2 BULLETIN 313, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
American sheep raisers have not remained wholly unacquainted 
with the ideas and practices of Australian flock masters. During the 
past year lectures delivered in western States have done much to 
familiarize sheep raisers with the very efficient Australasian system 
of getting wool from the sheep to the mill. For some years persons 
connected with the wool trade have made it clear that in many phases 
of sheep raising, especially that of preparing wool for market, Ameri- 
can methods compare very poorly with those followed in Australasia. 
With conditions as they are at present, when sheep raising contains 
so much of promise and also of uncertainty, it is well to have at 
hand as much information as possible regarding the fundamental 
principles that have so firmly established the sheep industry in Aus- 
tralasia and made these far-off countries so prominent for both quan- 
tity and quality in the world’s wool trade. Because of these consider- 
ations, the impressions gained from a comparatively rapid view of 
sheep and wool matters in New Zealand and Australia by one having 
the American viewpoint have been prepared for publication. 
GENERAL CONDITIONS IN NEW ZEALAND’S SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 
Sheep raising in New Zealand is conducted on lines midway be- 
tween those followed in our farming States and in the range States. 
In comparison with American farm flocks, those of the smaller hold- 
ings in New Zealand have an advantage in that they rarely number 
less than 400 head and are a very important, if not the chief, source 
of revenue from the holdings. 
The total area of occupied land in New Zealand is under 45,000,000 
acres. Of this, 5,000,000 acres have been plowed and sown to arti- 
ficial grasses for grazing, while over 9,000,000 acres have been sur- 
face-sown to artificial grasses without plowing. The first-mentioned 
lands support from 1 to 8 sheep per acre for the year, while the 
latter average from one-half to 2 sheep per acre. Grass is the 
principal crop. With a growing season of 10 months and a well- 
distributed rainfall, it is found profitable to keep in grass for stock 
alone Jands valued as high as $150 per acre. Nearly one-half the 
occupied land is in holdings of over 5,000 acres, mainly used for 
sheep, there being 90 holdings of over 50,000 acres each against 
18,694 holdings of from 50 to 200 acres. 
The number of sheep kept has advanced from about 19,000,000 in 
1896 to 24,595,405 in April, 1914. This enumeration for April cor- 
responds to November in the United States, coming after a large 
proportion of lambs have been marketed, and corresponding quite 
closely to the numbers of the shearing season to follow. Wethers, 
rams, and ewes under breeding age comprise about one-half the sheep _ 
