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National Geographic : 1966 Jun
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eight years as a sheepherder and camp tender. His good-natured features, covered with a thick film of gray dust, crinkled into a smile as he told us he had just lost an argument with the boss of the shearing crew. "I wanted them to shear 200 more head a day," he said. "Yesterday, I won the argu ment. Today, I lost. Tomorrow, I hope to win again." He glanced at my father. "But that must be an old story to you." My father nodded. "It doesn't look like anything's changed." He asked Tony how many sheep Allied Land and Livestock was ranging. "About 14,000 head in Nevada, and 3,000 more in Oregon," Tony explained. "We'll run 5,000 head through the shearing at this camp alone. I have the bands spotted in the hills around us, waiting for their turn in the shear ing pens." He made a sweeping gesture with his hand. "Did you see them on the way in?" "I saw their dust," said my father. "They seemed like small bands." "Well, we keep each band down to 1,000 or 1,200 head, with two men to each band," said Tony. He grinned apologetically. "From what I understand, it's not like the old days of big bands with one herder alone." Shortage Eased by McCarran Act My father shrugged. "But it makes sense, if you've got enough herders. They can choose the best feed that way, and the sheep aren't moving like crazy all day long to get enough to eat. It's a protection for the herders, too, in case one of them gets sick or hurt." Tony nodded. "We've got enough herders." He explained that now they come mostly from the Spanish provinces of the Basque country under a special provision in the United States immigration law. The late U. S. Senator Pat McCarran of Nevada in 1952 put a specific 884
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