SHEEP-FARMING IN THE WEST. 123 



The comparative cost of keeping sheep in the United 

 States and on the Plains is stated as follows : 



3000 sheep in States, at $2.65 per head . . . $7950 



3000 sheep on the Plains ; one herder at $50 per 



month, including board $600 



150 tons of hay, to be used in case of severe winters 



and storms, at $4 per ton .... 600 



Total 1200 



Difference in favor of the Plains .... $6750 



Under ordinary circumstances the hay could be kept 

 over, and one cutting might do for two or three years. 



Having now given my own version of sheep-growing 

 out West, and expressed fully my opinion as to the 

 capabilities and value of our national sheep-walks, I 

 will give the opinions of eminent men and experienced 

 herders who have experimented and studied sheep- 

 culture as connected with the resources of the trans- 

 Missouri country. 



Judge Kingman, of Wyoming, who, for the past 

 eight years, has owned sheep-herds, writes as follows : 

 " It will be remembered that the natural habitat of the 

 sheep, as well as of the goat and the antelope, is an 

 elevated, mountainous region. They are provided with 

 an external covering and a constitutional system fitting 

 them to endure its rigors and subsist on its peculiar 

 herbage. They may be removed to other regions, it is 

 true, and by careful husbandry made to flourish in hot 

 climates on artificial or cultivated food, and even in 

 rainy and muddy localities. But the multiplied dis- 

 eases to which they are subjected are convincing proofs 



