Sheep (1954)

from this Valley they say you are going we will miss your bright eyes and your [Music] smile they say you are Tak the sun each spring along toward the end of June in many of our Western States a huge migration takes place thousands upon thousands of sheep us that have wintered in the valleys and their lambs born only a few weeks ago are driven to the high mountain ranges for summer pasture the scene takes us back to the very beginnings of recorded history forever since the Stone Age men have herded sheep the ancient Egyptians Babylonians Greeks and Hebrews spun and wo wool in their homes and Wealthy Romans who wore toas made of were proud of their flocks over the centuries there have been hundreds of breeds of sheep but today only a few are of commercial importance at a very early date Spain developed the Marino for its unusually fine wool and this breed has had more influence on the sheep of the world than any other the modern Marino has been valuable in the semiarid and rough ranges of the sheep country because it can walk long distances stand extremes in temperature and get along with Little Shelter feed and water it has the Deep rooted flocking Instinct that lets one Shepherd watch over a large band The Marino is one of the smaller breeds most of the skin fos that once characterized it have been eliminated in The socalled Sea type or Delan Marino [Music] coming from the same basic stock as the Marinol is the rambol it's also a fine wool breed and its size and ruggedness have made it valuable on the Range it has the same flocking Instinct that is so pronounced in the Marino rambol are good wool producers and have quite good meat confirmation also the US are good Mothers and excellent milkers ramble a Rams pass on their characteristics to their offspring in marked degree in the American colonies sheep were first raised mainly for wool and until the middle of the last century most of them were in New England and other eastern states then the search for cheap range land led the industry Westward and by 1900 the rocky mountain region had become the leading sheep section of the country today about 70% of our sheep are in the 17 Western Range States the rest are in small farm flocks scattered throughout the other states in the union sheep pay dividends twice a year the first being the annual wool clip on the Range shearing is a mass production operation compared with the shearing of farm blocks but in both cases skill and experience are needed shearing time in the spring is set by the weather and the fleece is not usually removed until the danger of cold rains and snow is passed a good man can Shear a sheep in remarkably fast time his equipment works like a Barber's Clippers no adequate substitute for wool has ever been found and our Armed Forces rely heavily on wool for clothing it's said that one cause of Hitler's defeat in Russia during World War II was that his troops dressed in Wool substitutes could not endure the cold and remain effective Fighters [Music] branding or numbering of sheep is done with a soluble paint or fluid that will come out when the wool is scoured the use of ordinary lead base or tar paints May lower the value of the wool considerably during the past 50 years sheep raising has changed from a strictly wool business to a wool and meat business the income from wool alone is not enough to be profitable and well over half of the industry's income today is from meat sales while the early Spaniards were hurting marinos in large bands the British were raising sheep in small Farm flocks the English breeds did not have the fine wool of the marinos or rambol and the British began early to develop a better meat producing animal an outstanding example of a meat producing breed is the Southdown which has an almost Ideal Meat confirmation reminding one somewhat of the modern blocky beef steer it's often pointed out that sheep are the only animals that make a prime product on grass alone the popularity of the South down is spreading Westward the Lambs mature early and reach Market condition at light weights the carcass is a favorite where small cuts are in demand Southdown fleece is the finest of the medium wool breeds but few 's will Shear more than 6 or seven pounds of wool South Dons have been popular for cross breeding in Kentucky and Tennessee another good meat animal is the Hampshire it's a big rugged animal of good meat type that's in demand for small farm flocks as well as for the big bands of the West the lamb crop will run as high as 150% meaning half the US's will have twins and the Lambs grow fast Hampshire Rams are more widely used used for crossing than the Rams of any other breed one of the fastest growing breeds is the suffk they're active sheep and russle well for food besides being Hardy Stockman and the Southwest have found that suffix stand the heat well and there are flocks in most of the western states suffk us are very prolific and they're good milkers so their lambs are heavy at weaning time they give give an excellent carcass with a high dressing percentage the small head and shoulders make lamming easier for use that have been bred to suff Rams the swing in emphasis from wool to wool and meat Makes Body confirmation important lambs will dress out a little less than either cattle or Hogs 45 to 55% salable meat from a live animal as you might expect the two hind legs give the most meat on the average nearly a third of the dressed weight roasts and steaks are cut from the [Music] legs the loin is good for 17 and 1/4% of the carcass this is where those fancy English lamb chops and loin chops come from next to the loin is the rib section which gives us 12 and 1/4% of the meat from the carcass rib chops come from this section as well as roasts 16% of the carcass is breast we get roasts here too the shoulder and shank give us 18 1 12% of our salable meat here's where those mocked duck come from along with roasts and Saratoga chops the neck accounts for 3 and 1/4% of the [Music] weight this drawing gives an idea why breeders have been trying to develop good meat confirmation along with good wo production the American taste for lamb has not been developed as well as our taste for some other meats last year Americans ate 73 lb of beef per capita we ate 62 lb of pork a piece each of us ate 29 lb of chicken but the per capita consumption of lamb was only a little over 4 lb there's a tremendous potential market for a lamb in the United States another good meat animal is the Dorset both Rams and newes of this breed have spot spiral Corkscrew horns the yield of fleece will run about 7 lb on the average the most striking difference from other sheep is the dorset's breeding habits 's will come and heat late in the spring or early in the summer and the ram will work a band of use in hot weather when most other Rams rest in the shade that means Dorset us will produce Lambs in the fall the U are very prolific and are the heaviest milk of all the breeds dorsets are well adapted to Hot House lamb production and are popular in the East where the best markets for early Lambs are [Music] located the biggest of the medium wool breeds is the Oxford it doesn't have the carcass quality of the Southtown but it Shear more fleece than any of the other medium wool breeds 10 to 12 lounds is about average for an Oxford U but some Shear as high as 15 lbs of wool the Lambs are big too 9 to 10 lbs at Birth and they grow fast oxfords have wool on the face but not enough to cause wool blindness the breed is prolific and the Rams are used on small use to produce bigger lambs and to increase wool [Music] production a middle of the road breed combined in meat and wool qualities is the Shropshire its most distinctive feature is a complete wool covering including the face and legs it will Shear perhaps 10 lbs of fleece a year Shropshire us have a lot of twins and triplets and next to South Dawns the Lambs reach Market condition as early as any other breed the US are good milkers and produce active Lambs that will weigh from 7 to 10 lb at Birth shures are especially popular in the middle western states the Rams are often used on grade Farm flocks in an effort to correct a tendency toward wool blindness in the Shropshire at least one breeder has imported from England a British type Shropshire Ram with a clean face one of the prettiest breeds is the chevat and wealthy people often keep flocks on their Estates because they are so decorative the chevet is one of the smallest breeds but it also is one of the heartiest it can stand cold Stormy Weather and being a hill breed is very active the Lambs are quite small at Birth from 5 to 7 lb the cheviet is a medium wool breed and will produce an average of about 7 lb of fleece the U is apt to be a little nervous but she's a good [Music] mother let's watch a flock of cheviet being rounded up by a trained sheep dog dogs have always been both a blessing and a curse to sheep risers but a well-trained border collie can be a great help in timesaver n [Music] some of these dogs get to be so good at their work they can exercise amazing control over the Sheep this collie for instance is going to bring in five skittish Hues from the distant pasture herd them through a narrow gate and then into a small enclosure well done old boy let's follow along with the members of a breed Improvement Association to see some Cor corales the corydale was developed by Crossing marinos and Lincoln line breeding and careful selection have produced a new breed with many of the desirable qualities of both ancestors it was brought into the United States from New Zealand in 1914 and its popularity has spread remarkably since then it was used first on the Range and in the mountains but has become a popular Farm flock sheep in the Midwest and the East the corydale is a good Dual Purpose sheet being a heavy producer of excellent medium wool and it also gives a good meat [Music] carcass a breed that has gained much popularity in the west is the Colombia it was developed in the United States by Crossing ramble a and Lincoln and is now a well-established breed it's one of the largest of the medium wool breeds and produces a valuable fleece it has proved very useful under range conditions and is valued for its lamb production as well as for its [Music] wool of the 200 200 breeds of sheep that exist today you've seen examples of some of the most popular each has its boosters each its strong points each exists because a breed that is well adapted to the middle west may not necessarily be best on a Texas rench and raising sheep on a Pennsylvania farm is quite different from Raising sheep in the Rocky Mountains a good example of rocky mountain sheep raising can be seen in Colorado nestled between the sang de Cristal mountains on the East and the San Juan range on the west the San Louis Valley of Colorado offers a typical example of Western sheep raising here large herds are wintered on farms in the valley and here the 's have their lambs in the spring here too as in other parts of the country valley sheep men depend on their friend the Texico man for Quality Petroleum products it's an interesting fact that high altitudes demand a different gasoline than low altitudes to guarantee top performance Texico gasolines are changed to fit local climate and altitudes since lamming more than doubles the size of each herd the problem of Summer pasture becomes acute and toward the end of June the Sheep are moved to the mountains to graze on government range land the bands May number 2, th000 head each and for the week or 10 days of the drive sheep have the right of way on the highways many of the Bands walk all the way from the valley to the [Music] mountains some owners prefer to ship their herds by truck big two and three Decker trailers that will hold two to 300 sheep for you [Music] the Sheep trucks can make the run to the mountains in a few hours whereas the walking bands may spend nearly a week on the trail since most of the government ranges are inaccessible by Road the trucks are unloaded and the bands finish the last few miles a foot the ranges may be at altitudes of 12 to 14,000 ft where men and horses have some trouble catching their breath but the Sheep don't seem to mind only 's and Lambs are permitted on the Range [Music] h [Music] the shepherd faces a lonely summer on the Range caring for his is banned here the Lambs will grow and fatten on this high altitude pasture and when fall comes before the snow begins to fly they'll be driven down to the valley again and shipped off to [Music] market the leading sheep and lamb Market of the United States is at Denver [Music] Colorado Lambs are considered basic price Setters in the industry as many as 70,000 sheep may be received here in a single day not all the Lambs received are slaughtered thousands from the range will be reshipped for further fattening on farms and feed Lots it's a peculiarity of the business that most of the Lamb raised in the west is sent to the east coast there is a good market for lamb in California but most of the Lamb raised in this country is eaten in New York Boston and other large Eastern [Music] cities sheep men usually don't need to count sheep to help them go to sleep but they do count their herds regularly and become quite expert at it some count by twos and some by fours and a helper keeps track of the hundreds and speaking of counting sheep it's a matter of concern that our sheep population is smaller today than it was during the Civil War Australia Russ Russia Argentina and India all raise more sheep than we do and we are forced to import 65% of the wool we need during the past 2 years the number of sheep in this country has increased slightly but there is room for many more sheep both on the Range and in small farm flocks it's often said that sheep return more per dollar invested than any other kind of livestock they can utilize low quality forage not suited to other Farm stock and can turn a profit on land too poor or hilly for Farm crops sheep raising is one industry where there is no over production whether our sheep population will continue to grow is anybody's guess but one thing is sure as long as men Farm the soil some of them them will raise sheep oh [Music]