BUYING THE FEEDEKS 37 



good feeder, leave the selection of your stock to your buyer, 

 and do not disregard his judgment after you have paid him 

 for it. You can use your own judgment, eyes, and ears to 

 good advantage in detecting signs of disease, particularly 

 scab in Western sheep, insisting on a cut if there are some 

 culls you do not want, and in seeing that your sheep are 

 thoroughly and carefully dipped ; in fact, too much emphasis 

 cannot be laid on the importance of dipping. The cars that 

 sheep are shipped in, as well as the sheep pens about the 

 stockyards, are not infrequently badly infected with scab. 

 Some large feeders deem it necessary to dip their sheep 

 again after they get them home, on account of the exposure 

 to infection en route from the yards to the farm. There 

 may be some question regarding the advisability of the 

 second dipping, but there is not the slightest doubt about 

 the necessity of the first. It rids the sheep of ticks and 

 other external parasites that they invariably have, even 

 though they are perfectly free from all signs of scab. 



Studying the conditions at the stockyards. Another point 

 that is of no little importance, and one that is often over- 

 looked, may be mentioned here. Not infrequently the writer 

 has seen instances where, out of a fine healthy bunch of 

 sheep, from one to three per cent would die just about the 

 time the feeder got them home. Everything indicated that 

 the loss was due to brutal treatment in the yard, cars, and 

 dipping pens. Let those who handle your sheep know that 

 they belong to you and that you are on hand for the purpose 

 of protecting them. Often your presence will be all that is 

 necessary to keep ignorant and inhuman drivers and dippers 

 from their brutal practices. Another way in which you can 

 improve your time while around the yards is to talk to 

 farmers and feeders that are there, and watch their selection 



