730 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



dnstry is now extending in the State it is apparent that in a few years 

 North Dakota will take rank among the great wool-growing States of 

 the Union. 



In the eastern part of the State, and especially in the rich Bed Elver 

 country, sheep husbandry is becoming quite an adjunct to general 

 farming. There lambs and mutton are the main objects of the sheep- 

 raiser, with wool a secondary matter. Sheep-raising is not likely to be 

 followed there on an extensive scale, but the farmer will find profit in 

 a band of sheep sufficient to cleanse and fertilize his land and utilize 

 his coarse feed, which ordinarily goes to waste. Further west sheep- 

 raising has become more of a leading pursuit. Many stockmen will 

 no doubt make it an exclusive business, and what is sometimes denom- 

 inated the Montana idea, or more correctly the western idea of sheep 

 husbandry raising sheep for both wool and mutton will be the aim 

 of practical flockmasters. 



The greater part of the area of North Dakota properly conies under 

 what is known as the western range country. A correspondent, in dis- 

 cussing the subject of the adaptability of this country for sheep-raising 

 in preference to other stock, well says : 



It is a noted fact that there is far less alarm over the prospect of short winter feed 

 among sheep-owners than any other class of stockineii. The reason of this is that 

 sheep thrive on very short feed, and where there are any places bare along our foot- 

 hills flocks may be kept fairly well, even if the grass has been closely grazed in 

 summer. It is also a fact that it is possible to keep three or four thousand sheep on 

 hay about as easily as to keep so many hundred cattle. Sheep do not seem to consume 

 food in proportion to cattle. This is probably due to the fact that they are constantly 

 rustling for themselves throughout each day, except when it is storming, while cattle 

 having no herder are inclined to lie around the premises and not to go out to feed 

 even in pleasant weather. Sheep are better adapted to the exhausted condition of 

 our ranges by far than cattle. 



The Langdon Pioneer expresses the prevailing sentiment in saying 

 that the profits of keeping sheep in North Dakota are on every hand 

 admitted to be large and constant. They can be cheaply fed, and the 

 western part of this region, which has not proved to be in the highest 

 degree successful for wheat-growing, is admirably adapted to sheep 

 husbandry. The unwished-for drought, which sometimes occurs, pro- 

 motes the health of sheep, and the dry climate is an unvarying safe- 

 guard against all the diseases to which they may be liable in the moister 

 States. 



One of the great needs of agriculture in North Dakota, and the North- 

 west generally, to insure greater prosperity as well as to add to the 

 taxable wealth of the country, is diversified agriculture. Governor 

 Burke, in his inaugural address before the second legislative assembly 

 on January 7, 1891, recognized the importance of the sheep industry in 

 the following words : 



In the way of stimulating a diversification of our agricultural pursuits the intro- 

 duction of sheep-raising, as an addition to the resources of our farmers, I look upon 



