638 



SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



Lincolnshire yearling wethers, shipped to Buffalo by Michigan 

 growers, have sold for Christmas sheep for the Kew York city market 

 at $13.75 per head or $7.50 per Inindred. While it is very profitable 

 to sell the Lincoln lambs at $4 or $5 per head after weaning, it is found 

 much more profitable to feed them for the wauter market, as they take 

 on flesh so readily. 



The experience of a farmer with a flock of about 100 cross-bred 

 Lincolnshire and Oxford Downs runs thus: His April lambs averaged 

 in November not less than 110 pounds without any grain. They were 

 then fed grain and at early shearing averaged 12 pounds of wool,which 

 sold for 22 cents per pound. The sheep at that time averaged 140 

 pounds and some were sold at $4.50 each. Wethers and rams from the 

 same flock were sold earlier than this in pairs or three at a time to the 

 local butcher for 5 cents a pound after the wool was clipped. As 

 these weighed about 200 pounds, the return was $10 each beside the 

 wool, which would bring $2.50 additional. 



A cross of a Lincoln ram on a Shropshire ewe has been known to 

 produce a 384-pouud sheep— not yet in Michigan, however; but the fact 

 is stated to show possibilities in that climate, which has proved so 

 congenial to sheep of every kind and where the supply of food is so 

 varied and abundant. 



There are some Dorset Horns in Michigan, and they are beginning to 

 attract some attention on account of their fecundity and value for 

 early lambs. The Leicesters, once quite numerous in the State, are 

 not now so well known, although some importations are yearly made, 

 and the Cheviots are comparatively unknown and unnoticed. 



The following statement shows the number of sheep in Michigan from 

 1840 to 1890. The number for 1890 is given by the U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture; the amount of wool for 1890 is based upon estimates 

 made by other parties. The figures from 1840 to 1880 are those returned 

 by the United States census : 



Tear. 



Number of 

 sheep. 



Wool. 



Average 



■weight of 



■wool per 



head. 



1840 

 1850 

 1860 

 1870 

 1880 

 1890 



99, 618 

 746, 435 

 1, 271, 743 

 1, 985, 906 

 2, 189, 389 

 2, 240, 841 



Pounds. 

 153, 375 



2, 043, 283 



3, 960, 888 

 8,726,145 



11,858,497 

 12, 989, 226 



Pounds. 

 1.52 

 2.73 

 3.11 

 4.39 

 5.41 

 5.75 



Ohio is the only State east of the Mississippi Eiver that exceeds Michi- 

 gan in the number of sheep, and Michigan is the only State east of the 

 Mississippi and north of the Ohio Eiver whose sheep increased in number 

 from 1880 to 1890. The raising of sheep is so ingrained in the life and 

 training of the people that it is difficult for them to turn from it, and 

 when one system does not pay they look to another. The sheep hus- 



