16 



FARMERS' BULLETIN 029. 



by about. 40 per cent, making these profits from the sheep business, 

 which it must be remembered is a relatively small industry, $17.7!) 

 per animal unit as compared with $17.7") per animal unit of dairy 

 stock. 



POSSIBILITY FOR EXPANSION. 



A considerable expansion of the sheep industry in New England is 

 no doubt justifiable. The above figures and previous ones show that 

 sheep, in small (locks at least, are more profitable than dairy cattle 

 al the present time (1917). It must not be inferred from this 

 that the sheep industry should to any great extent displace the 

 dairy industry, but it is believed that expansion can be made through 

 other channels without decreasing the output of dairy products or 

 disturbing the economics of the region so far as the dairy business 

 is concerned. One's decision to keep sheep must not be based entirely 

 upon the strength of the profit figures shown, as either business is sub- 

 ject to constantly changing prices which at the present time point 

 to a far narrower difference in profits from the two industries than 

 is indicated by the figures given. 1 Also it must be remembered that 

 the figures given are based on records from comparatively small 

 (locks only. Displacing any great number of dairy cows by their 

 full equivalent in sheep means keeping sheep in large numbers, and, 

 as will be shown later, there seems plenty of evidence to support the 

 belief that sheep thus kept in Xew England are in no wise as profit- 

 able as small flocks. 



As to channels of expansion, it is known that there are many 

 unprofitable dairy cows in Xew England and that many of these 

 could probably well be replaced with sheep. However, where poor 

 care on the part of the owner is the main reason for the unprofitable- 

 ness of the cow, it is likely that sheep would be quite as unprofitable, 

 and before making any replacement the cause of the unprofitableness 

 should in all cases be determined. Some farms are located so far from 

 market as to make their operation as dairy farms impracticable, 

 while other operators have abandoned the dairy business because of 

 the difficulty of securing help. These two classes of farms offer much 

 room for the expansion of the sheep industry and, if rightly man- 

 aged, there is little doubt that sheep would prove much more profit- 

 able than beef cattle, which at present constitute most of the live 

 stock on such farms. Some other farms in addition to the classes 

 mentioned could carry a small flock of sheep in addition to the regu- 

 lar amount of stock, but careful consideration should be given the 

 pasture requirement to make sure that this does not lead to over- 

 stocking. 



1 The price of milk In Xew England was advanced 1 cent a quart, or about 50 cents per 

 hundredweight, for the months of August and September and the first half of October, 

 while a still further advance of 1 cent a quart was made to be effective from Oct. 15 to 

 Dee. 1, 1917. 



