4 BULLETIN 313, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
lack of appreciation of the results obtainable from carefully tended 
flocks. 
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN AUSTRALIA. 
Even a superficial study of the peculiar phases of the sheep 
industry in the country where it has its greatest magnitude must 
be of great interest and may be very profitable. While conditions 
and customs of sheep raising vary greatly in Australia, the varia- 
tions are less marked than in the United States. The sheep industry 
of Australia is still in the main what an American would call a 
“range proposition.” Crossbreeding and mutton production are 
of less concern even than in our Rocky Mountain and other western 
sheep-raising States. 
New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland possessed 85 per cent 
of the 83,263,686 sheep in Australia in 1912. Queensland is the larg- 
est and least developed of the three States mentioned. Eighty per 
cent of its land is occupied, 74 per cent being held under Govern- 
ment lease or license. On the 348,000,000 acres occupied in Queens- 
land there are 3,119 flocks which average 6,500 sheep. Data regard- 
ing size of holdings and size of flocks are available only for New South 
Wales and Victoria, consequently figures for only these two States, 
which possess 60 per cent of the Commonwealth’s sheep, are shown 
in the following table, and data for the western United States are 
included for comparison: 
Sheep in New South Wales, Victoria, and the western part of the United States. 
Per cent 
of area Total acres 
: Area under}; : 
: Total area | having in holdings 
Section. Total area. | “owned. | 15 inches ense.Ok over 100 
or less acres. 
rainfall. 
Acres. Acres. Per cent. Acres. Acres. 
INewas outhawales se: 43-2 on SPREE SS ee 198, 054,420 | 57,818, 023 39.4 {124,590,163 | 181,195, 753 
Wil CbODIA the aoe cee beeen arte = eee 56, 245, 760 | 31,055, 920 37.0 | 14,443,191 | 44,502,618 
Rocky Mountain States ?.......-.----------- 398, 599, 680 | 47,016, 786 02002 Ss ee eee 45, 155, 275 
Southwestermstatesises. sssseeo oe eae ae 319,175,040 |124, 951, 701 15.02): 25 Scese eee 113, 281, 343 
IPACITCISTALES 4 hae ee ewes ct a Ie Eee a 203, 580, 800 | 51,328,789 ale Onto sseeee eee 48, 027, 762 
Sheep per 
acre on Average | Sheep in 
Section. Nt ie holdings pees of size of flocks over 
Ib over : flock. 1,000 
100 acres. 
Number. | Number. | Number. Number. | Per cent. 
New. South Walesitt 5-28 523. fern ee oe 38, 855, 861 0. 21 25, 549 1, 520 84.5 
WMiICtOLIAS 2 Soe acto pest eee mee acebe a ehe 11, 892, 224 o25 24, 838 480 59.7 
Rocky; Mountain States 4522 46 - eee see ee 18, 196, 574 . 308 11,323 1,607 86.8 
Southwestern States 8. sscce- oe se ee <a 6, 382, 426 . 056 11, 881 537 80.6 
Pacific States 4. oa fitiee cs seceneee = peace. | 5, 592, 167 . 116 12, 368 452 89.7 
1 Reported as in farms for United States. 3 Texas, Arizona, New Mexico. 
2 Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado. 4 California, Oregon, Washington, 
