The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1904-06-25
WOOL PRODUCT
TWENTY TONS
ESTIMATE OF
QUANTITY AND VALUE
Fewer Sheer Than Last Year Due to
Increase in Dairying-Advant
of sheep Raising as Set Forth by
an Illinois Stockmnn.

1t is estimated that about twenty
tons of wool was produced in this
county this year, worth at present
prices a little over s. 600, although
probably less than this amount has
been realized, owing to the fact that
a considerable quantity of wool was
sold when prices were several cents
per pound lower than they are now
This was especially the case on Orcas
island where a buyer early in the
season contracted fol quite per
certage of the clip at ~ cents,
which is four cents under the present
price for good average wool. Orcas
wool as a general thing is not as
clean as San Juan wool, owing to the
fact that most of the sheep there run
on timbered ranges which have been
blackened more or less by forest
fires
Although the reports made TO the
assessor this year indicate that there
are not now quite as many sheep in
the county as there were last year, it
is believed that the county still re
tains its place as the leading sheep
and wool producing county of West
ern Washington Some farmers who
formerly kept sheep and who have
lately gone into dairying disposed of
their sheep in order to increase their
pasturage for COWS Sheep and cat
tie do not do well ON the same range
There are still large tracts of upland
in this county, now yielding little re
turn TO their owners, which might be
proftably devoted to the raising of
sheep and goats by clearing out the
underbrush and seeding to hardy
grasses.
The advantages of sheep raising
were well set ;orth in a recent adj
dress before the Illinois Live Stock
Breeders Association, in which the
speaker, Jacob Zeigler, said
"Sheep are on the decrease, while
cattle and hogs are on the increase,
in spite Of the annual increase in
mutton consumption over that of
beef and pork.
II find that sheep have natural
advantages that cattle and hogs do
not possess, and offer more sources
of profit than either of the others.
"First-They are prolific and raise
their young on the most inexpensive
feed with the least care
'Second-Their flesh costs the
least to produce ard brings more on
the market than any other; besides,
| it is a most healthful God for man.
''TLird-They grow annually from
6 to 10 per cent of their normal live
weight in wool, which sells for more
than three times as much as the
flesh of any animal, and furnishes
| a splendid cover Tor the body in win
ter, as well as gives employment to
thousands of skilled laborers to con
vert it into fabric for the use of man.
'Foufth-They return more and
better fertility to enrich the soil and
distribute the same more evenly than
any other animal. They help keep
the land free of weeds and convert
the same into valuable commodity.
They are the most easily managed
animals, and do not tramp and tear
up the fields and lots like others, and
one can turn them into fields TO pick
up the waste where other animals
could not be tolerated, and thus save
vast otherwise actual loss; and
they can be retained in Enclosures
that will not hold either OF the
others. They t rive and fatten ON
pasture without any grain, but do
not thrive in pasture without grass.
Sheep give ON an average more
pounds of meat to a bushel of grai'
than either hogs or cattle.