852 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



S. F. Howard, Long Piue, Brown County: 



This county is particularly adapted for sheep, as they keej^ healthy. Last year 

 I saved every lamb that was dropped except those taken hy the wolves. My eight- 

 months lamhs brought me $2.50 utt. There is a good opening for small flockmas- 

 ters here, as land is cheap and we can get the finest kind of grazing lands to use 

 free, or can purchase the.u at $5 per acre. The only drawback to the business is the 

 wolves, but when slieep-raising becomes more general they will cause less trouble. 

 Good stock ewes will command from $3 to $6, according to breed. 



F. F. Goodrich, Lee Park, Custer County: 



There are not many sheep kept here now, but the outlook is improving, and those 

 who sold off their sheep three years ago are going into the business again. For 

 winter feed I estimate 1 bushel of corn per head and plenty of good hay; salt 

 regularly, plenty of fresh water, and a chance to exercise, which they will do if 

 given an opportunity. To prevent ticks I mix a little sulphur with the salt. In 

 this way I make sheep-raisiug pay. 



Charles H. Brown, Ogallala, Keith County: 



No county in the State is better adapted to sheep raising than ours. The two 

 Platte rivers furnish an abundance of excellent water, and the bluff lands can not 

 be surpassed for grazing piirposes. Land can be bought for $3 an acre or leased 

 for the taxes. There are about 200,000 Western sheep brought in here each year 

 from Oregon, Utah, Idaho and Wyoming, and in the fall shipped to eastern points 

 to feed. The annual loss from wild animals and exposure will not exceed 3 per 

 cent. Many of our people are poor homesteaders, and are glad to take sheep on the 

 shares, so there is a good chance for the profitable investment of capital here in the 

 sheep business. 



Thomas Woods, Harvard, Clay County: 



Eight years ago I bought a couple of lambs for pets, and liking them so well I 

 bought a flock of fifty sheep and added to my i]ock as I could. I have had as many 

 as 700, but not having summer range I found it necessary to reduce the size of my 

 flock on account of a thickly settled neighborhood. My sheep have always done 

 well, never having had any disease among them, and while interested in other 

 domestic animals I find that sheep are more profitable by at least 100 per cent. 

 My lambs, by an imported Hampshire Down ram, are great big, vigorous fellows. 

 Close wool sheep are the best kind for this country. 



William H. Seymore, Unadilla, Otoe County: 



My experience is that if farmers in the older counties would keep small flocks of 

 50 to 100 ewes they would pay 100 per cent or more every year, if good, sound 

 judgment be used in caring for thorn. I invested $30 in sheep two years ago, and 

 have sold and eaten $94 worth, and have sheep, lambs, and wool now worth $100. 

 If the farmers of Nebraska and Kansas knew more of the value of sheep they would 

 keep a great many more. Mutton will be in greater demand when its value as a 

 food product becomes better known. Broiled mutton would not hurt a Christian 

 il properly cooked. If New England farmers had five million sheep instead of two 

 million dogs their land would be worth double what it is to-day. 



Eobert Taylor, Abbott, Hall County: 



Have had but two years' experience in feeding in this State. My object was to 

 find an outlet for culls and surplus stock off the range. I have 20,000 stock sheep 

 on range m Wyoming and western Nebraska, of which 12,000 are out on shares. 

 We have a certain surplus each year, consisting of wethers, cull ewes, and lambs, 

 and these I concluded to feed myself, and so get all there was in it. Last year, with 

 high prices of feed stuffs and low markets in spring, there was nothing made at it, 



