SHEEP UNITED STATES, NEW ZEALAND, AUSTBALIA. 3 



population. The number of sheep slaughtered for food purposes 

 during the 12 months ended March 31, 1914, was 4,019,831, and of 

 lambs 4,338,180. The 1913 exports numbered 3,538,488 lamb car- 

 casses and 2,201,365 carcasses of mutton. 



New Zealand's flocks number 21,500, and the average size of flock 

 has increased from 1,081 in 1896 to 1,124 in 1913. About one-half the 

 sheep are in flocks numbering less than 2,500 head, while seven-eighths 

 of them are owned in flocks numbering over 500 head each. 



A contrast of these figures with others for the leading farm-sheep 

 State and the leading range-sheep State in this country is of interest. 



Sheep in New Zealand, Ohio, and Wyoming. 



State. 



Total land 

 area. 



Sheep in 

 State, i 



Holdings 

 over 100 

 acres. 2 



Holdings 

 having 

 sheep. 



Average 

 size of 

 flock. 





Acres. 

 66, 292, 232 

 26,073,600 

 62,459,160 



Number. 



24, 595, 405 



3,263,000 



4,472,000 



Number. 



25, 702 



94, 754 



9,584 



Number. 



21,527 



71,556 



1,643 



Number. 

 1,124 



Ohio 



55 



Wyoming 



2,938 



i Jan. 1, 1914. 



2 In 1910. 



It is partly because of necessity that New Zealand lands are so 

 largely devoted to sheep raising. A good quality of mutton and 

 wool can be produced without the feeding of grain, the production 

 of which is not favored either by the soil or by labor conditions. On 

 the other hand, the place occupied by sheep is evidence of the profits 

 obtainable when valuable lands are devoted to well-managed flocks 

 of sufficient size to insure for them the lively interest and careful 

 tending essential to their well-being and which in our farming States 

 is the exception rather than the rule. 



While it is true" that the values of other commodities do not call 

 for other uses of land as in our farming States, this fact is offset 

 bj the lower prices paid for mutton and lamb in New Zealand. The 

 advantage enjo} 7 ed there in the price of wool is quite largely due 

 to the exercise of superior skill in preparing the clips for the market. 

 It is true also that New Zealand flockmasters have no predatory 

 wild animals to contend with. The problem of the domestic dog is 

 not absent, however, but the dog is held in check, because the general 

 and predominating interest in sheep gives support to well-enforced 

 laws. Our farming States have experienced a decline in sheep rais- 

 ing on account of unequal competition from cheap western lands. 

 The force of that competition no longer exists, and the agriculture 

 of the Middle and Eastern States will not again exhibit its most 

 profitable stal us until the flocb of sheep therein are larger and much 

 more numerous than al present. The main difficulty in the way is 



