CHAPTER IX.

SHEEP-FARMING AND WOOL-GROWING-THE BEST REGIONS AND THE BEST BREEDS THE MOST DIRECT ROUTES THITHER-THE METHODS OF SHEEPFARMING IN OUR WESTERN EMPIRE-CAPITAL REQUIRED In Different SECTIONS THE Shepherds-ANTAGONISM OF THE HERDERS AND SHEPHERDSIMPROVING The Breeds-Wintering THE SHEEP-WATER IN ABUNDANCE A NECESSITY-DESTRUCTION OF THE HERDS FROM THIRST-SNOWING UnderFATAL EFFECTS of a SevereE NORTHER-THE SHEPHERD's Life more Isolated AND WITH LESS EXCITEMENT THAN THAT OF THE HERDER OR COW-BOY-ITS RISKS AND DANGERS-HOW TO BUY AND STOCK A SHEEP-RANCHE-THE AMOUNT OF CAPITAL NECESSARY-THE COST AND THE PROFITS THE ENEMIES OF THE SHEEP HOW A POOR MAN CAN BECOMe a Sheep-MASTER.

THE increasing attention which has been given within the past ten or twenty years to sheep-farming in Great Britain, as well as on the continent, and the fact that in the Australian colonies, the South African colonies, and the Dominion of Canada, it is one of the chief branches of agricultural industry, will almost necessarily inspire in the minds of emigrants from Great Britain or the continent of Europe the desire to engage in it here. In Europe sheep-farming, except on a very small scale, cannot be conducted by any but wealthy proprietors. The land, especially in the United Kingdom, is in few hands, and is so valuable that a sufficiency of it for a large sheep-farm is beyond the means of the small farmer. Sheep-pastures, which rent at from $8 to $25 per acre, are certainly beyond the reach of men of small means, especially if they reckon as they do in Colorado, in their lavish way, that they need to have a range of five acres to a sheep, in order to change their flocks from one pasture to another.

The large and constantly increasing importation of sheep and mutton for food purposes into Great Britain from Australia, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, reduces the price of mutton there so low that the farmers cannot raise sheep for their flesh, and the vast increase in the production of wool, and the marked appreciation in its quality in the United States and Canada, as well as in other countries, keeps down the price of that staple.

CAPITAL NEEDED FOR SHEEP-FARMING.

403

Let us then consider whether the immigrant coming to the West from any part of Europe, or from our own Atlantic States, with a small capital can enter upon sheep-farming with any fair prospect of success; and if so, in what region it will be best for him to locate, and what breeds of sheep he will find it most profitable to rear.

Let us say, at the commencement of this discussion, that to the man who has not at least $2,000 at his command, profitable sheep-farming, except as an employé of others, is well-nigh impossible; and even with that much capital, it is only practicable in a very few of the States or Territories, and with a much smaller flock than would suit the ambition of most of our sheep-masters. For starting on a small scale, Kansas, Texas, and Colorado have some great advantages and some disadvantages. Perhaps Kansas is, on the whole, the best for these small sheep-farms. Texas has cheaper land and more free range, but Kansas has enough for all present necessities. The Texas sheep are yet so largely of the Mexican breeds, that they yield but three or four pounds of wool at a shearing; the Kansas sheep have been improved till they will average over five pounds, perhaps nearly six, and their wool commands a somewhat better price in the market. The Texas sheep are subject to the scab, which gives them great torture, and sometimes kills them; they suffer somewhat also from footrot, though not nearly as much as some years ago. In Kansas there is no foot-rot, and very little of the scab.

But, perhaps, the best testimony we can have from either State is that furnished by the simple testimony of practical woolgrowers, who give their account of their success without any motive to make out a case worse or better than the facts will warrant. These statements will be far more satisfactory to the intending immigrant who desires to become a sheep-master, than any theoretical estimates which can be figured out, because they are what has been accomplished by men of average skill as woolgrowers, and men perhaps no more skillful than those who desire to engage in the business. In Texas, with its vast flocks of sheep (about 7,000,000 the present year), the sheep-masters do not encourage small sheep-farms, because they are apt to be in the

way of their great free-ranges, and, as they allege, on account of the greater profit and advantage of handling them in large flocks: but it is well to note what these sheep-masters say of the business. Col. John James, a sheep-master for thirty years, and occupying an extensive tract west of San Antonio, writes that that region known as Western Texas is well adapted for Merino sheep. “We have not tried fairly," he says, "to raise the finer and heavier mutton sheep. We know they do not herd well, or as well as the Merinos, and a great deal of expense is saved by being able to run them in large flocks. The finer-wooled sheep pay the best. We know no other disease among them except the scab, which is not hard to cure, nor is the expense heavy to do so. We think that the scab will not originate in that country if the sheep are properly cared for and kept out of dirty pens. We have now an excellent scab law, and that disease will be so generally controlled that we will not hear much of it from this time forward. We run our sheep in flocks of from 1,000 to 1,500, generally as high as the last named figure, and we use Mexicans for shepherds, and pay them $12 a month, and rations which cost about $6 a month more. The cost of living on a ranche may be rated somewhat as to the taste and habits of each ranchero. If persons can economize labor, the outlay for food is not a serious item. Meat is abundant and cheap, and is generally produced on the ranche. The people live generally upon fresh meat-cattle, hogs, mutton, chickens, and game. Coffee, sugar, and flour cost higher than where there are railroads. Corn is either raised on the ranche, or purchased at about $1 per bushel, and there are mills within reach to grind it.

"Sheep and cattle men care very little for farming, their attention in the spring of the year being devoted to their stock, which then requires more attention than at other times.

"We do not pen our flocks at night; our shepherds sleep out on the ridges at night with the sheep-the flocks, at night, being near to each other for mutual protection; nor do we put up any feed for winter use. The grasses and other food they get, upon

* Perhaps not in that vicinity, but in the lower lands of Texas the foot-rot has been fearfully prevalent among the sheep. As the lands are drained this disease disappears.