1889.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 81 



Question. Would not two thousand sheep in a pasture 

 separate themselves into flocks of a healthy size ? 



Mr. Avery. I think they would, naturally. I want to 

 say a word in reply to the gentleman who thinks that one 

 dollar a head is pretty small profit. Now, it seems to me, 

 if we can get one hundred cents on a dollar for all we pay 

 out for grain, and if we on the hills can get ten dollars a ton 

 back for hay fed in the barn, and pay for our labor, and 

 then have a dollar a head left, it seems to me it is pretty 

 good business. The estimate which I gave you was at seven 

 dollars a head for lambs. There are many which do much 

 better than that. I have myself sold one hundred lambs for 

 nine hundred dollars ; and those lambs were raised from 

 ninety sheep, which would give a profit of between two and 

 three dollars a head, instead of one. 



Question. What does it cost to keep a ewe sheep for a 

 year, — from the first of May until the next first of May, — 

 and have her grow a lamb, feed her well, and a lamb which 

 at twelve weeks old would weigh sixty pounds ? 



Mr. Avery. I think it was three dollars for hay and two 

 dollars for grain for the winter. 



Mr. Gold. It would be just one-tenth of your estimate 

 on ten ? 



Mr. Avery. Yes, sir. My estimate for the ten would 

 be seventy dollars — seven dollars a head. 



Mr. . Why I asked the question was this : I have 



a friend in Franklin County who makes a business of raising 

 early lambs. He has his sheep lamb in December and Janu- 

 ary, and he says he can keep his sheep from the first of May 

 until the first of May, and get pay for his hay at four dollars 

 a head ; and he has sold his lambs for years at eight dollars. 



Mr. Avery. I have allowed in my estimate three dollars 

 for hay through the winter. I have hired sheep kept through 

 the winter for one cent per day, which would be not much 

 more than half the amount which I have allowed. 



Mr. Sessions. The essayist has done just what I wanted 

 to bring out here — what a practical man can do ; and he has 

 shown that he can make one dollar a head on his sheep. 



Mr. Peterson. There is one matter to be noticed — the 

 danger that attends the keeping of sheep in large numbers, 



