Notice of Hearing on the Application to Use Sodium Fluoroacetate ...

their own. It is not, however, ?n al'ernaf2 lri"zho0 <strong>of</strong> srd2tor
controi, becaus2 it is chizfiy penning ax nignc tbdc r?sulzs in izw
pr2cation ratss in Kansas.
25. Open range situations are grazing condi tians under which- i t is least
l i ke1 y that any current1 y avai 1 zbl e rnethgd oi predator control wi 11
be conri stentl effective and economical I y feasible.
Issue 4(( 1 - 3eneii ts
23. The number <strong>of</strong> sheep in the Uniced Statzs has dzciin2d over the last
forty years, from a high <strong>of</strong> 56,574,000 in 1942 t3 3 law <strong>of</strong> 12,220,QOO
in 1979, increasing to 13,176,OCG as 3f January 1, 1982. The deciine
-
is attributable to declining dernand for 1am~ and rnuxton (per capita
consumpti on bei ng approximatei y 1 .5 pounds a?nual ly ) , avai 1 abi 1 i ty ~f
synthetic nateri a1 s 3s substi ts tes for wool (per czpi ta consunpci on
<strong>of</strong> wool being approximateTy cne pound annually <strong>of</strong> wnich fiity
percznt is imported), the fact that raising cattle is 1 ess 1 abor
intensive than raising skep and more attractive opportunities being
avai lable elsewhere. The dec! ine cannot be attributed solely or
even chiefly to gredation. Approximately 80 percent <strong>of</strong> the sheep
in the United States are raised in the 17 nost western <strong>of</strong> the 48
contiguous states. A1 though approximately 51 ,000 western farmers
and ranchers raise sheep (1974 data) only 21 ,000 or 41 percent have
comercia1 operations <strong>of</strong> fifty or more stock sheep. These producers,
however, own nearly 93 percent <strong>of</strong> all stock sheep in the regicn.
Large scale producers with a thousand or more <strong>of</strong> stock sheep constitute
only 6 percent <strong>of</strong> the producers, but acc~unt for 63 percent <strong>of</strong> the
region ' s stock sheep.