WEST OF THK MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 835 



L. M. Hartley, Salem County: 



Have been interested in sheep twenty years the first ten in Merinos and the last 

 decade in Shropshires. The last named are my favorites. For the last eight years 

 I have abandoned sheds altogether, and I am meeting with better success than when 

 I used them. No snowstorm affects them; neither does the falling rain. Nature 

 provides them with a protection that wards off the inclemency of the weather. The 

 only time sheds are needed is in early lambing time, when great care and the utmost 

 vigilance is necessary until the lamb is twenty- four hours old, when all danger is 

 over. Always feed well; never let a sheep get hungry. In winter give plenty of 

 good fodder and one ear of corn per day for each sheep. In feeding the common 

 flock I have discarded altogether the hay rack, nor do I allow the sheep to run to 

 hay or straw stacks, as it is detrimental to both the sheep and the fleece. The blue- 

 grass sod is preferable on which to feed hay or corn in the ear. 



NEBRASKA. 



The sheep industry of Nebraska has been regarded heretofore as the 

 least important branch of the animal industry of that State, but at the 

 present time it is attracting considerable attention from farmers and 

 stockmen. With reference to sheep husbandry it stands as a typical 

 State of the agricultural country of the transmissouri region, hence the 

 writer has gone into details in his investigation with reference to the 

 present condition of the industry and its future possibilities. 



It is quite evident that sheep husbandry has now assumed a perma- 

 nent character, and consequently is regarded with more favor by the 

 farmers of the State. The result will be beneficial to the animal in- 

 dustry, by giving greater diversity to live-stock husbandry, and thus 

 assure more substantial prosperity to the stockmen of the State. The 

 stockmen of Nebraska are fortunate in having a live stock market within 

 the borders of the State at Omaha, besides having competing lines of 

 railroads within easy reach of the Kansas City, St. Louis, and Chicago 

 markets. Another favorable condition for sheep husbandry, especially 

 from a mutton standpoint, is that no present sheep-owner will probably 

 ever experience an overproduction of mutton or receive a slow prices 

 for live sheep as now prevail for cattle. In a letter from W. N". Bab- 

 cock, general manager of the Union Stock Yards Company, of Omaha, 

 under date of May 10, 1892, he says: u ln regard to our sheep market, 

 I might say that our receipts of good marketable sheep are always short 

 of the demand, and a much larger number would be slaughtered by our 

 packing industries if they could be purchased on the market." 



The receipts of sheep at the Union Stock Yards have steadily in- 

 creased from year to year since the establishment of the yards eight 

 years ago. During the first year, 1884, only 4,188 head of sheep were 

 received, while in the year 1891 there were received 170,849 head. The 

 total receipts for eight years is 783,973 head. The largest receipts in 

 one day were on September 24, 1891, when 8,732 head were received. 

 The total number of she&p slaughtered for city use and South Omaha 

 packing during 1891 was 80,960 head. 



