The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1875-05-25
Practical Hints to Sheep
Breeders.
No. III.
BY s. d. ROCKWELL.
WILL SHEEP BREEDING PAY
BY s. d. ROCKWELL.

/
breed sheep suited to the trade Let us
see He is already the owner of flock of
100 good ewes of a good age, style, and
yield Of WOOL Their estimated value is
$50 per head. His buck was obtained
for 500, but is in reality worth thrice
that sum. II he is diligent and attentive
to business be will raise at least 100
lambs from his 100 ewes. A gentleman
in San Joaquin county, California, owns
flock of2,000 ewes, 1900 of which had
2,4OO lambs this season, thus increasing
his flock 100 per cent Nearly every eve
produced twins and twenty of them trip.
lets. We will suppose that at the age Of
one year, the 100 head Of young sheep
are sold at S15 per head nay, less-as
low as half this price. $3.50 each. If
he deducts $3.50 as the cost of winterirg,
there remains 5000, giving him the in.
terest Of
oNE HUNDRED DOLLARS
to each breeding eve her fleece paying
for her keeping
But will not age by and by sweep
away the flock and the capital be sunk
Never no, never. After you have rear
ed and sold eight or ten successive crops
OF lambs, just substitute the last crop for
the original one-let the young step into
the shoes Of their mother's and the bust.
ness is perpetuated, and the capital is as
valuable and productive as ever. Sure.
ly sheep breeding in Vermont pays large.
ly, and will Tor a quarter Of century 10
come, and we think for twice that period.
Bot will not wool growing in the Uni.
ted States within few years be overdone
and the price of wool and sheep greatly
decline ? We reply, there is no possible
DANGER TO Dh ANrlIrAIEU
in this direction. The best authorities
estimate the entire worlds wool product
for 1878, at 1,743,000 900 pounds OF
this enormous quantity, Europe produced
SS7 ,O0O, 900 pounds. Asia 800, 100000
pounds; Australia lSS, S,000,000 pounds
United States 130000,000 pounds and
South Africa 3S,0O0,000 pounds. The
United States imr ortcd in 1872 9S,306,-
5Sl pounds of wool showing plainly that
they grow only a little over half OF their
annual consumption The quantity re.
quired in the United States equals a
yearly average Of FIVE pounds to every
man woman and child therein. OF the
entire stock in 1878, 160,O00,O00 pounds
were used in domestic woolens, 2l,000,.
600 in shoddy, 100000 in hosiery,
10, 600, 600 in worsted, and
TWENTY-FIVE MILLIONS IN CARPETS.
When we consider that the population of
the United States doubles from natural
increase mot counting foreign immigra-
ibg 'ragerTyo Tyots twenty-five years, thus enl!arg::
probable that a score o! years will elapse
before we shall grow wool sufficient to
meet the national demand, to say nothing
of our foreign increase.
The yearly immigration to this coun-
try is large every fifth person among us
is a foreigner, or his descendant The
rush to our shores from the old world is
constant and increasing. These all with
our own increasing millions, must be not
only fed, but clothed. As it is the fab.
ion for all children to be born naked and
needy, so every year increases our de-
mand for wool to the amount OF
THREE MILLIONS FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND
pounds over the previous years, re.
quiring an increase Of 1000, 900 sheep
at least, to meet the requirement. For
the last five years the increase OF sheep
in the United States has been very small
1t is proportionally less to the popula'
ton than 10 1870. The number slaugh
tered and eaten in our American cities il
astonishingly large, and becoming more
and more SO yearly. 1t is safe inference
to state that wool growing will not be over
done in a lifetime to come, if ever.
1t is a suicidal policy for the UniteC
States TO pay out yearly $50 100000 fol
1 wool, imported from abroad 1t ough
not to be necessary, We ought to grow
not only all we need for home use, bu
millions of dollars worth for Great Brit
ain. England in 1870 imported 10 sup
ply her manufacturing and other inter
. ests l55, ,S27,724 pounds Of wool. Ii
p 1871 her importations increased to l79.
n 44O ,3O4 pounds Ia 1872 her net i'm
ports we're l47 500, ,l35 pounds. This
! evidence that there is foreign marke
for any surplus of wool We might choos
to grow. Let wool growers recogniz
:. and remember this important fact, an
q direct their efforts accordingly, and on
4 large their business. Yea increase you
A focks
4 ONE HUNDRED FOLD.
:. YoU can form Just conception of tn
I. importance of the sheep interest to
d country, from the recent statistics whic
J. come from Australia. 1t appears tina
IN the income from the sheep industry exec
. that from the mines, and amounts to owe
e 500, 100000 per year. The importanc
.e of the interest in this country, if not s
% great, is we'll advanced towards it. lal
,r years clip being worth from 100000
a 600 10 S75,000,000. But there is n
Of good reason why the returns from th
M branch of national industry should M
ir equal, yea, surpass those of any coun:r
eff in the world. We have all the requisit,
i. for success. and if the interest could
re released from the embarrassing effects
Y. legislation, and if the education of Il
at agricultural mind upon the sheep que
Y. tion was made little more thoroug
h. the United States would rank in the vall
d. of its sheep industry,
@. SECOND TO NO OTHER COUNTRY.
III And even with the present state of th
interest, there is scarcely any other-n
even mining interest, which can nal
Is. an equal showing or present strong
he claims upon tho consideration al
e. confidence of the public. But the il
sr, portance of this interest is not to
tn estimated by the value of the wool cl
10 alone. A skillful breeder can SO rule 0