302 SHEEP FARMING IN AMERICA 



it must have merit worth considering. For one 

 thing, the feeder can assort his lambs according to 

 size and condition very nicely in these small pens. 



THE BUSINESS OP LAMB FEEDING. 



The writer thinks it unnecessary to ask pardon 

 for thus devoting so many pages to the description 

 of the lamb feeding industry, based on western 

 lambs, corn and alfalfa. 



It is easy to see from the immensity of the ranges 

 and the constant supply of lambs coming from them, 

 together with the great and ever-increasing demand 

 for lamb mutton in the United States, that this in- 

 dustry is one destined to steady growth and im- 

 portance. Old sheep are fed in relatively decreas- 

 ing numbers and the demand for strictly "baby 

 lambs" is absorbing a greater and greater propor- 

 tion of the farm-grown lambs. Lamb feeding as a 

 speculation may result disastrously, indeed is cer- 

 tain to do so at times when feeders are bought 

 dear, feeds are high in price and lambs sell cheaply 

 in spring; but the farmer who fits himself for the 

 business and feeds with care and steadiness year 

 by year will find his profits encouraging and his 

 farm increasing steadily in productiveness. The 

 work is such that farm labor finds employment the 

 year round, thus good men are attracted to lamb- 

 feeding farms. 



FEEDING OF OLDER SHEEP. 



After the lamb comes the yearling in point of 

 merit as a feeder. Very often the yearling was a 



