Arizona weekly citizen., 1882-10-08
sheep in Colorado.
Colorhdo Farmer.


 Tbe raising ui shesp by she American pe0 yse ha, been suoJected tO more ana greater Sicissitddes thgn auy other branch ot livestock breeding Mith-n our recollection have we tAree timeH seeu tnis uusluess aTlse To thS hasLI- tude of d gigantic boom, and as many times receds until 1t looked as If we would abandon the business. Our methods of sheep ralsing hre @s diHereht from that of any other people as can well be imagined. The EnZlishman plods steadily along with his iiockE, whether thes are in Merry England CT in New Zealand, content 10 makf steady income, expectlpg reverses 1t times aud prepared tU meet them, but the speculative. changeable American will tolerate no such conservative methods. He will either nave ID his ilocks yeritable bonanza or he will none of it-he will try sheep n few years, buy them when they are high, 1 keep them until diseases or somes mls- | fortune or drop ln prices comes, then | out of the business he goes ana tiles something else that requires less care. IL Is true that in the older States these hablts are changing for the slower and better way. but in the West the methods are us We have partly described them, and the consequences are, that III | Colorado, the business has not been altogether satisfactory to the ordinary shepherd of the plains. But those Who | have engaged Tn the business wlth proper consideration and care Tor their fiocks have made money. The business does not require the large sums of ] l.l If-1I | cattle, for hOcks varying In size from | one 10 five thousand are the most economically handled.
 The past year has been very hard one on sheep-while they withstood tho dry summer and fall of lSeO much bet ter than cattle, yet the winter came | early ln November with deep snow that | lay the greater part Of the winter months, and sheep Tn large hocks can not hunt their feed m deep snow; hay was scarce and very high, and many iOck-masters were unprovided with any, and the consequences were that tens of thousands of sheep pe1shed of actual starvation, q thing that was enblrely un- necessary if the owners had prepared to treat their sheep as they are elsewhere, although sheep have summered very well, and the first of January, loS2, found them in splendid condition. Yet some owners are discouraged, and one of the spasmOdic fits that attack sheep meu in America is upon our shepherds, this is somewhat helped by the depres-
 sion 10 the price of wool Purchases oi ! Colorado wool have not been brisk, and prices have had downward tendency. rhis outlook IS good for the business to those who have the courage and perseT- yerance to wait The fiOcks of the State have increased in quality and quantity. Six years ago the average clip did nOt exceed two and hals pounds per head. To-day it is fully six. The quality of the sheep for mutton has also increased materially. Colorado produces not less than eight million pounds of wool, and in a few years this will increase to twenty.
 Tho assessors book shows that there were in Colorado in 1879, 797, ,935 sheep;
 in 1880, 7S3,Gi9, and in 1881, j43,33S
 Evidently the owners about the time .he assessor was around in the latter two years were affected with moral in- sanIty.