MODERN SHEEP: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



wool, are nice and smooth, with few wrinkles, making a ^chunky," 

 although rather small wether that always sells well for his size. ' 

 They also have a good length of staple, but fall down a bit some- 

 times in density. For use on a good grade flock of ewes the De- 

 laine is hard to beat, but for use in breeding up a bunch of bare- 

 bellied Navajos we would rather recommend the use of wrinkly 

 Spanish Merino bucks for the first cross or dense-wooled Rambouil- 

 lets, in order to give density to the fleece. In breeding qualities 

 the Delaine, like all of the Merino tribe, is par excellence the sheep, 

 but, from our limited experience with the breed we are of the opin- 

 ion that the Delaine is not quite as hardy as the Eambouillet and 

 will not stand the cold weather and dry feed as well as the latter. 



THE RAMBOUILLET THE IDEAL SHEEP. 



The Rambouillet is the ideal sheep for New Mexico's ranges. 

 He is a large, almost smooth sheep, that produces an excellent 

 carcass of mutton, and at the same time rubs the Delaine very 

 close in wool production. But the first question the range man 

 will ask is this : "Is he hardy ; will he live and thrive on the ranges 

 of New Mexico with her varying climatic conditions ?" To all these 

 questions we answer decidedly "Yes." 



The Rambouillet ewe will come nearer raising a good lamb and 

 a good fleece of wool on a diet of fresh air and mountain scenery 

 than any sheep we have had any experience with, and, let us tell 

 you, Mr. Rangeman, if you contemplate purchasing some purebred 

 Rambouillet bucks, don't be afraid of getting them so fine and 

 highbred that their offspring won't thrive on the range. The writer 

 recently sold in New Mexico a carload of registered Rambouillet 

 bucks out of one of the most celebrated eastern flocks, a flock 

 that carried off the major portion of the Rambouillet honors 

 at St. Louis in 1904, and has had abundant opportunity to ob- 

 serve the record these bucks have made on the range. They went 

 into two grade Rambouillet ewe flocks and the lambs out of 

 the bucks from one of these flocks were sold November 1st 

 (lambs born in April) by weight. The whole bunch, with prob- 

 ably a dozen cut out, averaged very nearly eighty pounds and 

 one lamb weighed 112 pounds, while several went over one hun- 

 dred pounds. We think this a pretty good record for range lambs. 

 We might add that the lambs from the same flock promise to be 

 even better this year than they were last, as they have better feed. 



In conclusion, let me say don't be afraid to tie to him, for he 

 certainly is the sheep for our barren sagebrush ranges. 



As to the wrinkly Spanish Merino, he is a very good sheep 

 for about the first cross on bare-bellied Navajo ewes, to give them 

 density of fleece, but farther than this we can't say much for him 



