2 Sheep-Farming 



temperatures of such regions. They naturally cover 

 a large range of country in procuring their food and 

 feed on a wide variety of plants. Under usual 

 range conditions, sheep are not greatly removed from 

 such natural environments. The herders keep the 

 flocks banded suflBciently close to prevent the ravages 

 of predatory animals of the lower altitudes. The 

 scope of country covered by bands of range sheep is 

 as wide as and no less varied than under wholly 

 natural conditions, and when the drives are not long 

 and the forage not depleted by overstocking or un- 

 favorable seasons, the flocks in no way suffer from 

 the semidomestic conditions. 



Sheep-ranching, variously modified, is the system 

 of sheep husbandry that prevailed in ancient his- 

 toric Asia, later in Spain, and to-day in western 

 American states. Much of the area used for ranch- 

 ing is unsuitable for farming and can be made to 

 yield a revenue only when given to grazing. Sheep 

 have proved to be more profitable grazers than 

 cattle in some instances, as a part of the lands 

 grazed by sheep are too scant of water and too 

 rough to be utilized by cattle. The most of the 

 world's wool supply is produced under such con- 

 ditions as referred to in North and South America 

 and in Australia. The low value of these wool- 

 producing lands makes sheep-raising unprofitable 

 on valuable fertile land so long as sheep are regarded 

 and kept chiefly as wool producers, because the in- 



