352 MANAGEMENT AND FEEDING OF SHEEP 



are still capable of fattening readily on suitable rations. 

 Range ewes of the Merino types will produce profitably 

 for a longer period, but such ewes should not be retained 

 on the ranch after their teeth have begun to fail. The 

 culling of pure-bred flocks not so strong numerically as 

 they are to be, is apt to be less severe than the circum- 

 stances would justify. Because of this those flocks fre- 

 quently fall below a high standard. 



Disposal of the culls When sheep and lambs are 

 culled on the range, they must be sold for what they will 

 bring, as they cannot be fattened on the range. More 

 commonly they are shipped to some stock yard center and 

 are then sold to be finished when the facilities for such 

 finishing may be found on the farm or at the yards. Dur- 

 ing recent years the extension of the beet-sugar industry 

 to the mountain valleys of the West and the growth of 

 alfalfa in the same areas has opened up a new field for 

 the fattening of culls, especially culls rejected because of 

 age. The soft pulp can be readily eaten by these, though 

 they should be almost toothless with age. 



On the arable farm the culls may be fattened. They 

 may be fattened in the autumn on suitable grazing, more 

 especially on rape, or they may be fattened after the win- 

 ter has closed in. Usually they may be more cheaply 

 fattened on grazing, and this makes it possible to get 

 them out of the way before the coming of winter, which 

 usually brings with it a call for all the available space 

 that it may be possible to secure. 



Culls are usually slow feeders, and in many instances 

 the profit from feeding is less than that secured from a 

 better class of animals. In the nature of things it is so, 

 as the influences that led to their rejection as breeders 

 are still operative, and will in consequence make them rela- 

 tively slow feeders. The want of uniformity, which in 

 most instances they possess, tends also to discount the 

 price paid for them. Nevertheless, there may be instances 



