SHEEP ON NEW ENGLAND FARMS. 7 



studied with no sheep. The relative unimportance of dairying in 

 regions where sheep raising is more common is in large measure 

 due to rougher pasture not so well suited to the needs of dairy stock, 

 remoteness of farms from market, and generally poor market 

 facilities. 



KEPT MOSTLY IN SMALL FLOCKS WITH OTHER LIVE STOCK. 



Sheep in Xew England are kept mostly in small flocks. A few 

 large flocks consisting of 200 or more ewes are known, but such cases 

 are indeed rare. Farm flocks usually number from 15 to 30 ewes, the 

 average number on the 137 farms from which records were obtained 

 being 23. A few farmers kept less than 15 ewes while only about 1 

 farmer in 5, in the regions studied, kept more than 30 ewes. 



Practically all flocks are kept on farms with other live stock. An 

 occasional small farmer who derives the most of his income from the 

 sale of crops or fruit, or from labor off the farm, keeps a small flock 

 of sheep (in addition to a little other stock for family needs) as the 

 only kind of live stock yielding cash income. About one-tenth of the 

 flocks upon which records were obtained were kept in this way; 

 one-half were kept on dairy farms, while the remaining two-fifths 

 were found on farms which kept beef cattle as the principal kind of 

 live stock. 



DO NOT DISPLACE OTHER KINDS OF LIVE STOCK. 



Kept in these small numbers, sheep do not displace other kinds of 

 live stock, but are kept in addition to the regular quota of other stock 

 on such farms as have extra pasture available. It was found that, 

 regardless of whether sheep were kept in conjunction with dairy 

 or with beef cattle, farms with sheep had practically the same kinds 

 and numbers of other live stock as did farms without sheep. 1 More- 

 over, farms with the sheep had an average of 15 more acres of pasture 

 than did farms without the sheep, 2 warranting the conclusion that 

 sheep in Xew England have not been kept to the exclusion of other 

 live stock, but have been kept on farms with large pasture areas to 

 utilize the extra pasture available. 



1 In making this determination it was first found that swine and poultry, which do not 

 usually require pasture as kept in Xew England, were kept in about the same numbers on 

 farms regardless of sheep. All cattle were then reduced to a mature animal basis (count- 

 ing 2 head of young cattle as the equivalent of a mature cow) and the average number 

 of pasturable animals (mature animal basis) determined for farms with and for farms 

 without sheep. Following this method, it was found that 68 dairy farms on which sheep 

 were kept had on an average the equivalent of 16.1 mature cattle in addition to 22 sheep, 

 while 298 dairy farms of comparable size, but without the sheep, had the equivalent of 

 16.3 mature cattle. Likewise 54 farms keeping sheep in conjunction with beef cattle 

 had on an average the equivalent of 15.4 mature cattle in addition to 24 sheep, while 60 

 beef-cattle farms without the sheep had the equivalent of 15.5 mature cattle. 



2 Farms with sheep had an average of 85 acres of pasture, while those without sheep 

 had 70 acres. 



