2$2 MODERN SHEEP I BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



the ten gallons of water being enough to last three or four days. 

 As darkness falls the sheep gather near the camp fire and lie down 

 for the night, unless disturbed by wild animals or by a storm, 

 when one of the herders must watch them to see that they do not 

 wander off or fall prey to some skulking coyote. As a rule, the 

 herders take the herd out on the range after watering and stay 

 out until time to water again, which is from two to four days and 

 often longer, owing to the condition of the feed and weather. In 

 cool weather, with some green feed, sheep will go five days with- 

 out water, but in extreme hot weather they should have water 

 every other day at the most, and ewes and lambs should have 

 water every day in hot weather. 



Mexican herders seldom camp- longer than four days in one 

 place, thereby giving the sheep the benefit of frequent changes 

 of range. As a rule they can be depended upon to give the sheep 

 pretty good care while with them, but the most of them will steal 

 a mutton when they get a chance and sell or give it to a friend 

 who happens to be passing, or take it to his family when he takes 

 a lay-off to go home. Their diet consists principally of "frijoles" 

 (beans), salt bacon, bread and coffee, and occasionally they will 

 get some dried fruit or "lick" (molasses). Some of the sheep own- 

 ers allow their herders to kill all the mutton they want to eat, but 

 most of them are not allowed to kill it at all, because they are very 

 wasteful with it, often allowing half a sheep to spoil when they 

 could easily have saved it ; and they never care what they kill 

 that is, they would kill a fine young ewe if she was fat just as 

 readily as they would a wether. The Mexicans are great "chili" 

 (red pepper) eaters and if they have it will mix it with most 

 everything they eat. Some of them live to be very old, a hundred 

 years or more, and we have often heard it stated that eating so 

 much of this red pepper keeps them healthy, but, judging from its 

 effect upon himself, the writer is of the opinion that if they didn't 

 eat so much "chili" they could easily live to be two hundred years 

 of age. 



The Mexicans that are fresh from Mexico make the best 

 herders. They are not acquainted with the ways of the people 

 here and it takes them some time to catch on to how to steal mut- 

 ton and what to do with it after stealing it; they -are also not quite 

 so independent as those who have been living here for any con- 

 siderable time. 



One of the worst tricks of the native Mexicans is to wait till 

 they catch their employer in a "hard fix" where their services are 

 badly needed, and then ask for an increase of pay on penalty of 

 quitting if their request is not granted; but we are not sure that 



