Flock husbandry in western states. 20*? 



is growing, however, a healthy sentiment, and 

 sooner or later the neighboring ranchmen will 

 themselves take it upon them to see that scab 

 is eradicated from their district and compel 

 the indifferent to clean their flocks in self-de- 

 fense. That done a great and unnecessary ex 

 pense will be .saved, since it will not be neces- 

 sary to dip so often, only ticks being to com- 

 bat, and a heavy cloud of apprehension will be 

 removed from the sheep owner's mind and the 

 shepherd's as well. 



THE MALIGNED " SHEEP HEEDEE." 



There is in the mind of the public a deep- 

 seated prejudice against the range shepherd, the 

 "sheep herder," and he is often regarded as 

 being an ignorant, lazy, and generally de- 

 graded individual. There is doubtless here 

 and there a man of that sort engaged in herd- 

 ing sheep, but in the main the herders are men 

 of character and intelligence. Their work de- 

 velopes within them quite different characteris- 

 tics from those developing in the man who 

 herds cattle, the "vaqueros" who' do their 

 work on horseback. 



The shepherds acquire patience, thought 

 and faithfulness. They develop endurance and 

 stoicism. Lacking the dash of the cowboys, 

 they have greater capacity for enduring dis- 

 comfort and fatigue. 



There are every year wonderful things done 

 on the sheep ranges by these faithful herd- 

 ers. Storms come and blizzards blow and some- 

 times there is no shelter. Then the sheep can 



