SIXTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VIII. 665 



of common, scrub ewe lambs will pay the entire cost of the pure-bred 

 rams, say nothing of other considerations. A pound of wool or five 

 pounds of mutton more that you secure on every pure-bred lamb than 

 you would from the scrub helps pay for that good ram, and adds value 

 to the entire flock. 



Whatever breed you use, whatever aim j-ou have in mind in your 

 breeding, whether you want a medium wool, a long wool, or a Merino, 

 the Breed does not matter; but whatever it may be, have it pure. No 

 scrub, no cross-bred grade with a mixture of every kind of blood should 

 be allowed. Breed straight and improve your flock and fatten your 

 pocketbook. 



Now, then, if your intentions are right and you will insist on a 

 pure-bred ram, get as good as you can. By this we do not mean for you 

 to get a prize winner nor a car load of them, but get as good as you can 

 at a reasonable price — ram.s that show good breeding and are serviceable 

 and bred to produce good results. If you know anything at all about 

 sheep, you have some idea what in general constitutes a good ram. Some 

 things worthy of notice are a good, strong masculine head, a strong 

 bone in the fore leg, a wide chest and good heart girth, a well-sprung 

 rib, and a good square hind end. Pointed, sloping rumps and cat hams 

 should be guarded against as much as possible, as well as narrow chests 

 and pointed shoulders. If you need a lot of rams, have them as uniform 

 as possible, for evenness in a bunch of rams or a flock of sheep adds 

 considerable to their value. 



Do not be afraid of buying too good rams. Money invested in good 

 rams will bring in bigger returns on the investment than in any other 

 branch of the business. It is a fact that good rams sell for less money 

 in the United States than in any counrty that raises sheep. Every year 

 we see numbers of our best sheep go to other countries and sell at figures 

 that look crazy to most sheep owners here. And yet those same countries 

 continue to buy good sheep year after year, and to improve their flocks 

 and add to their own fortunes. 



But even if good rams do sell cheap here, yet the average owner has 

 v/anted to buy still cheaper, until the level of prices on good rams has 

 become so low that they cannot be produced at a profit, because so many 

 owners, rather than pay a fair price for a good ram, buy a scrub because 

 his first cost is a dollar or two less. They seem only to think that 

 they are buying so many pounds of mutton, instead of looking ahead and 

 remembering that it is what that ram will produce that determines his 

 value. They are really buying his lambs; but too many cannot see that 

 far along. 



And this short-sighted policy of using any old kind of a ram that 

 would get a lamb has been followed altogether too much and too long. 

 The present condition of the sheep industry in this country should 

 forbid any owner longer following this policy, and its future development 

 certainly requires more care in the selection of rams. In these times 

 of prosperity is the time to start the right way, if you have not already 

 done so. Then buy good, pure-bred rams. "Wanderer." 



