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FARMERS* BULLETIN 029. 



SHEEP FOUND ON LARGE FARMS WITH LOW-PRICED LAND. 



Pasture is a prime essentia] to sheep raising, and it has been shown 

 that only such farms as have pasture above the needs of other stock 

 have kept sheep. As would be expected from the nature of New 

 England land, such a pasture excess is to be found on the larger farms 

 only. In the areas studied sheep are scarcely ever kept on farms of 

 under 100 acres. 1 On farms above this size, flocks gradually became 

 more common, occupying the most prominent place as a farm enter- 

 prise on farms of 200 acres or more, where they are kept on about 

 one farm in every three and in comparatively large flocks. The 122 

 farms keeping sheep with the other stock had an average area of 

 219 acres, while 358 farms, falling within the same sized limits and 

 similarly organized except for the sheep, had an average area of 

 only 179 acres. 



It was found, moreover, as to character of the land area, that these 

 larger farms with sheep have, for the most part, practically the 

 same acreage in crops as farms without sheep, but a relatively higher 

 percentage of pasture and woodland, resulting in a lower land 

 value per acre. Land values on farms on which sheep were found 

 in all three States averaged $2.") per acre, whereas the average value 

 on the small farms without sheep was $29 per acre. 2 



HOW THE BUSINESS IS CONDUCTED. 



For the year 1914, 30 per cent of the receipts from sheep 

 on the 137 farms studied were derived from the sale of wool: 62 per 

 cent from lambs, and the remaining 8 per cent from the sale of old 

 ewes and increase in inventory value above purchases. At present- 

 day prices with the same production (1917), the receipts from wool 

 would increase to about 40 per cent of the total and those from lambs 

 and ewes decrease proportionately, since the price of wool has in- 

 creased more rapidly than that of mutton. These figures give an idea 

 of the kind of business carried on. Practically all breeders included 

 in the study were producing spring lambs which were marketed in 

 the late summer or fall at the age of 5 or 6 months, though an occa- 

 sional breeder was supplying a special trade with fall or early winter 

 lambs marketed in the spring. Practically all sheep were, grades, 

 the medium-wool " down " breeds being the most common, though 

 some of the flocks were badly mixed and, as their owners said, they 

 kept " just sheep." 



1 The few flocks previously referred to as beinK kept by small farmers were kept on 

 farms of this size. 



5 Only from one-fourth to one-third of the land area of New England farms is suitable 

 for cultivation. 



