SHEEP-FARMING. 65 



this step, valued his stock, as they stood, at 3bS or 40;^ 

 per head ; and that he sells all the ewes that have passed 

 their third lambing at 20;^ or 2b$ each ; then those which 

 he retains will certainly represent a value to the flock- 

 master of 458 to 50$ each. 



The 20;^ or 26$ per head realised for these elder sheep, 

 will represent the probable nett product of their yield of 

 wool during the remainder of the natural period of their 

 profitable lives. Moreover, this sale is cash, and the yield 

 of wool to give that amount would extend over a period 

 of, say, three years ; this cash, therefore, is worth an 

 interest of 25 per cent., more or less. This 25 per cent, 

 interest on the capital realised, in addition to setting free 

 the camp for future and improved increase, is manifestly 

 more than an equivalent to anything the flock-master 

 could possibly have got out of the sheep sold, irrespective 

 of the wool. 



The employment of the capital realised in the improve- 

 ment of the sheep, i. e. in the purchase of large, heavy- 

 fleeced rams, and in the requisite care, feeding, &c. (as 

 suggested in the foregoing paper on sheep-farming), may 

 be fairly calculated to give the following results : — 



At the end of three years the stock will have consider- 

 ably more than doubled itself This increase of improved 

 or higher-bred animals will represent a value per animal 

 of, more or less, double that of the previous stock ; the 

 yield of wool from them will be, more or less, double in 

 quantity and much superior in quality, fetching, too, a 

 higher relative price. 



The ' value ' of sheep to the wool-grower is determined 

 by the probable money-product of the wool. This value 

 is rated as the nett product of three years' (or at most four 

 years') cUp. The product of three or four years' wool, 

 therefore, represents the capital in, or value of, the sheep ; 



P 



