40 BULLETIN 1001, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 
them would at first object to fencing because they think they do not 
need fences, and the sheep business can be carried on without them. 
It has been shown, however, by carefully conducted experiments 
that under high mountain range conditions part of a band of sheep 
running in pasture without a herder, but protected by wolf-proof 
fences, did better than the remainder of the same band on adjacent 
open range under the care of a herder. The animals inside the fence 
were heavier, produced more and cleaner wool, grazed a smaller area 
and trampled it less than those outside under a herder's care, and 
the losses were practically identical [76]. 
The plan of handling sheep in large pastures inclosed with coyo'te- 
proof fences has been in operation with success, in certain counties of 
southwestern Texas for a number of years, and much of the land is 
fenced in this way, notwithstanding a first cost for fencing that 
seemed almost prohibitive. Yet the men who have tried it are 
pleased with the results obtained. (Of course this generalization 
can only apply to yearlong ranges or their equivalents.) 
A number of the sheepmen in Arizona who are surrounded by cat- 
tlemen are as anxious for the cattle to be fenced in as the cattlemen 
are. One experienced sheepman at Holbrook, Ariz., succeeded in 
running a band of sheep all year long with a loss of only 27 animals 
from a band of 2,200 on an area where he was not interfered with by 
other stock and had virtual control. Yet the range he used is not 
considered a good sheep range at all, and he had been in the habit of 
leaving it part of each year. These experimental and actual busi- 
ness experiences tend strongly to prove that what has been said of 
the value of separate, fenced areas of sufficient size is as true for sheep 
as it is for cattle. Such a policy would doubtless necessitate certain 
changes in the ordinary practices, but the net result would be safer 
and more productive business, with better returns for less work. 
Sheepmen in certain regions are now debating the question whether 
they can ship their stock from one range to another more econom- 
ically than they can drive them. Some are actually shipping them. 
Range sheep are driven from summer range in the mountains of 
Utah to winter range on the deserts and pass through the irrigated 
farming lands that lie between with no other driveway than the public 
roads. This has been done for years. Driveways are unquestionably 
necessary in certain regions, but they should not be used as pasture 
grounds by the first bands as they pass, thus destroying their useful- 
ness for later bands and providing either necessity or excuse to these 
later bands for trespassing upon the permanent ranges through 
which they pass. Adjustments of all these difficulties, which under 
the present system cause great bitterness, can be made at once by 
fencing, and should have been made long ago for the best interests 
of all concerned. 
