CIRCULAR No. is. 



KENTUCKY'S OPPORTUNITIES AS A 

 SHEEP STATE. 



By L. B. MANN. 



The production of sheep in the United States has become 

 of increasing importance, not only to the producers but also 

 to the consuming public in the way of both meat and cloth- 

 ing. Wool and lamb are two indispensable commodities in our 

 present system of living. The sheep industry, however, has 

 not kept pace with our increased population and, as a result, 

 this year sees almost undreamed of prices for both lambs and 

 wool. 



"With the breaking up of the great western plains region, 

 due to the influx of homesteaders, arid the rapid depletion of 

 the southwestern semi-arid districts, due to large irrigation 

 projects, the sheepman has been pushed farther up the moun- 

 tain sides and on the desert. These conditions, together with 

 considerable loss from disease and hard winters, have wrought 

 great havoc with the large flocks in the West. 



The past winter and spring, range shepherds suffered 

 losses of 20 to 50 per cent, of their entire flocks, mostly due to 

 cold, stormy weather immediately after shearing. One big 

 firm reported the loss of over 18,000 head out of a flock of 40 ? 000. 



In order to maintain anything like the normal production 

 of wool and mutton, the sheep industry must find some other 

 region for its further development; it must come back to the 

 small farms of the East and central Southern States. The day 



(109) 



