Who Won The Cattle Sheep Wars
The history of the west is ripe with battles between cattlemen and sheep herders and if you count the cattle grazing on public lands it appears that the ranchers prevailed. Considering that even into the 1940’s the US was home to fifty- six million head of sheep, today we are at the lowest number in history around six million but you can’t blame cattle. I’m Susan Allen stay tuned for OpenRange .When I was a young girl roaming the hills of eastern Oregon it wasn’t uncommon to see vast sheep herds. Today sheep numbers are at an all time low and unlike cattle ranchers sheep producers have had to a host of issues that caused the decline that started after World War II when men like my father had negative experience eating mutton served military style. Endangered species regulations that favor big horn sheep like in Idaho’s PayetteNational Forest have driven domestic animals off the range. Plus legislation favoring imports. Check your grocery meat counter it’s tough to find locally grown lamb when fifty percent comes from Australia and New Zealand. At the height of the sheep industry the majority were raised for wool now the bulk of American sheep are slaughtered for meat . and given new textiles wool can even considered a liability on an animal . The sheep herders wagons have area are all but gone from the range except in rare pockets like Heppner, but Americas taste for specialty meats, organic, grass fed, ethnic foods even unique cheeses have created growing niche markets for the US sheep industry to capitalize on. I’m Susan Allen
