582 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



they give food to their flocks; but all feeders are not breeders. Those 

 men who have practiced both phases of the subject know how it goes; but 

 here let us repeat a few facts about both sides, for the beginner. 



In all paths of life the industrious man wishes to do all he can, but 

 because you are a successful master of a medium-sized breeding flock it 

 does not mean that you can make a "pot full of money" on a big drove 

 of feeding lambs. 



The life of a breeder is a steady one, and your energy is rewarded with 

 steady increase. Any farmer can take a small bunch of ewes and turn 

 them in some little pasture and soon he has a flock. Not every beginner 

 can make a success of going to market and buying a big bunch of lambs 

 and bringing them home to fatten and keep for a raise in the market. 

 Sheep breeding is an industry which any farmer can enter into, and the 

 field is large and there is room for all the expansion that anyone's energy 

 could desire. Suppose you start with a small flock of grades and have 

 a desire to some day reach the height of success. The amount to be 

 invested in a bunch of grades would be small, so nearly anyone can begin 

 wlio desires to. 



Now, supposing you have started with your little bunch of grades. The 

 first spring your crop of wool did not amount to such a large pile, so you 

 sold it with your neighbor when he sold his. This money is placed in the 

 sheep treasury to pay feed bills and it will pay it for the whole year. If 

 your lambs have come early, perhaps you sold a part of them for "early 

 lambs" along in June. Now there is more money for the sheep treasury. 

 Soon it is time to buy a ram, and as your ideals have been high you have 

 decided to get one of the very best obtainable. So you write to several 

 of the oldest and most reliable flockmasters and get description and prices. 

 Some rams are priced much higher than others, but the owners assure 

 you that there is a vast difference in their size, quality and breeding. 

 Finally you make your decision and send the draft for a neat little sum. 

 In a few days the ram comes and Is admired by all who see him. They 

 all say he is about the best sheep they have ever seen, but most of them 

 think "that fellow is crazy for paying so much for a ram. Who ever 

 heard of paying over $15 for one?" 



The next spring your lambs are the best in the neighborhood and the 

 other farmers commence wondering if it really does pay to use good rams. 

 By the time you are ready to sell your ram there are three or four fellows 

 after him. You have had two crops of lambs from him and sell at a 

 good price. Now you have added some of his best ewe lambs to the 

 breeding flock, and when you buy another ram must have a still better 

 one. By this time the wether lambs that have been sold have placed 

 quite a pile to the credit of the flock in the bank. You want to still 

 improve your flock, so you decide this time to visit one of the best 

 breeders and importers. You go and have a thorough look through the 

 flock and learn all you can. Finding a few ewes and a ram pretty well 

 to your ideal, you purchase them. Now you have a little flock of pure- 

 breds started. The next autumn you sell off your grades and add more 

 registered ones. Now you are a pure-bred breeder and have quite good 

 knowledge of producing the good ones. Some ram lambs are sold to 

 neighbor breeders. The next season you show at the county fairs, but 



