SHEEP FEEDING. 103 



market, unless you happened to strike a market when everybody 

 was crazy for lambs, same as you struck last year. The writer 

 remembers distinctly the day your lambs were here. Every buyer 

 was out hunting lambs, and on a market of that kind we can come 

 nearer getting the top than on a market where there are plenty of 

 good lambs to select from, same as we have had here the last six 

 weeks or two months. 



Yours truly, 



Clay Robinson & Co. 

 Note The underlining is mine. F. B. L. 



It would seem, therefore, that the real trouble with these 

 lambs was that they were not fat enough, and to get the top prices 

 they must be fat. As these lambs gained as much as those did the 

 year before and were fed the same rations and the same length of 

 time then it would seem that the trouble was not in the method of 

 feeding, but rather the lambs were too small to begin with and the 

 time allowed was not sufficient to get these lambs to the weight and 

 condition which would enable them to command the top price. It 

 has been noticed by observing the market that the lambs which 

 come nearest to supplying the demand range from 85 to 95 pounds 

 in Chicago. This would mean a lamb which would weigh some- 

 thing like 95 to 100 pounds in Montana. These lambs were 13 

 pounds lighter than those fed the year before. To bring them up 

 this much in weight at shipping time would mean that they should 

 be fed for between 50 and 60 days longer. This would seem to in- 

 dicate that we have to feed larger lambs or else feed them for a 

 longer time if we are to command the best or top price. In com- 

 parison with the wethers the lambs grow considerable in addition to 

 the fattening and so make use of a larger amount of the feed given 

 them but in proportion do not put on as much fat as do the wethers. 

 These latter having had their growth turn most of the feed into 

 fat and so get into condition for the market in a shorter time than 

 do the lambs. Again the wethers are stronger and can keep in better 

 condition upon the range than can the lambs and so usually come 

 into the feeding lots in better condition in the fall. Much better re- 

 sults would be obtained with the lambs if they were gotten upon 

 the farm early in the season and had from 6 weeks to two months 

 on the meadow before being put upon the winter ration for fatten- 

 ing. 



