Norwich bulletin., 1917-12-26
SHEEP IN CONNECTICUT.
Farmers Should Not Hesitate to Raise
 Them in Numbers.

Should Connecticut farmers breed more sheep? The farmer must con- sider two questions relating to the sheep industry in order to answer this question to his own satisfaction and to the satisfaction of the public, which at the present time demands more wool and mutton. The first is, what is the market going to be for wool and mutton during the next four or hve years; second, what are the merits of the sheep industry as compared with other lines of farm operations?
 There is no question but that the heavy demand for wool of all grades is going to continue. In 1916, 737,679,- 924 pounds of wool were used in the United States and of this only 2SS,- 100000 pounds were produced In other words, our domestic wool production is less than half of the domestic con sumption. Previous to the war, the bulk of the imported wool was Of k,us- tralian and South American origin The placing of an embargo on wool from Australia by Great Britain and the lack of available tonnage for the transportation of South American wool has greatly reduced our importations. This country then for several years will depend largely on home produc- tion to supply a demand for wool which greatly exceeds the supply.
 The meat supply is just short as the wool supply and mutton values
 
 ues. The value of our exportations of meat products increased between 1914 and 1916 from 97, 900 O00 to $201, ,000.00 There has been a wholesale slaughter Of meat producing animals in Europe since 1914, hence it will be several years before the meat production of the world will again become normal. If the farmer then feels that the mar only to consider the advisability of raising sheep on the Connecticut farms iri competition with other lines Of farming.
 In I245 there were in the state of Connecticut 16G, ,T17 sheep, and in the census of 1915 it was found that we had only .IS, 900 sheep.
 The past year finds the new federal homestead law in effect awarding GAO acre tracts of public land in the west to settlers. Thus the open ranges of the west are being broken up and a large number of shespmeE will be out of business this fall, resulting in a considerable, decrease in numbers of fact that the future sheep industry of this country must undergo a transpo- Sition from tEs rIyge tG a farm basis This vii. mean small hocks of sheep on the farm w;tli the sheep raising part Of general farming; a general sheep industry throughout the country with the east Becoming very important factor. Connecticut land is especially d4dpLS-u to LliS TdiS-IIS Ol SuccP cIlti no other eastern state offers a better opportunity for the transformation of | the sheep industry. The Connecticut farmer should therefore grasp this op- portunity at once because western sheepmen are already looking for such land and conditions as exist here.
 The high prices of grains. which are such a handicap to the poultry and dairy industries at the present time, has little or no effect on the sheep in dustry. Sheep will not do as well without grain as with it, yet there are farmers selling wool and lambs year after year who produce these products with an .astonishingly small grain bill and in some cases none at ali Our surplus of production directly from | the soil must be in forage, either as grass or hay. If our future methods must abandon the liberal use of grain
 in producing the final product for the market, it is obvious that the expan- sion must be in sheep. Sheep vii, utilize inferior pastures of a -hilfy na- ture, their meat may be sold in the iform of lamb produced by sucklfns