The Sources of Animal Products 
9432 
Sheep live not only in rugged lands, but in dry lands; they are 
numerous in regions bordering deserts that are too dry for cattle, 
such as our western plateaus, the interior of Australia, Spain, and 
South Africa, and parts of Argentina. This is because they are able 
to go a long time without water, and their teeth enable them to nibble 
short grass which horses and cattle cannot possibly eat. 
Then again, some varieties of sheep thrive in cold, wet regions like 
the Scotch Highlands and the Falkland Islands, since their thick, 
greasy wool protects them from both the cold and the rain. 
Sheep are profitably grown in still another kind of region, — lands 
near the great meat markets of the northeastern United States and 
western Europe. Here sheep are grown primarily for meat. In the 
northeastern United States the farmer buys full-grown sheep that 
were raised on the ranges of the western states, and fattens them for 
a few months for the market; or he keeps them for several years in 
order to raise lambs, which are sold for high prices in the neighboring 
markets. On his small farm, the farmer of eastern Ohio, for in- 
stance, can give the lambs much more care than the Wyoming shep- 
herd, and so can bring a greater proportion of his flock to maturity. 
The life of the shepherd. The care of sheep is often one of the 
loneliest of occupations. One man with two dogs and a gun can care 
for several thousand animals; and for weeks the lonely shepherd 
may follow his charges without seeing anyone except his camp- 
tender. In the western United States many of the sheep graze upon 
the unfenced government lands. In summer they are driven to the 
mountains; but as the snows of autumn begin to cover the grasses 
and shrubs they are driven to the lower slopes and then out upon 
the plateaus. 
Once a year the shepherd drives his sheep to the dipping pens. 
There they are thrown into great vats and washed. As soon asthey 
are dry, a gang of shearers takes them in hand and skillfully clips the 
thick coat of wool from each member of the flock. The shepherd 
enjoys the shearing season, for it makes a break in the solitary 
monotony of his life. 
SWINE 
Although the hog is found in all parts of the world, it is only a little 
more than a third as numerous as cattle and a quarter as numerous 
as sheep. In fact, horses and donkeys together are three fourths as 
numerous as hogs. Most of the hogs are raised in the United States 
and Europe, with a fair number in South America (Fig. 72). In