848 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



packers at South Omaha are unable to supply this demand. This 

 would not indicate that the sheep-feeding business of Nebraska is 

 likely to be overdone. 



Nebraska, with her great abundance of cheap feed will always be the 

 favorite feeding center for the western range sheep. This industry is 

 yet in its infancy, and it is safe to predict that there will be not less 

 than three-quarters of a million of sheep fed in this State in the win- 

 ter of 1892 and 1893, especially if crops are good the present year, and 

 the indications are most favorable, as there has been a greater amount 

 of rainfall this spring than any former season, so the soil is in splendid 

 shape to produce an enormous yield. 



A close and careful study of the sheep industry of the State reveals 

 the fact that not 10 per cent of the sheep annually fed and shipped out 

 are raised here, but are brought in from the western range and fed 

 from three to four months before shipping to eastern markets. Why 

 should not the farmers of Nebraska help to furnish a greater portion of 

 this supply I It is true that we can not compete with those large breed- 

 ers on the range. If half the farmers of this State would keep and 

 properly care for a flock of at least 100 head there would be better 

 farms, larger crops, and fewer mortgages. The farmer who intelligently 

 handles his flocks can count on four sources of revenue from them 

 mutton, wool, lambs, and last, but not least, an increased fertility of 

 his land. Any one of the items named should be sufficient induce- 

 ment, but when all four are combined there is no one kind of live stock 

 that will give so sure and quick returns on the money invested. Some 

 people find it profitable to handle them for mutton alone ; then if the 

 price for mutton does not suit the farmer, he can hold his sheep and 

 get good pay out of the wool. Wben the ewes are properly handled 

 they will raise 90 per cent of their lambs, while many of them will do 

 even better than that. If the farmer is not fixed to graze a large 

 number of sheep, he must keep the larger and better bred sort so as to 

 get the most out of the business. The demand is for a larger mutton 

 sheep than is produced on the range. A wether weighing 100 pounds 

 does not meet the requirements, so the breeder should strive to pro- 

 duce an animal that will weigh from 150 to 200 pounds. There are men 

 in this State who have put lambs, from eight to nine months old, on 

 the market weighing from 85 to 95 pounds that readily brought 7 cents 

 a pound. These lambs were sired by pure bred Shropshire bucks. 



Some of the most extensive feeders in the western part of the State, 

 who have access to sufficient range, keep over some of their culled 

 wethers, ewes, and lambs, not fitted for market by the middle of May, 

 and graze them another season and prepare them for an early Christ- 

 mas market. The majority of our feeders begin feeding a little the last 

 of November or in December, and get on full feed by the last of De- 

 cember or early January, and begin shipping to market later in Janu- 

 ary, and keep it up as the market suits and their sheep are fitted for it. 



