FLOCK HUSBANDRY IN WESTERN STATES. 189 



writer thinks the sooner the half wild "Mexi- 

 can" blood is bred out of these sheep the bet- 

 ter save for very hard conditions of drouth 

 and thinly-grassed ranges. 



THE WANDEKING HEEDS. 



In Utah, Nevada and parts of Colorado and 

 in Idaho (with also a part of Arizona and 

 California) a peculiar system of sheep ranch- 

 ing prevails. It might be called the nomadic, 

 or trailing system, for the herds spend their 

 summers on the high mountain pastures, their 

 springs and falls in intermediate regions and 

 their winters in the low-lying parts, on the 

 deserts and foothills. Some of the better 

 eared-for flocks are fed during part of the 

 winter or spring on alfalfa or other hay grown 

 in the valleys. 



These trailing bands of sheep are in charge 

 of herders each having in his care from 2,000 

 to 3,000 except during lambing time, when he 

 is given a smaller number and very often has 

 help in addition. We may start with them in 

 spring, when their journey begins from the 

 desert toward the mountains. All winter they 

 have lived on desert herbage and brush and 

 snow has been largely their reliance for drink. 

 ■ When that, is melted and the water holes are 

 dried up the sheep must come out of the des- 

 ert and head toward their mountain ranges. 

 Very often these ranges are a hundred miles 

 away and in rarer instances they are much 

 more distant. The herder moves the band 

 each day by slow stages towards their destina- 



