102 BULLETIN NO. 59. 



and the lambs for $7.25 per hundred pounds, a difference of $1.25 

 per hundred pounds in favor of the lambs. This is the usual differ- 

 ence when both are equally fat and ready for the market. It will 

 be noticed, also, by comparing the price paid for the lambs, both 

 in the year 1902 and 1903, as well as in the test here reported, that 

 the lambs cost more per pound than the wethers. The difference is 

 greater for this year than for the previous year, when it was but 

 25 cents per hundred pounds, whereas this year it was a little over 

 one cent per pound different. The lambs fed in this experiment 

 gained as much in proportion to their beginning weight as those of 

 the year before. They were, therefore, just as ecoriorhieal feeders. 

 They also made gains much more economically than did the wethers 

 van.d yet the financial result shows a decided profit for the Wethers 

 and practically none for the lambs, beyond the labor cost Of feed- 

 ing. To get a full explanation why there was this difference I 

 wrote to Clay, Robinson & Company, the commission" coftipany 

 who -sold the lambs both years, as to the reason for the difference 

 noted. 1 give herewith this letter from the company, which,, ifl a 

 measure, explains the reason for the difference : 

 MR. F. B. LINFIELD, 



Montana Experiment Station, Bozeman, Montana . 

 Dear Sir : We are in receipt of your letter of i8th and note 

 ^what . you ^say .-regarding the deck of lambs you had here a short t'irtTe 

 -ago. 



In 'reply "Will say that in the first place they were not heavy 

 "enough to command the top price, and, in the second place, they 

 were far from 'being ^finished. 



If you were here and saw the condition good Colorado lambs ; 

 were in you would readily agree with us that your lambs are not to 

 be compared wtth them. We also note you were somewhat sur- 

 prised that your wethers sold higher than your lambs. These 

 wethers, the day they were here, sold fully 25c above the market. 

 There wa ah exporter here who simply had to have these sheep, 

 no matter wliat they cost, and, knowing this, we took advantage 

 of it. In fact $5.00 would have been a good strong price for these 

 wethers the day they were here. 



We candidly believe that you folks could do better with aged 

 wethers out there than with lambs. We do not believe you can 

 fatten your lambs and get them in condition to sell at the top of the 



