Kentucky's Opportunities as a Sheep State. Ill 



since 1913, has experienced a decrease of over 165,000 head, 

 or 12.5 per cent, of the entire number. This means that Ken- 

 tucky farmers are rapidly depleting their foundation stock, 

 the hardy mountain ewe, without making any great attempt 

 to replace her. This year has plainly demonstrated that fact, 

 as many farmers were unable to obtain these ewes, except at 

 prohibitive prices. 



Xot only have our own flocks suffered a decrease but, 

 since the beginning of the war, reports show a world shortage 

 of 54,500,000 sheep. Chief among the causes for this seem- 

 ingly rapid depletion have been the extra demand for meat 

 by all the nations at war, the lack of grain with which to feed 

 live stock and, in England and Scotland, the present policy of 

 the British Government of ordering the breaking up of millions 

 of acres of former pasture land for increased grain produc- 

 tion and necessarily decreased live stock production. 



Carrying Capacity of Kentucky. 



Kentucky has an area of 40,400 square miles, or 25,856,000 

 acres. From the 1916 report of the U. S. Department of Agri- 

 culture, Kentucky had something like 1,155,000 head of sheep, 

 which gives an average of 22.4 acres for each sheep in the 

 State. Reports from England, Scotland and New Zealand 

 show that under practical farming conditions where the to- 

 pography of the land is similar to Kentucky, the amount of 

 land required per sheep ranges from 2 to 2y 2 acres. 



On this basis, instead of one sheep to every 22.4 acres and a 

 total of only 1,155,000 sheep as at present, this State could 

 maintain from 9 to 11 sheep on each 22.4 acres, or a total of 

 from 10,000,000 to 13,705,000 head. This number equals prac- 

 tically one-fourth of the entire number of sheep in the United 

 States today. While these figures are based on intensive farm- 

 ing conditions as practiced in those countries and would not 

 be practical in Kentucky, yet they give an idea as to the maxi- 

 mum possibilities of the industry and the excellent opportunities 

 offered for increased production. These facts all point clearly to 



