CATTLE SHEEP 



There can be no question that if more attention were 

 paid to growing fodder crops, cattle breeding could be 

 greatly increased, and a good trade with Egypt might be 

 done. 



The establishment of the Athalassa Stock Farm has 

 had a most useful influence on the improvement of the 

 live stock of the Island. 



Beef has only lately become an article of food for the 

 country people, and is still so only on a small scale. The 

 townspeople, having become Europeanised to a greater 

 degree than formerly, are now becoming beef consumers, 

 and the high price of beef has had a stimulating effect upon 

 breeding for the butchers. Before the British occupation 

 the killing of an ox for eating purposes was considered by 

 many villagers an act of sacrilege. 



Sheep 



Sheep rearing is an important industry in Cyprus. 

 The sheep are of the fat-tailed species and are allied, though 

 superior to, the Afrikander sheep. The total number of 

 sheep in the Island in 1917 was 255,150. 



They feed almost entirely by grazing, and wander, 

 under the charge of shepherds, over considerable areas in 

 search of food, frequently in company with goats. They 

 are valued chiefly for their milk and meat ; their wool, 

 though of moderate quality, is small in quantity. (See also 

 under " Dairy Produce, " p. 23.) 



Large numbers of sheep are killed annually for local 

 consumption, and there is a regular export to Egypt, as 

 shown by the following pre-war figures : 



Year. 



1904 

 1905 



1906 

 1907 

 1908 



Number. 



976 



3.905 



18,143 



17,611 



7,920 



Value , 

 



7 l6 



3.064 



12,311 



13,731 



6,724 



Sheep-folding is practically unknown, and no crops 

 are specially grown as food for sheep. Occasionally they 

 may get a little rovi (vetch), rovi straw, lentil straw, 

 favetta, pea-haulm or (in the hills) mavrachero (tares). 



