956 



SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



decided increase of tlie coyote and wildcat pests. This district of the 

 State is devoted mainly to the dairy, wine, wool, meats and lumber 

 products; but that portion nearest to the Bay of San Francisco is also 

 used for the production of summer fi-uits (like peaches) and vegetables. 

 As valuable additions to this report, I insert the carefully kept records 

 of the Baechtel Brothers, of their experiments in cross-breedings. Mr. 

 Baechtel had just published this letter in his local paper, the Ukiah 

 Press, when my inquiry reached him. In reply, he sent me a printed 

 copy as below : 



In February, 1873, we made an investment in ten thoroughbred Spanish Merino 

 ewes and one buck. They cost us, delivered on the ranch, $987. The sheep were 

 bred by Jewett, in Missouri, from stock selected from the then famed flocks of Ham- 

 mond and Atwood, of Vermont. We were unfortunate In the loss of our buck in the 

 following August. We bought a buck, imported by Mason, which cost us $68 more ; 

 our whole stock in the autumn of 1873 cost us on ranch $1,055, which formed the 

 base of the flock. We had no experience in sheep husbandry. Bought all the 

 standard works treating on the subject; adopted everything we found practical in 

 them. The conditions under which their experiments were made were entirely dif- 

 ferent from ours; we in the genial climate of California had not to make much prep- 

 aration for shelter and food that flockmasters had to make in more rigorous cli- 

 mates. Our sheep are shorn twice each year, whUe other localities shear but once. 

 We went it blind, as the saying is ; wherever we found we had made a mistake we 

 corrected it. We endeavored to breed our sheep up to a high standard in quality 

 and fineness of wool, form, reducing wrinkles, black top and yolk in wool, endeav- 

 oring to get as many of these good qualities in our sheep as possible, which future 

 experience taught us a slow and rather uphill business. All stock bred up to a high 

 standard requires constant watching and judicious crossing to improve them. The 

 great tendency is to deterioration. The old proverb of like producing like will not 

 hold good in my experience of advance stock-breeding, from the fact that so many 

 conditions have been used to elevate the standard; many lie dormant and crop out 

 in future crosses. I append a table that is self-explanatory regarding the average 

 prices of wool in Ukiah City, and average wool yield per sheep. 



■* May 20. 



The above table shows great variation in price of wool, and annual average per 

 head. In 1879 we procured an exceptionally free white-yolked Merino buck ; we 

 were trying to improve the quality of our wool, as our wool was considered heavy. 

 His progeny gave us lighter fleeces and better quality of wool. We never sold any 

 of our Merino ewes; as they aged, it reduced the general average per head. In 

 1884-'86 heavy wools got a black eye; prices fell far below other wools. 



We adopted the method of weighing each fleece as it was shorn. We procured 

 metal tags numbered from 1 to 12 inclusive; inserted in the ear, we had, as it were, 

 twelve families. We stamped the age of each sheep on them, and the year each 

 lamb came, so we were enabled to credit each sheep in the family with their weight of 

 fleece when shorn. By that method we thought we could ascertain what progress we 



