SHEARING 411 





 Frequently owners combine their buck flocks and put them in the 



care of a herder who finds range for them at so much per head per 

 month or for the season. Some owners merely let them run at large 

 without a herder, and when left to themselves, the rate of loss 

 among them is very large. Then, too, range rams fight amongst 

 themselves a great deal and this is a source of depreciation and loss. 



Winter Management. After the breeding season winter man- 

 agement is chiefly a matter of herding. In herding on extensive 

 plains which can be used only in winter when snows furnish water, 

 bands of ewes go as far out as 200 miles, making a total distance of 

 400 miles by the time they have returned to the home ranch. In 

 most places, however, the winter range is not so extensive. The 

 supply of feed may be so limited, or the periods of snowstorms so 

 bad, that hay and grain have to be fed part of the time. In fact, 

 shelled corn and cotton-seed cake are hauled out on the plains in 

 many regions and stored so that they will be available when needed. 

 At the present time there are various ways of supplementing the 

 winter range and it is possible to carry bands of sheep through on 

 areas which years ago would have been considered entirely in- 

 adequate. Alfalfa and grain, such as barley, oats, and wheat, are 

 available in regions where formerly nothing but the wild range was 

 to be had. 



Shearing. Shearing is an event which frequently marks the 

 transition from winter to spring management and often precedes 

 the lambing period. As stated elsewhere, the shearing is done by 

 men who make it a profession. Early in March they are busy in 

 Arizona and New Mexico, and they finish in Montana late in July. 

 The season is then over except for a little fall work in California 

 and some winter shearing in the large accumulating and feeding 

 stations tributary to the markets from the West. 



Shearing camps, equipped with shearing pens, corrals and sack- 

 ing frames or balers are established at places usually located on 

 the trail between winter and summer range. Whenever possible 

 they are located beside a railroad so that the wool may be loaded in 

 cars without a long haul in wagons. The sheep are driven into the 

 shearing camp where they are sheared and made ready to return to 

 the range in a few hours if the plant is fairly large and well- 

 equipped. Owners having several bands to shear endeavor to have 

 but one band at a time in the shearing corrals, for by handling in 



