The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-26
TOLD OF DESERT SHEEP.
GoTERNoR OTERo,s EsTTMATE OF
PRoFITs IN WO0L.

PROFITS IN Wo6B.
FOR the Right Man WHO IL able 20 Get the
Risht Location Hero n n Business THAT
seems sure and Is Not SO very slow.
SANTA FL, n. NJ, Dec. 2I.-Among tho fca-
lures OF Gov. Miguel A. Otero's last annual re-
port from this Territory tho ono most likely to
interest the farmers who read The Sun relates
TO sheep raising. For tho Governor, unlike his
predecessors whom writing reports, has gone
| into tho details Of this business, and figures
out n profit in It that must open the eyes OF the
slowor.going sheep men OF Ohio and Vermont.
He has, in short, to use an expression familiar
/, to the newspaper men of the West, given the
sheep business such n write.up as IL has rarely
had before.
According to tho Governor, after deducting
from the 7s, 900. 900 acres all told the 1900, 900
under cultivation, the 100000 OF land grants.
and the estimated millions Of mountains not at
for grazing the Territory contains mot less than
So, ZOO, 900 acres peculiarly adapted to sheep
pasturngo'-so peculiarly adapted, in fact, that
ut is estimated that two sheep can be sup
ported on each acre Of land: go the public lands
OF New Mexico can support 110,000.0 900, or
enough to easily supply all tho wool consumed
in tho United States, estimated at 650,o00,o00
pounds"
Instead Of finding any such number as this In
the Territory, however. there are at most but
100000. although "the present year has been
the most favorable to the sheep industry ever
known. The lamb crop was % per cent. Of tho
ewes.' and 100000 Of the number are ewes.
(which may pe safely relied on to produce
next year 2.0O0.O 900 lambs, or 66s6 per cent"
1t appears that the people of New Mexico
are unsurpassed in the management of sheep
herds and that is to say that the sheep men
are descendants Of the original Spanish.Ameri-
can stock. who for hundreds Of years have had
no other business than that Of sheep raising,
"The sheep are run In flocks Of from 5000 to
5000 Each flock requires three men. or
two men and one boy. and two or three dogs"
while an owner having n number of focks
needs an overseer to each group Of three focks.
Tho outfit for each flock includes a camp kit,
n supply Of provisions, and a donkey to carry all.
This is because "the sheep are grazed from
| place to place within the range" THE dogs
and men constantly remain with the sheep the
whole year"
On figuring it out 1t appears that 1.-The cost
Of caring for a flock Of 1000 for a year Is $15
per month for each Of the two men and so for
q boy, or 800 per year: their rations and that
Of the dogs, part of which is mutton from
tho flocks, cost $12. per month each, or 1892;
sbearers at 8 cents q fleece, $I2o; other Incl:
dental 4 mt expenses p $2is; or Tl'4oo per flock of
The return from the flock is estimated at five
pounds per, ~head-2O,O0o pounds Of wool,
which, at the present price, a cents" gives
sheep ARE now selling at from sl.75 to So a
head" SO an outside estimate Of the capital in.
vested in the sheep is $4,000;
However, not o., all the profit III in til the sheep is s
esti%at In the hat sal sh' qs T tSe flock toF the would GGTof fosS
causes 200 head a year, the increase from lambs
These would include both ewes and wethers,
the wether being of small value. but the cash
the sale Of wool by several hundred dollars.
On the whole, according to the Governors fig
nress, an industrious farmer having the money
knowledge needed to take care OF them could
get more money out Of 1000 sheep here in Now
farm worth three times the price of the flock.
While 1t is certain that Gov. Otero took most
of his figures from the actual experience of men
in the sheep business, there are certain fats not
mentioned by him which a down East farmer
ought to considor before he comes to the desert
land At for sheep; There are; indeed; 5000
who should undertake, herding sheep on it at
will, choosing. his own locality, would find such
enced in the East, though he had had no end of
lawsuits over line fences. A glance at the map
S SerS ihstrSaeiys sf in th1s suS}eet f cf ppabl Eil Ia RfdpG ss
for sheep grazing. The water courses and even
the springs to be found in the State are to a very
large extent marked thereon in red ink. The
breadth OF land without a red line on it looks
small on the map, but in fact it is very. wide.
l Lase; an as { shs sa! Mascll 1hs f Ranso O snd the M bstiis
and the Black Range. Here lies the San Angus.
e eli Pl9 noti io Gssfo oeo ovf It T Is 6 th aae T GaEs! drive drfy;
from Magdalena, where there is a very good
well, to running water in the Rio San Francisco
four springs. according to the map-two in the
Datils, the Horse spring and Patterson's. There
is another. however, that the map does not show
in all five springs along a route considerably
more than 100 miles iOng. Taking the entire
s f@ea Ap .S1ys mi] R,si apa the o spffibn I'M sv are more than
Now. II all the springs were open to public
use the farmer from the East could pasture a
whole lot of sheep on the San Augustin plain,
for they can feed back twelve or fifteen miles
from water. but as a matter of fact all the avail
able springs arc inclosed with barbed- wire
fence and lie on private land long since pat.
ented, save only the Horse spring. and that
grass of this region would support two sheer
per acre. the man from the East might see his
the pasture. Watering sheep is n regular bust
ling herd drink once il its owner viii give them
watered.
Then as to the estimate Of two sheep per acre
it, is. very likely true that the Territory rs a
whole might on the average support that mum
Der; in a good seas9nma season when -ain !:
San Augustin plain might support that number
Time was when the cattlcmcn of this Territory
honestly believed the whole State would sup
port a pair of horns per acre. but when the
droughts came they found their error. for on Tho
average twenty acres lin some seasons forty
acresl would not support n horned head.
But that is not all. The springs OF water arc
not only owned by private people; the streams
are bordered on both sides by patented claims
and, what Is worse for the man from the East
practically all these people arc in the sheer
and cattle business for themselves.
And then there is the trouble ever present
between the sheep men and tho cattle men
The presence Of sheep on the range i%nterferel
conducted, and a tenderfoot sheepmnn would
need all his fortitude and a plentiful supply o.
cartridges II cowboys took IA notion TO tell hin
to git"
But this is not to discourage altogether M
Eastern man with, II notion to try the sheer
business from coming TO New Mexico. II hi
will go at IL in the right way he is as sure I,
succeed az he would bo in any such business
anywhere in the world. First of all he mus
gel n water right. however. There are watel
rights unoccupied in the Territory that can b.
had for tho taking. They lie n long ways bacl
from the railroad. but that is not n scriour
Il. - II. -. Al a