The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1905-09-29
THOUSANDS OF SHEEP COMING
TO VALLEY.
SHIPMENTS FROM NORTH
Many Cars Ordered from Montana
Central to Transport the FIocks
to Feeding Grounds.
From Thursdays Daily.

| IAOAI Auu 5udy . boIlJ.
Doctor Knowles, state veterinarian,
has informed the Helena Independent
that not less than 10000 sheep will
be shipped into the Yellowstone val
ley during the next three or four
weeks to be wintered on the alfalfa
ranches that lie between this city and
Big Timber. Doctor Knowles bases
his estimate on the NUMBER OF cars
that have been ordered to ship the
sheep in, and his estimate, therefore,
falls below the actual number that
will be wintered here for the reason
that many Fergus county sheep will
| he trailed across the country. The
Independent says:
THE Yellowstone country, from Big
Timber to Billings, is the great feed
ing lot of Montana. The business of
feeding sheep and cattle for market
is not very old in the eastern part of
the state, but it has grown by leaps
and bounds.
''There is no section in Montana
where alfalfa does so we'll as in the
Yellowstone country and experience
has demonstrated that sheep and cat
tie kept on it for a specified time
bring the highest prices on the Chi
cago market.
"Just how many sheep will be fed
ON the Yellowstone this year cannot
be estimated now, but there will be
not less than 10000 shipped to that
section from northern and central
Montana. State Veterinarian Knowles
has been notified by the Montana Cen
trail Railway company that between
October l and 10, 116 cars of sheep
will be shipped from points on that
line to points in the Yellowstone
country. The state veterinarian is no.
titled, because the cars the animals
are shipped in must be disinfected be-
fore the sheep are loaded.
I'm addition to these shipments
there will be others off the main line
of the Great Northern, off the Mon
tana and the Northern Pacific, and
many will be trailed to the Yellow
stone.
'The great bulk of the shipments to
the Yellowstone feed lots will be
lambs, but there will be older ami
mails as we'll. SO far as known, men
who have fed in the Yellowstone have
never lost money in the business.
| FSGQ our MOnIl1Ss
"The plan is to feed three or four
months and then ship the animals to
the Chicago market. There is diff
ference in the price of the alfalfa,
but some contracts have been made
this year for alfalfa to be fed on the
land where it is grown for 81 a ton.
At this price the feeders estimate
that, allowing for all expenses and
such slight losses as are sure to be
suffered, there is a good profit, at the
price the sheep always bring on the
market in the spring.
Doctor Knowles said yesterday
that there is not now case of scabby
sheep in the state, and has not been
since last spring. The neM law works
WE'LL said Doctor Knowles, and
believe we can now keep the state
clean
Not long ago Idaho issued a quar-
antine proclamation against Montana,
Wyoming, Utah, Oregon and Washing
ton. Doctor Knowles wrote the state
veterinarian of Idaho asking him why
the quarantine had been declared
against Montana, and he was told the
proclamation had been suggested by
Colonel George S. Hickox, the federal
inspector in charge at Salt Lake. He
did not give any reasons for the ac-
tion."