The Disappearing Sheep.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 131, 15 February 1909, Page 3

The Disappearing Sheep.

It is remarkable that in the face of the generally admitted profitableness of sheep keeping, the sheep population of the world should be decreasing rather than increasling. In Canada the numbers of sheep reported have steadily fallen ofF with each decennial census. In 1871 Canada had 3,155,509 sheep; in 1901 it had only 2,510,039 thus showing a drop of a little more than 20 per cent. This was in spite of thirty years of remarkable expansion, the opening up of the vast grazing grounds of the West, and the progress that had been witnessed in every other department of agriculture. This is remarkable, but these figures do not stand alone. Looking across the water to the European countries we find that between 1898 and 1904 the number of sheep in Austria dropped from 5,026,398 to 2,621,026; in France, from 22,616,547 to 17,954,230; in Germany, from 24,999,406 to 9,692,501; in Hungary, from 15,076, 997 to 8,122,681; in Russia, from 51,822,238 to 45,497,621. In Argentina, which has a sheep population of about 75,000,00, the gains and looses practically offset each other. It is safe to say that since 1873 the flocks of the world have declined 100,000,000 head, or about 3.000,000 head a year.