FLOCK HUSBANDRY IN WESTERN STATES 255 



ing stuff that we can get them to consume. It will 

 astonish us how those lambs will grow, and the 

 beauty of them, coming from these skinny old ewes, 

 but they may be soon sent off fat to market and the 

 mothers will have gained in flesh all the time, and 

 in about two months' more feeding will be ready to 

 go after their lambs. This is good practice and 

 only requires the right combination of careful han- 

 dling, with skill in feeding, warm, well-ventilated 

 barns and an assortment of feeds with wise gener- 

 osity in carrying it out to make the thing pay. In 

 fact, this has been done. One hundred ewes have 

 been bought in Chicago for $175. They have 

 dropped and raised 90 lambs that sold at about 10 

 to 14 weeks' of age for over $5.00 each. The ewes 

 sheared, under this good care, above 7 pounds each 

 and the wool sold for 25c. Then the ewes finally 

 fattened and weighed 112 pounds, selling for 5c per 

 pound. Thus the ewe that cost $1.75 in Chicago 

 sold, with her wool and lamb, for $11.85 in late 

 May. This was an exceptionally favorable result, 

 however, achieved by an assemblage of favoring 

 conditions of low first cost, fairly good quality, good 

 sires, wise and generous treatment and a booming 

 spring market. Let the indifferent shepherd, or the 

 one having ear corn and timothy hay, beware of 

 these broken-mouthed ewes; they will undo him 

 every time. This is one of the first lessons to be 

 learned in successful flock husbandry. 



There is danger that these ewes may part of them 

 be already with lamb to some inferior range ram. 



