154 WESTERN GRAZING GROUNDS AND FOREST RANGES 



way many lambs are saved that in the usual course of 

 lambing would be lost and a careful herder will raise 

 a full percentage of lambs where one who is indifferent 

 will cost his employer ten times his wages each day. 



A Critical Period. With the ordinary herd the lamb- 

 ing should be over in from ten to fifteen days, when 

 they can be thrown together and left in charge of the 

 regular herder. Lambing is a critical period for the 

 sheepman and a few careless herders or an unexpected 

 storm may cause him to lose the entire year's profits in 

 a very short time. For the owner or foreman it means 

 twenty-four hours of almost constant work every single 

 day. For herders it means long hours also and a loyalty 

 to their work which is sometimes paid for with their 

 lives when a snowstorm overtakes them and rather than 

 abandon their charges they perish with them. 



Moving to Mountain Pastures. As soon as the lamb- 

 ing is safely over the ewes are moved into the high 

 mountains in order that they may have the very choicest 

 of green food. Sheep do not feed entirely upon grass 

 but eat many varieties of weeds and forage plants. Nor 

 do they need water as horses and cattle do. Sheep 

 grazing on the high Alpine meadows will go for sev- 

 eral days without being watered, finding all the mois- 

 ture they need in the early dews and in the soft lush 

 feed. Of course much depends on the quality of the 

 feed, the amount of dew and the weather. In northern 

 Arizona I have known bands of ewes to go for ten days 

 without going to water, and when they did reach it 

 they drank very little. 



Weight of Lambs. Lambs raised under these condi- 

 tions grow very rapidly and at eight months should 

 weigh more than 65 pounds. The average weight of 



