, to stock, and with benefit to the pastures, and it is fully 

 recognized by intelligent and practical stockmen that sheep can be 

 so distributed over a range as to be a positive benefit to it, and, in 

 time, by destroying the crops of weeds, to improve the chances of 

 growth to the rooted grasses. 



The area of territory once available for sheep ranging is now very 

 much curtailed. The settler on the one hand and the cattlemen on 

 the other are acquiring titles to land in all parts of the range coun- 

 try, and the laws of several States and Territories beirg enacted to 

 require sheep to be ranged upon the lands of the owner, or on public 

 lands, the matter of sheep -trespassing on private grazing grounds 

 is too serious to be attempted. I am of opinion that these range mat- 

 ters are becoming local issues, and that satisfactory adjustments of 

 range privileges are more often consummated than when in nine out 

 of ten cases the differences grew out of the desire to absolutely con- 

 trol lands that were public property, and I think that the range sheep 

 interest is more nearly settled upon land titles now than ever before. 



Last spring somewhat unexpectedly a rise in the price of mutton 

 took place, but only one section of the range country (Texas) was in 



