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Show BIG SUM RECEIVED BY UTAHSHEEPMEN Aggregate for 1914 Fixed at $5,500,000 in Report to Governor. CONDITIONS ARE GOOD Flocks Are Healthy and the Laws Are Being Rigidly Enforced. Utah sheepmen received an aggregate aggre-gate gross income from their flocks of $3,500,000 during 1014. according to the estimate of the state board of sheep commissioners in its annual report filed with the governor yesterday. Of this total $2,250,000 was received on tho sale of wool and $3,250,000 from the shipments of mutton to eastern markets. mar-kets. The wool market was generally better bet-ter in lUl-i than in 191.1, according to the report, while tho mutton market was exceptionally strong this year owing ow-ing to tho European war, which broke out just about a -mouth before the fall shipments were- made. On tho ranges of Utah, it is estimated, esti-mated, there are 2,100,000 sheep, valued val-ued at more than $10,000,000, and the outlook for the sheep industry is better at present than it was two years ago, the report outlines. With tho exception of several flocks in Beaver county, the dreaded sheep disease, scabies, is uot known to exist in the state. The government quarantine quaran-tine in Carbon, Emery and Grand counties, for scabies, was raised August 4, 1914, for the first time since 1U00, and no government inspection of sheep is now required in .any portion of the state on sheep shipped to market. Law Is Enforced. Strict enforcement of the law is responsible re-sponsible for tho groat improvement in the health of tho sheep, the board thinks. The board cites an important legal victory in the form of a. decision in- the district court at Price this year, upholding the right 'of the board to euforco the dipping of sheep after the owner bad refused to comply with the order. This decision has mado it much easier to enforce the law. Examination of sheep this fall by state aud eminent officials revealed only nine herds in the state infected with scabies, and all of these cases w ere in mild form. A peculiar skin disease, known as Oregon wildfire, has been discovered among some. Hocks in the southern portion por-tion uf the state, and is now being studied by the United .States bureau of animal industry. An infected sheep is to be sent t o 'Washington by tho government gov-ernment authorities, it is stated, so that the disease mav be studied and a remedy discovered. It is not believed to be infectious. There has been no lip and leg disease-, no foot rot and mouth disease observed among the Utah flocks during the year, and the board urges unceasing vigilance to keep these costly afBictions out of the state. Sheep ti'elts continue to increase in-crease among the flocks, however, anil the board recommends stringent measures meas-ures to cheek this parasite and remove it from the state if possible. Sheepmen Co-operate. Sheepmen generally realize the importance im-portance to the board's activities aDd are willing to co-operate, it is declared. Refractory flock-masters have been made an example of. The board urges the woolmen to pack their wool better in order to iusure better prices. The ranges continue to improve, it is declared, and there is less over-stocking and trailing back and forth on the summer ranges. Coyotes continue to be a menace to the industry, and the board recommends an iucrease in the bounty from $1.50 to' $.1.00 each aud that the tax on sheep for the bounty fund bo increased to furnish the extra money. The board is now investigating ibe practicability of fighting coyotes by inoculating them with scabies. It is estimated that the annua! loss to sheepmen from tho depredations of the coyotes is $200,000, and the animals are said to be as numerous now as years ago. |