The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1917-11-24
SHEEP RAISING IN VERMONT.
Boston Paper Thinks the Pastures Will
Not Allow It.

In another column, we publish an in
teresting letter on sheep farming from
Mr.. A. G, Bigelow, who may be regarded
as the father of the more. sheep move
ment" in this country. Mr.. Bigelow takes
exception to certain statements made
and misgivings expressed in an article
on sheep farming which The Transcript
| published on Nov. 7. He questions the
statement that the ordinary effect OF
turning sheep upon poor New England
| hillside pastures is to eXterminate the
grass and erode the pastures, quoting in
refutation of this statement an account
of the fertilizng effect of sheep on GER
tain English pastures. 1t seems to us
that Mr.. Bigelow's view of this question
is based on conditions which do not gen
orally prevail in New England 1t is
undoubtedly true that under well-regu
lated agricultural conditions, with sown
pastures, with well-rooted turf in mel
low and well-watered soil, and particu-
larly in England or in our own level and
fertile regions, the effect of sheep pas
turage is indeed to maintain fertility.
But the writer of this is quite ready to
conduct Mr.. Bigelow to hill pastures in
Vermont which were utterly finished by
an attempt at sheep pasturage. The i'm
poverished grass was first eaten to the
ground, and then the very roots were
devoured; and when the torrential rains
descended upon the barred earth. the soil
was washed away and the hillside SO
hopelessly quilted that it can never be
put to any other use than that of for
estation. And what has been the effect
of continued sheep pasturage on the arid
and semi.arid ranges of our western
plains and mountain region? Has it not
exhausted them, involving q
large expenditure for fencing and for
systematic restoration of the grasses
with cultivation?
The simple fact is that successful
sheep farming requires care, attention,
scientific methods, and consequently cap
ital and labor, and requires them in larg |
er measure than the average New Eng |
land farmer is able to give under pre-
vailing conditions. There was time
when the raising of merino sheep was
very profitable, particularly in Vermont,
That was at the time when the sheep
growers of the West and of Australia
found it profitable to cross high bred
nerinos with their native coarse wooded
stock, and when rams and ewes from
Vermont were therefore in great de-
nand. The market was soon glutted
The demand for breeding stock ceased
The western and Australian competition
uined the eastern farmers market for
WOOL. At the same time, the dairy in
ustry, favored by the growth of cities
nd populous factory towns, and by the
evelopment of the creamery system of
manufacturing butter, grew to leading
in agricultural New Eng
and. Farmers all went into it. There
vas nothing else but the COW. Yet in
his business the farmer was strictly {
United by the increasing scarcity of la
or. He put all his time and strength
nd money into cows and that is where {
hey are still. To organize his opera s
ions in such way that they will also 9
iclude sheep, he must not only have e
,pital with which to restore his pas '
lres, but labor with which to carry on 6
is dairy business and herd his sheep.
The Transcript by no means opposes !
ngland. 1t is, on the contrary, decid- 3
IL. III ldfoi VI IL. Every suCH step DIS
lat just taken by the New Hampshire G
'llege extension service, which has in /
lgurated survey of practical sheep Y
rms in that state, to obtain data of o
,tual expenditures and operations, TO 8
ace these data at the disposal of farm b
g and to assist them in finding and e.
sposing of breeding stock and in the "
and handling of sheep, is fl
artily to be commended. But the in Of
lstry cannot be restored merely by b.
aving a wand over the hillsides and ii
ying, let there be sheep!" 1t will Il
we to be done right if it is to be done al