DISPOSAL AND MARKETING OF SHEEP 365 



for the shipments forwarded. If some of the sheep or 

 lambs are not yet ready to be sent to the market, the 

 opportunity is furnished to feed them longer. 



Some of the growers of sheep thus virtually maintain 

 two feeding stations. One is located in the country near 

 to the pastures where the sheep are grown and where the 

 necessary fattening foods are obtainable, and the other is 

 not distant from the place of final disposal. Sheep grown 

 on the ranges are thus fattened in some of the mountain 

 valleys of the West, where alfalfa and the coarse grains 

 can be produced abundantly through the aid of irrigating 

 waters from the mountain streams. Marketable lambs 

 four days in transit and weighing 50 to 100 pounds will 

 shrink about seven to eight pounds; one-year wethers 

 weighing about 120 pounds, about 10 pounds; and aged 

 wethers and ewes, about 12 pounds. The shorter the 

 period of transit the greater relatively would be the 

 shrinkage, and vice versa. 



