23 



choose what they will eat, with the result that they eat anything that is 

 not absolutely repellant. If death camas is common, and it usually is, 

 they eat so much of it that they get more of the poison than they can 

 throw off. They are constantly forced to move along on the trail by 

 dogs and herders, and death naturally follows. 



Figure 11. Thin and Hungry Cattle on Poor Pasture. Early in the 

 spring animals in this condition are ravenous for green feed. They 

 will then eat death camas or other poisonous plants which ordinarily 

 they would not touch. 



Figure 12. Cattle on Good Mountain Pasture. Well-fed animals on good 

 range will ordinarily avoid poisonous plants almost wholly. 



It should always be remembered that when a sheep is hungry it 

 usually eats greedily the plant on which it is feeding, or else rushes 

 to another plant for fear some other sheep will get there before it does. 

 But when sheep are grazing openly and quietly, they nip off only the 

 tender and juicy parts of the plant, the leaves and young stems, and 

 carefully select the plants on which they feed. 



