224 SHEEP FARMING IN AMERICA. 



less you understand treating them and eradi- 

 cating the wo'nns. Thin Western lambs do not 

 often have these parasites because in their 

 drier ranges the diseases do not lodge nor 

 spread. And yet lambs from some of the more 

 Eastern ranges, in the Dakotas, Nebraska and 

 occasionally from Montana, come now and then 

 infected. Before you buy these thin lambs 

 look at their skins. If thej^ are chalky pass 

 them by. 



Here are ewes. This band of old ewes, in thin 

 flesh, show evidences of fairly good breeding. 

 They have a motherly look too. We find that 

 we can buy them cheaply. What can we do 

 with them? 



Let us look first at their teeth. Ah, I thought 

 so! A large number of them have lost their 

 front teeth. This means two or three things. It 

 accounts for their being sent from range to 

 market. They have been culled out because they 

 no longer could subsist well on the tough 

 grasses and herbage of the range. It accounts 

 mainly for their emaciation. And it means to 

 you, "Am I in position to take good care of 

 these old ewes?" These ewes may not be too 

 old to make a good recovery under favorable 

 conditions; they may even drop a strong crop 

 of lambs and nourish them well, but they must 

 eat more costly food than ewes that have their 

 teeth. 



They ought to have bran, oats, shelled com 

 and early-cut, tender hay. But they are for sale, 

 and at a low price. If it is early enough so that 

 we can breed them to good rams we may do this, 



