Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 November 1876 — Nebraska as a Live Stock Country. [ARTICLE]

Nebraska as a Live Stock Country.

Beeves, sheep, hogs and horses—one or *ll, there it “million* in them.’’ At the but* of all there it the illimitable rtafket, wide M the world. Then come* low dpwi) cost of production to Supply this market—-the low cost because the climate favors health hud vigor In animat life, experience proving that there is no virulent form of disease among stock in Nebraska, and because, even on the wild prairie, the pasturage afforded by the native grasses being abundant, and all the hay that |a required obtainable at the cost of cutting. Grain feed, of oonne, is cheap; and Sufficient shelter for the winter months is obtained by building the rough prairie stable of post* and beards covered and wrapped as with a blanket by piled up straw end hay. No one ha* commenced a* Mock master, and not found the avocation profitable. In 1875, a flock of Cotswold* shepherded on the plains, yielded Messrs. Creighton of Omaha, an average fleece of 10 pounds per head, the price they realized being 40 cents per pound in the dirt. The Hon. Moses Stocking, of Wahoo, in Saunders county, had on July Ist, 1874, a flock of 1652 Merinos, which he valued at $3 per head, amounting to $4,056; and from these on June*Both, his profit was $8,403.88. Mr. A. D. Ritchie an experienced flock master, of Orton, Seward county, states that his p rofits for the sheep year, 1875-6, exceed his most sanguine expectations, and he believes he can get his money back each year, and have the flock on which he starts beside*. Instance* of this kind could be accumulated. Let it be said, however, that there are now 15,000 sheep in Gage county; and at a sheepshearing festival held at Beatrice, the county seat, on M«y 11,1876, Mr. 8. 0. Carey exhibited a Merino fleece weighing 20 poundsand 13 ounces, and a second fleece from a three year old Merino ram weighing sixteen pounds and five ounces; Messrs. Paddock & Long, fleeces weighing 12 to 14} pounds each, and Mr. Moses Stocking, a fleece of 18 pounds 1 f ounces, from a two-year old Infantado ram. The business is rapidly increasing, and soon textile manufacturers will look to the N ebraska prairie for a large annual supply of wool. Mr. Cornelius Jansen, (one of the leaders of the Russian Mennonites, who are making Nebraska their home,) oil 960 acres of land purchased from the B. A M. Company, has established a flock of 1,620 grade Merino sheep, and a herd of 100 blooded cattle, choosing Nebraska for his enterprise after he had carefully examined the country from Southern Kansas to the Red River of the north; and Mr. M. 8. Malony, a capitalist of New York, (a practical flock master,) who has large landed interests in Illinois, has purchased two sections of land, and leased one section from the State, in the Republican river country. To this ranch be is bringing 3,000 Merino ewes from New Mexico, and thorough-bred Merino rams from Vermont, anticipating from the eroes a large sheep and heavy fleece In Nebraska, wh'ch’in the matter of sheep, he considers destined to be the Scotland of the States. In cattle the prairie herdmen are accumulating fortunes.—Communicated.