Drink for 5000 thirsty sheep on a big ranch at Warrah, Australia

Drink for 5000 thirsty sheep on a big ranch at Warrah, Australia

A big sheep ranch, Warrah, Australia

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Geography. - Warrah is in the northeastern part of New South Wales, about two hundred miles from Sydney, on the railway line to Brisbane.<br>Products and Industries. - Since this is a land of vast dimensions one is not surprised to find 150,000 sheep on the area of this one ranch, covering about 450 square miles. No stock-raising can be safely undertaken here without generous water supplies. An artesian or "driven" well, reaching far down to subterranean springs, provides unfailing water even in rainless seasons. Water is pumped by gasoline or other engines up into that big tank that we see in the distance. It is then run off into these drinking troughs as may be required. The pasturage problem is more difficult, for even with all the advantage of large capital, ensuring ownership of a wide range of lands, the failure of rains and the unrelenting fierceness of the midsummer sun may together make all grass and other green leafage utterly disappear. In such cases large flocks like this one are sometimes driven by mounted herdsmen from one pasture to another and yet another, moving most of the time and resting only long enough to devour whatever green stuff is within reach. There have been cruelly bad seasons when thousands upon thousands of sheep have died for lack of food. The latest census figures record nearly 90,000,000 sheep as owned on Australian ranches. Their total value was over £46,000,000 ($230,000,000). The wool clip for a single year has amounted to over 2,000,000 bales. The best scientific knowledge anywhere available is being put into the Australian wool business. A yearly sheep fair is held at Sydney (N.S.W.) and is a great occasion for breeders and buyers of fine animals. As much as $5,000 has been paid for a pure blooded ram of some particularly desirable strain.<br>Refer again to this view when considering Animals, Home Economics.

1 gelatine silver print stereograph (8 x 16 cm) mounted on card (9 x 18 cm)

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