FLOCK HUSBANDRY IN WESTERN STATES. 181 



but as a rule the Merino has been found to 

 cross better and to withstand the conditions 

 better than the mutton breeds. 



Management on most of these Mexican 

 I'an-^hes is extremely simple. Native Mexican 

 sheep owners often use corrals (small yards 

 built of cedar or pinon posts set close in the 

 ground) in which the flocks (called "herds" 

 throughout the West) are confined at night. 

 This secures them from loss from coyotes or 

 mountain lions. The corralling is, however, a 

 serious injury to the sheep since they must 

 travel some distance to and from the enclosure 

 and what is worse must await the pleasure of 

 the herder before they can go forth to graze 

 in the morning. 



CmAEACTEE OF "MEXICAN SHEEP." 



The native Mexican sheep is indeed a 

 "sorry" animal, having few characteristics 

 that we are wont to associate with good form 

 or character. It has a thin neck and feeble 

 look, a curving back, round, contracted belly, 

 thin legs and rather woe-begone countenance. 

 The wool is coarse and scanty, the bellies and 

 legs being often bare. And yet the Mexican 

 sheep is not without its peculiar virtues. 



It is fairly prolific and the lambs are hardy. 

 It is a great traveler and can subsist upon 

 scanty and dry forage. When worst comes 

 to worst and in the lower country along the 

 Rio Grande, far down in Texas and across the 

 nver in old Mexico rain does not fall and all 

 herbage is dried up and turned to dust, the 



