WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 801 



are now so occupied we must count on having to feed more than formerly of winters. 

 If users of the range could as individuals have security in their occupancy of their 

 ranges it would be a great advantage over present conditions. Now one flock eats 

 oif the range from another, so. one can not so well reserve one part of his range for 

 winter feeding while using another part for summer, without danger of his reserved 

 feed being partly taken by some one else. My ranges are perhaps as good as the 

 average for producing pasture. My flocks range over something like eighty sections 

 of land, and in the spring, before the new grass comes on, the old feed seems to be 

 almost completely cleaned up. There are a great many horses and cattle feeding on 

 the same ranges. To sum up, from an experience and observation of a number of 

 years, should estimate that eight to ten sections of land would be needed to support 

 well continuously 1,000 head of sheep, where sheep have exclusive use of range. 



Alexander Day, Pueblo : 



I am fully persuaded from long experience and close observation that by proper 

 care and handling of the cross-bred sheep in smaller numbers there is no stock that 

 can be handled with better results than can sheep. Alfalfa as a forage is unsurpassed 

 by anything for sheep feed. Its rapid growth enables us to cut from 4 to 6 tons per 

 acre. This will enable us to feed sheep very cheap in winter, and free range in sum- 

 mer gives us advantages over the Eastern States that will in the near future be of 

 vast importance to Colorado. At present there is a great inquiry for stockers, a 

 thing unknown for several years, and it is only the prejudice against the brutes that 

 keeps many out of the business. It may not be out of place to. say that my experi- 

 ence is that the demand for mutton has doubled in the United States in the last five 

 years ; and although wool may be low in Colorado, it is overbalanced in the high- 

 priced mutton. Wool will pay the expenses, and the mutton is clear profit. 



J. F. Gibbs, Greeley, Weld County: 



There is no doubt, and I would be glad to have you emphasize the fact, that a 

 large part of Colorado and the plain country generally will always be devoted to sheep- 

 raising. It can never be irrigated, reservoirs or no reservoirs. The cattlemen can 

 not use it to advantage. Sheepmen, protected, will sink wells and raise water for 

 their flocks. With anything like a ghost of a chance farmers will raise sheep rather 

 than cattle everywhere. Two crops per year are better than one. A bond with a 

 wool coupon and mutton coupon is as good a bond as any with Uncle Sam's name 

 on it. 



W. N. Baehelder, Orchard, Morgan County: 



Sheep business has been fair for the last ten years on account of the high prices for 

 mutton. If bred for wool alone it would not have paid. There is or has been for the 

 past four years a growing demand for feeders in Nebraska and Kansas ; demand not 

 so good this year, on account of short corn crop in those States. There is good money 

 in sheep in this State if fed alfalfa hay three months. It is excellent feed for sheep 

 and is produced in large quantities; in fact is our best crop in Colorado. 



C. G. Strang, Hugo, Lincoln County: 



My experience leads me to the conclusion that the best sheep for our section of the 

 country is a grade produced by breeding up from Mexican stock with thoroughbred 

 Merino rams and then crossing with first-class Shropshire or other varieties of Down 

 sheep so as to combine the fine wool of the Merino and the hardy constitution of the 

 Mexican with the mutton qualities of the Downs. Thoroughbred sheep do not seeui 

 to be able to stand the exposure and traveling to which sheep in large herds are nec- 

 essarily exposed. Sheep-owners are feeding more grain and hay to their sheep and 

 are building shelters. As a result they have increased the yield of wool and the size 

 of the sheep. Better care and feed pay well. 

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