State Agricultural Society. 451 



down for the Winter to ranges which they hold on the plains; some, in- 

 deed, cross over into Nevada; but these are both special phases of Cali- 

 fornia sheep husbandry, on which 1 shall have little to say. 



Having decided that he has some range that is suitable for sheep, the 

 novice may next desire advice as to what breed or breeds he had better 

 buy. The whole question of breeds will be considered later, from our 

 California standpoint. Lambs to be fed as above suggested, on Summer 

 fallow, or meadow, ought to be of the large-bodied breeds, Lancaster or 

 Southdown. But ewes to be bred on hill range ought, in nine cases out 

 of ten, to be moderately high graded Spanish merino, i. e., ewes which 

 have been "bred up" from American stock to at least three fourths 

 Spanish. This might have been accomplished by two successive crosses 

 with thoroughbred bucks. Some breeders believe that the grade thus 

 produced will not commonly be as "even," nor breed as "even," as a 

 grade that has been brought up more gradually, for instance, by first 

 crossing with half-breed bucks, producing one quarter bloods; these 

 again to the three quarter bucks, producing half breeds; these again to 

 thoroughbred bucks, producing three quarter Spanish. And if the pro- 

 cess of grading up has occupied one or two years more, the band 

 should, according to this opinion, be the better for it; should give a 

 more even quality of wool, which would sell the better for that reason; 

 should bring a more even lot of lambs, requiring less culling out; should 

 possess and transmit those "points" of the thoroughbred stock which 

 are esteemed because known to possess some quality of value, more uni- 

 formly than a band in which the " blood" had been more precipitately 

 injected. I do not indorse this notion, for I have not been able to notice 

 facts .tending to support it, nor to obtain from others what I could 

 regard as proof of its soundness. Of course a flock is bred up quicker 

 by using thoroughbred bucks, because four years of crossing would have 

 brought the last lambs up to thirty-one thirty-seconds " blood," instead 

 of to three quarters, as by the breeding suggested; and two more years 

 of crossing would bring lambs one hundred and twenty-seven one hun- 

 dred and twenty-eighths " blood," which is tolerably near thoroughbred. 



But to one point the beginner may yield implicit conviction. Any 

 one hundred well graded ewes (I should say not less than three quarter 

 breed) of whatever breed, costing say five dollars a head, will give a 

 larger profit than any one hundred and fifty or more common ewes that 

 can be bought for the same sum of money. 1 may concede one excep- 

 tion (which is not an exception, to speak Hibernice) — that is, where the 

 range is a Government common. Then there is a real profit in getting 

 away with all the feed that your stock can nip, and therefore in putting 

 on all the stock you can to nip it. For this work it may be permissible 

 to use the cheapest stock; and even in this case, the better sheep will 

 convert the same feed into better wool. But aside from this case, and 

 confining ourselves to those of men who expect to work on their own 

 range, I can say I know of but one poor investment in sheep — and that 

 is, an investment in poor sheep. A man may have range for five times 

 the number of sheep that he has money to buy of high grades; he has 

 then to choose between stocking his range full with common sheep (to 

 grade up, of course), or to start with the less number already well 

 graded. Even then, in the greater number of cases, the better sheep 

 will have yielded the larger profit each year, while, at the end of any 

 given term of four or five years, the profit existing in the then condi- 

 tion and quality of the flock will be much greater. Experto crede: I have 

 been there! 



