430 



CHANGES IN RANGE CONDITIONS 



Sheepmen are becoming more and more tolerant in their views 

 concerning the control of the National Forests ; this indicates that 

 those in charge are earnestly seeking means of allowing sheep 

 owners to get a maximum amount of good from the Forests. 



How Changes Affect Cost of Production. — After considering 

 all of the favorable changes on the range the fact remains that most 

 of the changes have tended to raise the cost of production and to 

 render the' sheep business more complex. He who engages in the 

 business must be equipped with both sheep and capital, whereas in 

 the early days the latter could be very largely ignored. Again, there 

 was a time when anyone who could herd sheep might enjoy a fair 

 degree of success as an owner. That day has passed, for now it 

 requires business instinct and organization to make a sheep outfit 

 pay. He who does not take an inventory and size himself up 

 annually is likely to have to find a new business. Those days when 

 sheep herders rambled around in solitude with their flocks furnished 

 accounts of experiences and adventures which are read with intense 

 interest, but such days could not always exist. The picturesque and 

 romantic period of the sheep business on the western ranges has 

 passed beyond recall. Cold figures, close calculations, and clever 

 organization rule now and business men hold the reins wherever 

 profits are made. 



Cost Per Head. — A Government report, issued in 1890, esti- 



Expenses in Maintaining Sheep, per year. 



States 



Value per 

 head of 

 buildings 

 and im- 

 prove- 

 ments 



Labor per 



head 

 (including 

 shearing) 



Mainte- 

 nance 

 per head 



Miscel- 

 laneous 

 and selling 

 expense 

 per head 

 (including 

 provisions) 



Total 

 expense 

 per bead 



Arizona 



California . . . 

 Colorado . . . . 



Idaho 



Montana . . . . 



Nevada 



New Mexico 



Oregon 



Utah 



Washington . 

 Wyoming . . . 



Average 



.79 



.44 



1.02 



1.42 



.95 



.59 



1.30 



.71 



.87 



.75 



).79 

 .55 

 .60 

 .59 

 .54 

 .76 

 .56 

 .56 

 .69 

 .74 

 .72 



.63 



1,15 

 .81 

 .26 

 .96 

 .54 

 .36 

 .18 

 .63 

 .38 

 .62 

 .36 



11.13 

 .99 

 .90 



1.30 

 .97 



1.11 

 .91 

 .80 



1.20 

 .77 



1.01 



.46 



1.02 



$2.07 

 2.35 

 1.76 

 2.95 

 2.05 

 2.23 

 1.65 

 1.99 

 2.27 

 2.13 

 2.09 



2.11 



