FLOCK HUSBANDRY IN WESTERN STATES 241 



cestry and tradition that differentiates them from 

 men of other nationalities. 



UPS AND DOWNS OF THE BUSINESS. 



It is to be regretted that the range sheep industry 

 has such remarkable ups and downs. There will be 

 a series of years when flocks on the ranges make 

 their owners very large profits. As, for instance, if 

 a thousand ewes cost the owner $3,000 and thirty 

 rams will cost maybe $300 more. The expense of 

 keeping them will vary greatly, but may be as low 

 as 60 to 75 cents per head, or say, $772.50. It has 

 been known that the thousand ewes would drop and 

 rear a thousand lambs, but cutting this down to 

 850, they sometimes sell for as much as $3 each on 

 the range, or $2,550. Then the fleeces have sold re- 

 cently for more than a dollar per head, or $1,030 

 more, leaving a paper profit of $2,807.50 on an in- 

 vestment in sheep of but $3,000. 



However, as there will needs be some ewes die 

 and rams to be replenished, we can take off the 

 $807.50 to put with the herd and still leave a nice 

 dividend. 



On the other hand, when times are good and sheep 

 prices high the wary operators are willing to sell, 

 and men with moderate or small amounts of capital 

 buy, giving mortgages on all they possess for se- 

 curity. Thereafter (and oft-times soon) things hap- 

 pen! Wool declines in price, lambs go begging, 

 hard seasons come and the men find themselves 

 often involved in absolute ruin. It is related dur- 



