Date of Award:

5-1956

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Applied Economics

Department name when degree awarded

Agricultural Economics

Committee Chair(s)

George T. Blanch

Committee

George T. Blanch

Abstract

The sheep industry of Utah began about the middle of the nineteenth century when the Mormon pioneers came to Utah. The first sheep in Utah were of Merino breeding, kept primarily for wool production. These breeds were decendants of the early Merino sheep from Spain and were probably introduced into this country by Spanish explorers. Sheep are produced to provide food and fiber in Utah. Utah's climate, topography, and natural vegetation are conducive to sheep production. Sheep do well in semi-arid climates and can economically harvest the natural vegetation on land not suited to crop production. Utah has large acreages of land of this nature and is, therefore, an important sheep producing state.

There are three main types of sheep production in Utah, ranching, farm flocks, and feedlot operations.1 Sheep ranchers in southern and southeastern Utah raise lambs that usually require further fattening before slaughter, while producers in the northern and central parts raise a higher percentage of lambs that come off the range in proper condition for slaughter.

The second and third types of sheep raising in Utah are farm flocks and feedlot operations. Farm flocks are located in all areas of the state, while the central area of the state, especially the Sevier Valley, specializes in lamb feeding. Feeding enterprises are located primarily along the base of the Wasatch Range, which extends north and south through Utah.

Seventy-three percent of the total land area of Utah is owned or controlled by some government agency, either federal, state, or municipal. Sheep ranchers use vast acreages of these lands for grazing their sheep. In 1948 grazing district lands accounted for 54 percent of the annual sheep months required by Utah flocks, and national forests were used for 7 percent (3).

National forests used for grazing sheep in Utah are located in various areas of the state. Most national forests are on the Wasatch or Uintah range of mountains and include Ashely, Cache, Caribou, Dixie, Fish Lake, LaSal, Manti, Minidoka, Uintah, and Wasatch forests. Approximately 87 percent of the total land area in Utah is open range land (7).

Sheep grazing in Utah follows a seasonal pattern during the year. The grazing cycle begins in the fall when sheep and lambs come off fall ranges enroute to winter grazing areas. It is at this stage of the cycle that lambs are taken to market or feedlots and herds are culled for non-productive and old ewes which are also marketed. Herds are then trailed or hauled to winter grazing areas where rams are placed in the herds for breeding for next year's lambs. Rams are generally left with the herds until late November or early December. After lambing in the early spring and shearing and culling, lambs and ewes move onto spring ranges located along the lower elevations of the mountain ranges, or onto spring pastures. Herds graze here until midsummer, then move to higher elevations for summer grazing. About September another move to fall range, which is generally the same as the spring range, and the cycle starts over again.

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