SHEEP 371 



the range about every week, or when he thinks it is necessary. It is 

 the camptender's business also, to bring the salt to the sheep in the 

 mountains on pack horses. He has no time to cook meals for the 

 sheepherder, as was the custom in the Sierras, but is kept on a con- 

 tinuous journey from the main source of supplies to his two or three 

 bands over which he has charge and back again. 



The bands of dry ewes and wethers are herded in the same 

 manner, two or more bands being sent to the free range country, 

 about fifty miles to the north, to compete in the struggle for feed. 

 These are brought down about the middle of August, fed on the 

 home range for a short time and shipped. Beginning usually about 

 the first of September, the ewe bands are brought into the corrals 

 and examined and the lambs separated from them. This examina- 

 tion is commonly termed "mouthing," and consists of opening the 

 mouth and observing the condition of the teeth. These sometimes 

 commence to open or they may have become worked down to the 

 gums, or some of them lost, in which case they are unable to bite 

 off the feed and cannot do well, so, if they are in condition, they are 

 shipped as soon as possible. Ewes, however, generally have a good 

 mouth until they are six or seven years old, and sometimes eight and 

 nine. The wether bands are started to be shipped about the middle 

 of August and continued until all are shipped. Those shipped be- 

 fore October the first usually go to the San Francisco market direct, 

 while those shipped after are put on alfalfa pasture in the vicinity of 

 Lovelock and later fed hay, about one hundred thousand sheep from 

 eastern Nevada being fed on the Lovelock pastures every fall. This 

 part of the enterprise is looked after by the butchers, who pay half 

 cent a head per day for pasture and six and a half dollars per ton 

 for hay, the price of the latter varying from season to season. These 

 sheep are kept for the winter market and shipped by the butchers as 

 the occasion demands. 



The sheep that are to be held over during the winter are 

 usually dipped in the fall to prevent infection from the sheep scab. 

 These consist of the ewes wihich are to be used for breeding purposes 

 and the wethers that are too young to sell profitably. On account of 

 the excellent work done by the county and Government inspectors 

 the dreaded sheep scab is fast disappearing in this State. 



About the first of November the bands are made ready for the 

 winter range, the ewes and wethers being separated. Generally, the 

 older ewes are bred to coarse-wooled bucks to raise mutton lambs 

 and the young ewes to smooth Merinos for wool production and 

 stock sheep. The bucks are put with the ewes while on the trail to 

 their winter quarters, remaining with them for about ten days or 

 until snow comes. 



Several sheepmen usually run their bucks together during the 

 summer. In the fall they are separated by the different brands and 

 put on pasture and fed barley or oats. From this time on the sheep 

 are cared for in the large white sage valleys in the southern part of 

 the State. 



