SHEEP 363 



like the Northern sheep. When they reach the Chicago market, if 

 in good condition, they outsell all other sheep, for they shrink very 

 little in dressing, the meat has an excellent flavor, and the hide is so 

 thin, firm, and soft as to command the highest price. A well-fat- 

 tened bunch of Mexican lambs will weigh, on the Chicago market, 

 from 78 to 81 pounds. Yearlings, ewes, and old wethers of this 

 breed are in good condition if they weigh 90 pounds in Chicago. 



New Mexico Sheep. These original Mexican sheep have been 

 largely graded with Merino rams in New Mexico and southern Colo- 

 rado, and for some years were run there as grade Merinos for wool. 

 They have not the thick wrinkly fleece of the typical Merino and 

 show decidedly their Mexican origin, being intermediate, in length 

 of leg, body, neck, and head, between the true Merino and the Mex- 

 ican. They are a small-bodied, quick-maturing sheep, and, although 

 never growing very large, they get very fat. It takes them longer to 

 fatten than the better bred sheep. Never less than five and usually 

 six months elapse from the time they are put on feed until they go 

 to market. 



The bunches of lambs brought from New Mexico run quite even 

 in size and appearance. They are all kept under the same condi- 

 tion, and but few of the flocks have as yet been topped with mutton 

 breeds so as to present any great variation from the general type. 

 When brought to Colorado in the fall, about the 1st of November, 

 the lambs weigh, in bunches, from 48 to 53 pounds. When shipped 

 to Chicago, in May, they weigh from 80 to 84 pounds. Their frames 

 are then not much larger than in the fall, but the body is much 

 deeper, and they are almost as thick through, making them very 

 plump. They easily get the highest prices on the Chicago market, 

 for the same reasons as the Mexican sheep. 



Merinos. Until a few years ago, nearly all the sheep of Colo- 

 rado, Wyoming, Utah, and Idaho were straight Merino sheep, bred 

 for the most part from Merinos brought from the East. Some flocks 

 originated from the Mexican or New Mexican sheep, but they were 

 crossed so many times with thoroughbred Merino rams as to lose the 

 characteristics of the southern sheep. So long as these flocks were 

 used for wool they were carefully bred by purchasing high-priced 

 rams from the East. As the price of wool fell, the profits decreased 

 until a point was reached where the sheep for mere wool ceased to 

 be profitable. Many flocks were sold, and those sheep men that con- 

 tinued in the business turned their attention to wool and mutton. 

 Many of them still continue to use Merino rams, but the number 

 of these flocks is constantly decreasing, and, especially from west- 

 ern Wyoming westward, the use of rams of the mutton breeds has 

 become almost universal. These Merino flocks from the north retain 

 the thick fleece of the original Merino, since the climate is not hot 

 enough to thin out the fleece as it does in New Mexico and Texas. 

 Most of the wrinkles disappear, but a few remain around the shoul- 

 ders, and the face has the Merino colors distinct, being thus easily 

 told from the southern sheep, which have no wrinkles and very thin 

 wool around the head. The lambs are short legged and consequently 



