578 



BULLETIN No. 129. [November, 



of shec;; and the activity of the mutton trade. It is exceedingly 

 difficultfto describe accurately animals typical of the various grades. 

 Photographs are hard to secure because sheep are yarded in cov- 

 ered pens where the nature of the light defeats the most skillful 

 photographer. While photographs are helpful in fixing the differ- 

 ent grades in the mind of the reader it is impossible to present a 

 photograph that is universally typical of a particular grade, because 

 of variations in the markings and wool of sheep coming in that 

 grade. Then, too, photographs of sheep often do not have a de- 

 scriptive effect or the effect of corroborating a description satis- 

 factorily, for the reason that the wool conceals, in a large measure, 

 the condition and many times the form of the animal. In cases 

 where the difference between two adjoining grades in the same 

 class is due to condition alone, photographs are of very little aid 

 in showing this difference. 



Another difficulty arises from the variation which exists in the 

 use of terms by those engaged in buying, selling and reporting 

 sheep on the market. For example, such words as choice and 

 prime are frequently used interchangeably by the same party, or 

 different parties use unlike terms with reference to the same thing. 



In submitting the classification given in the following pages, an 

 effort has been made to present the subject true to existing condi- 

 tions, and in such a way that the average reader will understand 

 it. The writer does not wish the foregoing statements to impress 

 the reader with the idea that the classification which follows is 

 other than that actually in use. While it is often imperfectly and 

 loosely quoted, and greatly abridged by buyers and salesmen in 

 everyday practice, it is none the less the true classification. 



This bulletin is the result of a personal investigation of the 

 subject at the Union Stock Yards, Chicago, where every possible 

 courtesy was extended by the officials of the Union Stock Yards 

 and Transit Company, live stock commission companies, packers, 

 Government inspectors, and by representatives of the live stock 

 journals. The greater number of the photographs from which the 

 engravings were made were taken in the Chicago Union Stock 

 Yards especially for use in this work. 



NATIVE AND WESTERN SHEEP 



Native sheep are those produced ordinarily in small flocks- 

 on the farms of the central, southern and eastern states. Western 

 sheep are those produced usually in large bands on the ranges 

 of the western states. As a rule western sheep have enough Merino 



