The crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1877-1878, 1878-02-21
KANSAS FOR SHEEP.
What May be Done In This Line Dy "
Little Prudent Management.

Little Prudent Management.
Correspondent Kansas Farmer.
In California, Col. Mcconnell, the
greatest and pioneer sheep-man said,
Ssheep should be used to span the space
between the sparce and dense popula-
tion." He at first used public lands
for his sheep, afterwards bought large
tracts and pastured them till required
for agricultural purposes, by which
time they became valuable when he
sold them, realizing two profits on his
land-the use for sheep pastures and
immense increase in value.
Everybody admits McConnell's
theory to be correct and his successful
fnanciering proves his scheme wise and
practical.
What he done in California, may be
done as successfully and more certainly
now in Kansas than in California. They
are so vastly overstocked while Kansas
is not, nor can be for many, many
years. Besides, in Kansas, the growing
grain enables the provident sheep-man
to bridge over any drought or disaster
that possibly may befall the range; l
shall never forget the first sight l had
of Kansas. Daylight came to our train
at Wamego and the impression made
on my mind that Sunday, as rnn slowly
on a freight train, have never been
lessened- the best and most sheep pas
lures l had ever seen. And when the
abundance and cheapness of corn, oats
and rye were known to me, and in i'm
mediate proximity to sheep ranges there
was lacking nothing to my mind OF
sheep paradise itself. To-day while
we are shut up close in the yards with
snow all over creation and no show but
to feed contentedly and steadilp on till
April on 40c corn SOC oats, so hay,
u 1-2c bran and SOC turnips, and you
feel your show as far ahead as ours; be-
sides your airy climate admits of the
use of pastures of the range. l have
never seen an estimate Of cost of keep
ing sheep year in Kansas, but cannot
imagine any cheaper country to keep
them.
/ have wondered at the folly of buy
ing large tracts Of land to be an encum-
brance in the way of taxes and expenses
of hiring hands and keeping teams to
raise grain for low prices, and perhaps
for grasshoppers to devour when the
same capital put into sheep would be II
surer, neater, better paying investment
for the capitalist or the man of small
means.
Grasshoppers have done much to
stimulate wool-growing in Kansas, they
do not interfere with wool growing, rs
they leave the prairie grass untouched.
Cattle have received more attention in
Kansas than sheep, though wool growers
are doing the best business. Cattle
men have been attracted there by the
cheap land, and have carried with them
from home n knowledge and love for the
herd. Many sheep-men while on the
move have gone further and done worse.
Those rich valleys of land where corn,
wheat, oats, rye and turnips grow so
luxuiantly, are usually bordered by
bluffs, in which delightful stone for
building and fencing are found, while
on top of the bluffs looking so grandly
away over the rolling prairie, are best
fitted for ranges for cattle, sheep and
horses nearly the entire year, and just
along side, two hundred feet below,
grow the cheap grains for the winter
feeding.
Kansas thrift and foresight will soon
change to sheep, and use these prairies
to form the cheapest and best wool
farms in the United States, and l might
say the world, for the intelligence Of
Kansas will not use the meaner breeds
of sheep. There have been more thor
ough-bred sheep taken to Kansas, at
fancy prices to be used in wool growing
strictly, than have been to any of the
states or territories west or south. There
are Spanish Mcrino ewes to-day, to my
knowledge, that 800 will not buy be-
cause the owners intend to build up
flock of such for their own use Mr..
Grant of Victoria, Kansas, has paid the
highest prices for England's prize sheep
to use on his flocks. Soon Kansas
woods would tell upon the markets if
there was uniformity in handling and
marke ing it as Kansas woods.
1t has seemed strange to me that
there has been no organization among
Kansas flock masters for mutual protec-
ton or friendly emulation in the bust
ness. Itcannot remain so long; already
the distant mutterings of our enemies
in congress are heard threatening to re-
move the protection on wool and wool
ems we have had of the government for
the last 10 years. Weshall passively, l
fear, allow the fight to go against us;
then will come the cry to arms again, as
in the days OF 1864, when sheepmen
were willing to organize for the common
good. Better begin now.