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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (June 14, 1890)
WEST SIFOKE. c ) f SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE INLAND EMPIRE. TIIK Ixmirn'M of raining nheep and wool in among the mont inixirtniit indtmtric, of tin' Inland Em pire. The number of hand, employed in not largo, hut the capital invented and the inijiortance of the roliict cmriiari a gfn n deal of attention. The wool interenli ronlrihute very materially to the gen eral pronjerily nf Oregon and Washington. The nheep huniricp, of Washington in conducted almont ejclunively rant of the Columbia river ami (Miulh of the HjMikane. In Oregon the plateau Ix twecn the (Wade and Clue mountains, the ('.rami Ronde valley anil Powder river valley are the home of the nheep. The rich forming pectiomt like the Walla Walla, Yakima and Kittitan valley, are notdentituteof nheep, hut there the htinincn in on a loore modint wale, though, rhap, not li en profit aide. It in not tliar acterlied hy nixh pro noutired migration I tween dimmer and win ter pasture that connti tute a great factor in the propecution of range hcp liimilii-M. In thope and other farming pee tiotia phivp are rained and cared for very much an they are in the cant the animal take rare of IhemiMlvep alinont en tirely in the aummer time, and in winter they are fed in pome phcltcrrd corral. Of cournc there arc all phan, from th farmer with hin nmall llm k car, fully t, ,,, In, ,,,,,, to mm with hit thounanda of h,.d that oneillnt,. between the valley, and the inountainn, comM to get their own iving or Ptarve. n poking of the nheep bunine in thi. rrg.o,,, hoover, it , ,jP,imr undernto,! ml the handling of Urp. ,,,!, of at.imaln o the o,m range , f,rrrJ ,,, Tll, j,,,,,,. fJ Idaho and Montana. f lf,, I1UHiiflt.a,;(ll( M i'rt ruggol character of the country and th, differ met in climate imc on it. The ,wp ,. unit i. the Ud. which may ,. U nany numUrof animal fro, I.Vm to .Kmi The 'dy fr.no,,, for hunting , iiw (lf (ho Un,j ' n.y and practicahil.ty i h,ndl,ng With each lnd of.Wli..hcHcrith hi. or Uoaop,. T) Mrr should remain with hi, IWp throughout ,h m 1- k IIEAI) or A MKHINO RAM year, guiding them to fresh pastures and protecting them from the wild beasts and other thieves that love mutton and pelts, and, if necessary, obtaining fodder for them in winter. On embarking in the business, if a .man has not considerable capital to start with, he usually secure, an interest in some herder's band. Two or three small owners often combine their flocks into one band for a season, but the natural increase, in such cases, render, separation necessary after the first year, else the band would be too unwieldy for proper handling on the range. Some men own 10,000 or 12,000 head. These are put in bands of the size indicated above, and each hand has its herder. The whole keep as near together as the condition of the range will permit, but they often spread over a number of miles of territory. Starting from winter quarters in the valley, the herders press their bands toward the moun tains early in the season. For a few weeks before shearing time (usually about t'uo first of May) the sheep get good feed in the vicinity where they winter. Iiut when shearing time comes the bands are taken, if pos sible, to some available point near a railway and a shearing station is erected. This consists of a corral for confining tho sheep, with an apart ment in which the ani mals can be easily caught. Adjoining this apartment is, sometimes, a small enclosure with a canvas roof and a few board, la'd on the ground for a floor, in which tho shearer, l r .nn their work, though they often work without Mielter and with canvas on the ground to keep the w.K.l dean. A, many sheep as are likely to be sheared '!nng the day are kept in the main corral, and from tne to time, n the shearing progresses, the small pen from the main yard. From that pen the arer, take the animals, set them upon the board r a'1'1 d,' roove the fleeces, after which ir r,,,ance they are narked on the side with tar ,r , ,m,nt aml Many thousand sheep are !in" nt one tion. At one point near Bnrague '.n 1U,(X were sheared last season. -Many tone, of the performances of sheep shearer, (,ron colltitors of the traditional fish yarns.