106 SHEEP FEEDING 



less than four pounds of shrinkage. One thing that makes 

 Western grass sheep so popular with the killers is the fact 

 that they are well shrunk out when they reach the mar- 

 kets and dress a high per cent. 



The sheep buyer. If possible, accompany your sheep to 

 market and know before you start what they will have cost 

 you when laid down ready for sale. This gives an intelligent 

 and sound basis on which to accept or reject bids. It is a good 

 plan to keep in touch with your commission firm and heed 

 their advice as far as possible in regard to the exact time of 

 shipments and other suggestions they may make. The feeder 

 who thinks he can temporarily " fix " his sheep, or claim for 

 them something they are not, and fool the old experienced 

 buyers on our large markets, is sadly mistaken. Every sheep 

 buyer for the packers has the records of his purchases (exact 

 weight, per cent dressed, quality of mutton, and any other 

 details that might be of value) sent to him each day. He 

 studies and compares these records until he knows better 

 than the feeder the real value of every load on which he 

 bids. Such an experience, extended over a good many years, 

 prepares a man to meet pretty severe competition; and the 

 feeder who thinks, for instance, that the burs in his sheep 

 are there to his advantage (for he may argue, " They weigh 

 just that much more and burs do not hurt the mutton ") will 

 do well to remember that the man who bids on them has, 

 in all probability, bought thousands of burry sheep and 

 knows to a nicety what actual deduction must be made, and, 

 after surveying the conditions, also figures about how much 

 extra he can deduct on the mere fact that the sheep are 

 burry at all. This same principle works when he finds a 

 few taggy culls or heavy-pelted sheep mixed with an other- 

 wise good shipment. When a buyer demands a cut before 



