Omaha daily bee., 1898-10-30

goo acres in TERRA del Fuego and Is inter-
ested in a number Of other large farms
there and on the mainland. He is a young
man, but possesses remarkable business
ability and makes very excellent consul.
On "a Big Sheep Farm.
The management of one of these large
sheep farms is interesting.
Take that of the company which has two
and one half million acres in TERRA del
Fuego Its 100000 sheep are divided
up into focks of 1000 each. Each
flock has a pasture tract about six
miles square allotted to it. This Is just
the size of many of our American town
ships, and if you will imagine a township
as one field you will have an idea OF the
ordinary TERRA del Fuego pasture. This,
to many OF our farmers, would seem a
large amount Of land for this number of
sheep, but the grass here is short and In
TERRA del Fuego from two to three acres
of pacture are required for each sheep
Every flock has its own shepherd, who
watches the sheep on horseback He has
number of dogs which he SO trains that
they will obey his signs. Most of the dogs
are Scotch collies, which are very intelli-
gent and which understand their masters
almost as well as though they could under
a motion to the front they know that they
are to go ahead, a motion to the rear calls
them back and the raising of his hand in
the air brings them to a standstill Other
motions send them to the right and left
and, in fact, they act for him almost as
we'll as If they were human beings The
shepherds are usually Scotchmen, who come
here on fve-year contracts at from $25 to
SS5 gold a month, with the understanding
that they are to have meat fuel and
houses free The meat is mutton, the fuel
they cut themselves and their houses are
little two or three-room shanties scattered
over the farm. They do not have very hard
work for most OF the year. They have TO
feed the sheep. This is not hard, for all
the feeding that the sheep gets is from the
pasture, for the grass is always green on
the Magelans and the sheep can Craze in
TERRA del Fuego all the year around.
Shcaring Sheep by steam.
They have a little harder work at shear
ing time, but here much of the work is
done by professional shearers and the shep-
herds only assist. The shearing time begins
in January and on a big sheep station 1t
lasts for two months The sheep are not
washed before shearing. The wool is
cleaned after it reaches the European mar
ket. The price paid the shearers is $3.50
per hundred sheep, at which rate a good
man can make big wages.
Within the last year or so some fiocks
in Terra del Fuego have been sheared by
steam. A set of knives or clippers, like
those used by our BARRIERS for clipping the
hair short, is attached to a cord running
on an overhead pulley and man moves
these clippers over the skin OF the sheep,
clipping off the wool. This is said TO make
a cleaner and closer job and does not cut
the skin. After shearing the tleeces are
carefully spread out, being laid one on top
OF the other and SO packed in bales Of 500
pounds each, The most OF the wool goes
to the English markets, where 1t brings
from to % cents q pound, All Of these
large stations have their managers, over
seers and bookkeCpers.
Nearly every one has a store, where its
men can get their supplies, and every sue
cessful sheep station must be managed after