Daily Kennebec journal., 1908-12-26
A Sheep Raising Experiment.

A Sheep Raising Experiment. --''-
| While tllc@nahlbern OF, sheep owned in
1.-THE whole country has largely increased
in recent years. those owned in New
England have pretty well disappeared
and sheep raising has become smaller
and smaller factor in the agricultural
life of this section. Various causes
have operated to bring about this
change and various theories, some of
them far removed from any of these
causes, have been advanced to account
for it, A few years ago an ambitious
attempt was made to reha bilitate the
sheep raising industry in the hill towns
of western Massachusetts, but a writer
in the Boston Transcript tells us that
| it has now come to grief, the ranches
in Leyden and other places are aban-
doned, most of the fiocks sold and the,
| kearded Scots shepherds, together with
| their collies, VINO conveyed their wolly
charges with such adroitness through
the streets of Greenfield, 9have gone
back across the sea. The New England
Farm Stock Company, which was
formed in 1905 under the auspices Of the
Greenfield Board of Trade, has decided
to discontinue business. Says the
Transcript: There is general regret
that the very interesting experiment
which this company made has not
proved a success. Its promoters be-
lievad that there was money to be
made in leasing sheep to farmers and
in ranching sheep on old hill farms
which could he rented cheaply. The
leasing business was given up last
spring. Briefly, the difficulty was that
the lessees of the sheep were scattered
over so wide territory that they could |
not be supervised except at great eX-
pense. Yet close supervision was |
needed to see that the sheep were prop |
erly cared for"
Farmers who have had experience in |
sheep raising will be interested In the
Transcripts financial analysis of this
western Massachusetts experiment.
"One great trouble was that the COM
ranchei sheep in Leyden and in south
ern Vermont. Sheep always improve
land on which they are kept and Tor a
few years the principal tangible profit
would be found in this Improvement OF
the land But when the land was rent
ed the owned had the benefit of the in
creased fertility rather than the ram
chers The company officers say that
at the least calculation it costs $i.7o III
a year On the present price of twenty
cents a pound for wool sheep shear
ing eight pounds would give S1.60 in
wool and at the very lowest calcula ton
81 would be received for the lamb. The
profit would come in the higher price
Tor wool which would be received the
greater part of the time, and because
sheep that was we'll kept would gener-
ally yield a lamt that would sell for
S7 or more. If a company or individual
owned its lanG, in a few years after
sheep hal increased it's fertility hay
and grain could be produced there
which would feed Il sheep for a year
for very much less than $40. The
company had too many sheep to care
for them properly and they ran down
to such an extent that they did, not
pay for their keep. Loss of sheep by
dogs has been annoying but has not
antailed serious loss. The company is
satisfied that profit in the sheep bust
ness can only he had by feeding tie
animals very liocrally."