St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-09-07
In Iowa 1t Is Claimed that III
hons Ara tho ChiaP Camsa

In Iowa 1t Is Claimed that the
Dogs Are the Chief Cause.
The sheep industry has been grad
ually decreasing in Iowa since 1868, in
spite of protection. Those whose polit-
ical views will not allow the protection
on wool to have had any unfavOrable
effect look to the destroying canine for
relief. They give an interesting state
ment of the damage by the dogs. In
1868. by their statements. the number OF
dogs in the state was placed at l47 623
and the value OF the sheep killed in the
state during that year was S125. 600
During the next year. 1869. the value of
the sheep killed by dogs climbs up to
/ Sl50.OO0. In 1870 the secretary OF the
board of agriculture in his report saws
that dogs infiict more injury directly
ana discourage more sheep growing
than ali other agencies combined" In
1871 the number of dogs was 40. 256.
The report published in 1872 gave the
number OF sheep for 1870 at S55, 493 and
in 1872 at 52l, S26-''a large decrease due
to the low price for wool. disease and
the ravageS OF dogs"
In the report of 1874 there is no notice
of sheep. and the same is true OF 1873.
In 1916 the number of sheep killed by
dogs was ., 934. In 1884 dogs killed TO-
233. The number of sheep in the state
this year was III ,047. and the numberof
dogs was 1864. As recently as 1886
dogs killed in the state 3,172 sheep, val
ued at IS. III. and that year the Dulnber
OF dogs in Iowa was l12.000 and the
number of sheep 271. 235. Secretary
Shaffer in his last report called atten-
ton to the alarming depredatiOns of
dogs. and assures the people of the
state that as long as dogs are allowed to
be in the majority the sheep industry
must languish in this state. Mr.. Shaffer
continues very decided in his denuncIa-
tons of the tolerance of the dog nuis-
ance, and has no hope that the sheen
industry can ever be bettered in this
state until the surplus of dogs is killed
of.
Gov. Larrabee said: Il am not will
ing to admit that Iowa is not a good
sheep-raising state. l am inclined to
think that with proper care and atten-
ton paid TO the raising of sheep this in
duStry can be made one of great yaIue
TO the Iowa agriculturist. 1t lis true
that the number of sheep in this state
has gradually decreased since 1868. And
the fact does not 20 TO prove that Iowa
is not good sheep-raising state. We
must look 10 other causes for the de-
crease of sheep. agree with Mr.. An
drewS that dogs nave seriously injured
the industry How seriously NAV be
judged from the fact that during one
year $4,000 sheep were killed bv
dogs and during another wear
statistics show that the sheen
thus killed amounted in value to SI50.-
600. which was more than a fifth of the
total value of Iowa tiocks. Farmers
would naturally abandon an industry
that had such enemies. Another cause
is disease among the fiocks. | can too
vividly recall the ravageS of disease i'm
1868 and in the year following. Disease
among sheep in this state was hot due
to the Iowa climate. although the Iowa
climate is such that sheep here need
adequate care and protection. This onr
Iowa sheep growers failed to do, and the
result was that their tiOcks were
thinned by disease. Many of the fiocks
driven into the state from Ohio.
Illinois. etc, were diseased. and
this only increased the aggraya-
ton. Another mistake made was that
farmers bought high-priced Merinos and
of other breeds 10 improve their tioeks.
only 10 discover that they were not fit
for the climate, and most of. them died
in a short time. All these facts caused
farmers to become discouraged, and the