 The Japanese government encouraged farmers to raise sheep throughout the 19th @-@ century . Sheep @-@ rearing programs began to import Yorkshire , Berkshire , Spanish merino , and numerous Chinese and Mongolian sheep breeds , encouraged by government promotion of sheep farming . However , a lack of knowledge on the farmer 's part of how to successfully keep sheep , and the government 's failure to provide information to those importing the sheep they promoted , led to the project 's failure , and in 1888 it was discontinued . 
