OREGON FARMER 23 



Most of the range sheep are run on the lower lands in the winter 

 time where they are grazed on the dry bunch grass left over from 

 summer. Where there is an abundance of this grass, it cures down 

 and makes a good nutritious feed. Such grass is, however, always 

 supplemented with more or less hay during the winter. The Eastern 

 Oregon sheep men report an annual average expenditure of 72 cents 

 per head for hay and forage for wintering. During the summer 

 these sheep are driven on the higher mountains where they can get 

 green grass throughout the year. The lower sage brush hills become 

 quite dry in July and August and are not suitable for pasture for 

 ewes and lambs, although they may be splendid during other seasons 

 of the year. In the higher mountains, however, there is much green 

 grass, particularly in the forest reserves, and it is here that most 

 of the sheep are kept during midsummer. There are immense 

 bands of sheep throughout the Blue Mountains and on the eastern 

 slope of the Cascades. The sheep are usually handled in bands 

 from 2000 to 2500. It has been found that they can be handled 

 more economically and profitably in bands of this size. Very few 

 men attempt to run sheep on the range with very many less than 

 this. Where they have a larger number, they are subdivided into 

 several bands of about this size. In Eastern Oregon, about 1600 

 sheep are run for each twelve months employee. 



There are many large sheep men whose holdings run up to several 

 thousands. The great majority, however, do not own nearly so 

 many. There are hundreds of men throughout the state running 

 just one band of ewes and doing very nicely with them. It takes 

 little more money to start a band of sheep than to start a small farm, 

 but at the same time it does not require any excessive amount of 

 capital. In the early days there were many bands of sheep owned 

 by men who had no real estate holdings whatever. This condition, 

 however, no longer exists and all of the sheep men now have some 

 land where they raise hay and provide winter quarters for their 

 sheep. They may also own a good deal of their range, particularly 

 their winter range. Their summer range is nearly always on Govern- 

 ment land and commonly in the forest reserves. 



The raising of spring lambs in Western Oregon is a radically 

 different industry from the range sheep business east of the Cascade 

 Mountains. A very large portion of the small farmers in Western 

 Oregon handle a few sheep, generally from 10 to 50 head. These are 

 allowed to rough it through the winter, picking up a little grass around 

 the fences and being fed a little hay in the winter. The lambs come 

 rather early and grow rapidly on pasture or forage crops, such as rye, 

 vetch, clover, and rape. The springs are much earlier than in 

 Eastern Oregon and there is a greater abundance of green forage so 

 that the lambs are both born earlier and grow faster. They are 

 usually ready for market before July. Many of them are put on the 

 market at a much earlier time than this and it is entirely feasible and 

 practicable to market these lambs in March or April, as some of the 

 most progressive farmers are already doing. After the lambs are 



