368 DOMESTIC ANIMALS, DAIRYING, ETC. 



nettle-leaved mint (Lophanthus urticifolius), which are of no value 

 for forage and are not eaten to any extent by sheep or cattle, occupy 

 considerable areas, the former growing on poor soil and the latter 

 on the very best soil the region affords. Owing to their being left 

 undisturbed and allowed to seed abundantly, they seem to be in- 

 creasing out of proportion to the more valuable forage plants. From 

 the fact that sheep prefer weeds and browse to grasses, it was no- 

 ticed that on this range the grasses were allowed to seed and no sign 

 of overgrazing by sheep of these valuable forage plants for cattle 

 was seen. Cattle, however, do not care to feed on ground over which 

 sheep have passed, so that, as far as that particular season is con- 

 cerned, the grasses are not eaten by cattle. As already stated, owing 

 to the range being controlled and the scarcity of water in some sea- 

 sons permitting only a portion of the land being grazed by sheep, 

 there is always plenty of grass for cattle on these ungrazed portions. 

 This statement is corroborated by the fact that hundreds of cattle 

 were seen on this sheep range which were in very good condition. 

 Under these circumstances the grazing of sheep over this particular 

 range is a benefit rather than a menace to the grasses, as they insure 

 protection to them while seeding. 



Methods of Handling. About the 1st of March the sheep leave 

 the white sage flats in Nye and White Pine counties south of Eureka 

 and come slowly northward through the valleys, obtaining water 

 from the melting snow or by eating the snow itself. They usually 

 reach the shearing grounds by the railroad about the 1st of April. 

 Their chief feed at this time is the bud sage (Artemisia spinescens) 

 and the young grass sprouting from their stools. The sheep are then 

 separated into ewe bands and wether bands, the ewes and their lambs 

 of the previous year having run together during the winter. Those 

 which have been bred to coarse-wooled bucks, like the Shropshires, 

 are kept together to sell for mutton later, while those which have 

 been bred to fine-wooled bucks like the Rambouillet's, are kept as 

 stock sheep. This is done in order to keep up the quantity and 

 quality of the wool, and, at the same time, obtain a fair price for 

 the mutton. Two crops of wool are also obtained from each lamb 

 as they are not usually sold until about two years old, which differs 

 from the practice in the Sierras, where the lambs are marketed when 

 from four to five months old. Eastern Nevada sheepmen are unable 

 to compete with the lambs raised on the Sierras as their sheep lamb 

 later, the country being colder in spring and the difference in the 

 character of the forage preventing rapid development. The lambs 

 also shrink too much in shipping, being too far from both the East- 

 ern and Western markets. Different customs prevail as to the time 

 of dipping and shearing, some preferring to dip before shearing and 

 others after. The advocates of the latter method claim that the 

 lime which is used in the dip mixture is harmful to the wool. When 

 the mixture is properly made, however, no bad results need be 

 feared. Those who dip before shearing claim that the sheep are 

 weak at this time of the year and that dipping increases this weak- 

 ness, and, if a cold storm comes when the sheep are not protected 



