MODERN SHEEP: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 251 



ancT how much dirt and grease will scour out of it that is bother- 

 ing them most, and the sooner our buck breeders learn that a 

 fifteen-pound buck fleece that scours out 60 per cent dirt is much 

 more valuable than a twenty-five-pound fleece that scours out 80 

 per cent dirt, and breed accordingly, the better off the common 

 sheep breeder will be. Kemember, Mr. Buck Breeder, that a great 

 many of us sheepmen have to ship our wool east and have it scoured 

 in order to get anything near its real value, and we do not relish 

 having to pay freight on from sixty to seventy pounds of dirt and 

 grease to Chicago or the seaboard in order to get thirty-seven or 

 thirty pounds .of wool there. 



GOOD HERDERS A PROBLEM. 



Getting competent herders is the biggest problem that most of 

 the New Mexico sheep owners have to contend with. They .use 

 Mexicans and Indians nearly altogether for herders, and while 

 the latter make good herders, the former are very unreliable in 

 most cases, although some of them are unexcelled in their line of 

 business. The principal fault of the Mexican herder is that he 

 won't work' long at a time. After he has worked from one to 

 three months, as a rule, he wants to quit and spend the money 

 he has coming to him. This wouldn't be so bad if he would spend 

 his money and then come back to work, but he will not do it. He 

 will nearly always promise to come back in so many days, but a 

 Mexican's promise, as a rule, is no good whatever, and instead of 

 coming back when his money is spent he will go to work at any- 

 thing else he can get to do before he will come back, as he thinks 

 he wants a change. 



In the southern part of the territory the Mexican herders 

 are paid from $15 to $20 per month and board, the former figure 

 being the most common, while in the northern part, where In- 

 dians are used, the wages are a great deal higher, being from $20 

 to $30 per month and board. A herd or flock of sheep consists of 

 from 2,000 to 3,000 head and two herders are detailed to take care 

 of a herd. They have two or three pack burros, on which they 

 pack their camp outfit. The burros, when packed, go into the 

 herd and travel all day with the sheep. At noon each day if they 

 are traveling the herders unpack their burros and cook their din- 

 ner; after dinner they repack them, turn them into the herd of 

 sheep and proceed till about sunset, when they unpack and pitch 

 their tent which. is usually a small tent of the tepee or A kind, 

 about seven feet in diameter and requiring but one pole in readi- 

 ness for the night. They always use one burro to pack water on, 

 using two five-gallon kegs, one on each side. With these two kegs 

 of water they are prepared to camp wherever night overtakes them ; 



