DISPOSAL AND MARKETING OF SHEEP 355 



number of such rams for sale, hence the person who may- 

 desire to invest is given the opportunity to choose from 

 various flocks. 



In Great Britain a large proportion of the rams 

 reared are sold at sales held in certain centers every year. 

 Those sales furnish opportunities that cannot be improved 

 upon for securing stock rams. They bring the buyer and 

 seller close together at a minimum of cost, so the pro- 

 spective buyer has the opportunity of inspecting animals 

 from many flocks before the sale is held. The sale also 

 tends to inspire those who furnish the animals sold to 

 bring them possessed of high excellence, that the prices 

 paid may add to their reputation as successful breeders. 

 It would be a great mistake to bring inferior animals to 

 such sales. The sales should be well advertised and the 

 sheep carefully catalogued. 



It cannot be said that the attempts to sell sheep for 

 breeding at such sales in America have been altogether 

 successful, a result that may have arisen in part from 

 the apparent hesitancy on the part of those who furnish 

 the animals to hazard the selling of high-class sheep by 

 auction. That such sales will yet become common in this 

 country would seem to be a foregone conclusion, because 

 of the fine opportunity which they furnish to intending 

 purchasers for inspecting animals from many herds. The 

 tendency at the present time is to hold such sales at cen- 

 ters where important live stock fairs are held, and 

 simultaneously with the fairs. The time and place for 

 holding these sales, however, is at present in the tentative 

 stage. 



Fitting sheep for sale — When sheep or lambs are 

 held for sale, either public or private, they will not sell 

 readily, nor will they bring good prices unless possessed 

 of reasonably good flesh and a fair amount of bloom. 

 Both conditions appeal to the eye. Where the animals 

 offered are thin, the suspicion is aroused that they are 

 lacking in bloom; they do not possess the attractions 



