776 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



As to tlie best methods of conducting the business, L. 0. Morrison, 

 of Fremont County, says : 



Take a herd of 2,500 to 4,000. The herder is always with the herd ; another goes 

 with the team once a week or so to move camp, look up lost sheep, look for new 

 range, camp ground, etc. The herd is kept along the streams or in the mountains 

 during the summer. In November or December, when the snow begins to fall, it 

 is taken out into the waterless plains, where the range has been unused in summer, 

 depending entirely upon snow for water, where it remains until the snow is gone. 

 About tfce time lambing begins about the 10th of May when the breeding ewes 

 are put in a separate herd. Two or three extra hands are required through lambing 

 time. A few shear in April, before lambing, though many shear in July, after j 

 lambing. I prefer to shear in April. I have been in this country eight years. In 

 that time we have had but one very severe winter. The condition of the range \ 

 being favorable but few sheep died; but if such a winter should come now the loss ] 

 would be very heavy. We always are in fear of hard winters. Hay is out of the 

 question. 



In the unsettled portions of the State the nomadic range system is 

 considered most profitable, especially from lambing time until regular 

 winter sets in, when hay can be had and sheds provided during stormy 

 weather. No uniform system of conducting the industry can be rec- 

 ommended, because portions of the State are as unlike as Vermont 

 and Texas, and methods in vogue in Fremont County would bankrupt 

 a nockmaster on the Laramie Plains ; however, by following the plans 

 adopted by experienced sheepmen and attending strictly to business, 

 by vigilance and employing competent and trustworthy herders and 

 hands, success and profit are certain. 



In northern Wyoming, in Sheridan County, the method of E. B. Viall, 

 of Beskin, is to be commended, and is as follows : 



In the first place get good sheep to begin with. Keep them tame. Keep your 

 pens clean in winter. Keep them dry. Run them out on the range every day. 1 

 run my sheep in the mountains from July I until the snow drives them out. They 

 do splendidly. There is plenty of shade, feed, and water. There is no other animal 

 that does well in the mountains. The greatest trouble in this part of the country is 

 to get a good winter range where you can get hay. The trouble is scarcity of water 

 to irrigate with. There is no trouble about the range as long as there is no snow; 

 but to be safe in the business you must furnish hay. Last winter I fed considerable 

 hay. Perhaps this wiuter, if it is a hard one, it will take 100 tons to winter my 9,000 

 or 10, 000 head. No one should go into the business unless he can furnish plenty of 

 good hay. I am now 57 years old, and have had more or less experience with 

 sheep my whole life, and I have come to the conclusion that the way to make a suc- 

 cess of sheep husbandry is to raise the best, keep everything strictly clean, and do 

 everything in season. 



CHARACTER OF GRAZING LANDS. 



In order to form a correct idea of the country it is necessary to briefly 

 describe the physical features of the State, which are mountainous, with 

 valleys, bold bluffs, foothills, and broad rolling plains. The mountains 

 have a general direction from the northwest to the southeast, and often 

 present the appearance of broken and detached spurs. Narrow valleys 



