luction the reverse was true, but now it is estimated that lambs 

 :onstitute eighty percent of the total receipts of the Chicago 



larket, and doubtless the same is true of the other large markets. 



Not only has there been a change in the relative numbers of 

 sheep and lambs marketed, but there has also been a change in the 

 listribution of the lambs thru the different seasons. Formerly 



rhen the supply was drawn almost exclusively from native flocks, 



icy were on the market in appreciable numbers during the summer 

 ind early autumn months only, but now they are received every 



reek in the year. As the large numbers received would indicate, 

 lambs are preferred by the consumer, and this even distribution of 

 them thruout the year has doubtless greatly stimulated consumption. 

 A great deal of interest attaches to the relative merits of west- 

 ern and native sheep and lambs for slaughtering purposes. Buyers 

 for the packers or meat trade state that the best native lamb is bet- 

 ter than the best western, and the particulars in which it excels are 

 the flavor, color and juiciness of its meat. The same is true of 

 sheep altho in lesser degree. The best native lamb is better 



lan the best western lamb because it is better in breeding and it 

 is usually better fed. The western lamb is forced to take a great 

 leal of exercise over the range in its search for food, and this is 



>rhaps one of the reasons why its flesh is darker in color and less 

 juicy than that of the native lamb of prime finish that has usually 

 been confined to small pastures. 



It is claimed that the range grasses do not equal those in the 

 districts where native lambs are grown in imparting desirable flavor 

 to the flesh of lambs. Lambs fattened on the range are often 

 driven long distances to a shipping point, and subjected to several 

 days of scant food and water supply while enroute to market. Al- 

 though these lambs are usually rested a few days at the feeding sta- 

 tions, it is believed, nevertheless, that the hardships undergone in 

 reaching the market are in part responsible for the criticism brought 

 against the flavor, color and juiciness of their meat. The fact that 

 the best native lambs are conceded to be better than the best west- 

 ern lambs for the meat trade should be a matter of great encourage- 

 ment to their producers. However, producers as a whole should 

 be chiefly concerned about the merit of their average product, rather 

 than that of a few exceptional individuals that surpass anything else 

 of their class. Relative to this fact the buyers for the packers as- 

 sert emphatically that the average native lamb is much inferior to 

 the average western lamb. This statement should be seriously con- 

 sidered by producers of natives in general, because when linked 



