232 RLRAL NEW YORK 



production of sheep. They are adapted to the rough 

 and more or less waste land over which they may 

 graze and collect the low-grade herbage. They are 

 useful to clean up weeds and much brush. They 

 will also utilize much by-product material not so 

 well adapted to consumption by cattle. They re- 

 quire less shelter than dairy cows. Many farms in 

 the more remote districts near the border line of 

 abandonment will provide ample buildings suitable 

 for sheep-raising with very little change. Elimina- 

 tion of fences and the opening up of larger ranges 

 in those regions are both desirable and practicable. 

 Wben these grazing areas are combined with those 

 of better soil on the level part of the upland and in 

 the valleys to provide winter feed, an excellent situa- 

 tion is afforded for the development of the sheep in- 

 dustry with a minimum requirement of labor. 



Sheep and cows are not raised in large numbers 

 in the same region. Sheep are seldom found on 

 commercial dairy farms. The two main regions of 

 sheep-raising are: the Genesee Valley and Ontario 

 Lake Shore section, the bean-growing area; and the 

 eastern Hudson and the Champlain Valley districts. 

 The Hudson Valley is somewhat extended westward 

 into the lower Mohawk Valley. 



In the Genesee Valley region, in addition to the 

 general roughage and pasture, the bean straw is espe- 

 cially well adapted for consumption by sheep. 

 Sheep also fit better than cows into the organization 

 of the fruit and cash crop farm. Nearly 40 per cent 

 of all sheep in the State in 1910 were in the eight 



