40 BULLETIN 1001, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



them would at first object to fencing because they think they do not 

 need fences, and the sheep business can be carried on without them. 

 It has been shown, however, by carefully conducted experiments 

 that under high mountain range conditions part of a band of sheep 

 running in pasture without a herder, but protected by wolf-proof 

 fences, did better than the remainder of the same band on adjacent 

 open range under the care of a herder. The animals inside the fence 

 were heavier, produced more and cleaner wool, grazed a smaller area 

 and trampled it less than those outside under a herder's care, and 

 the losses were practically identical [76]. 



The plan of handling sheep in large pastures inclosed with coyote- 

 proof fences has been in operation with success in certain counties of 

 southwestern Texas for a number of years, and much of the land is 

 fenced in this way, notwithstanding a first cost for fencing that 

 seemed almost prohibitive. Yet the men who have tried it are 

 pleased with the results obtained. (Of course this generalization 

 can only apply to yearlong ranges or their equivalents.) 



A number of the sheepmen in Arizona who are surrounded by cat- 

 tlemen are as anxious for the cattle to be fenced in as the cattlemen 

 are. One experienced sheepman at Holbrook, Ariz., succeeded in 

 running a band of sheep all year long with a loss of only 27 animals 

 from a band of 2,200 on an area where he was not interfered with by 

 other stock and had virtual control. Yet the range he used is not 

 considered a good sheep range at all, and he had been in the habit of 

 leaving it part of each year. These experimental and actual busi- 

 ness experiences tend strongly to prove that what has been said of 

 the value of separate, fenced areas of sufficient size is as true for sheep 

 as it is for cattle. Such a policy would doubtless necessitate certain 

 changes in the ordinary practices, but the net result would be safer 

 and more productive business, with better returns for less work. 



Sheepmen in certain regions are now debating the question whether 

 they can ship their stock from one range to another more econom- 

 ically than they can drive them. Some are actually shipping them. 

 Range sheep are driven from summer range in the mountains of 

 Utah to winter range on the deserts and pass through the irrigated 

 farming lands that lie between with no other driveway than the public 

 roads. This has been done for years. Driveways are unquestionably 

 necessary in certain regions, but they should not be used as pasture 

 grounds by the first bands as they pass, thus destroying their useful- 

 ness for later bands and providing either necessity or excuse to these 

 later bands for trespassing upon the permanent ranges through 

 which they pass. Adjustments of all these difficulties, which under 

 the present system cause great bitterness, can be made at once by 

 fencing, and should have been made long ago for the best interests 

 of all concerned. 



