DISPOSAL AND MARKETING OF SHEEP 357 



will frequently sell for as much as the same lamb would 

 bring if retained until 9 to 12 months old. When not 

 sold as milk lambs, the aim should be to finish them on 

 the farm, so that the profit made from the finishing may 

 accrue to the owner rather than to someone who may 

 purchase them for feeding. On the range sheep are sold 

 as lambs or wethers. Whether they should be sold as lambs 

 or older, depends in no small degree on the relative price 

 of wool and mutton. The higher relatively the price paid 

 for wool, the more advantageous, relativel3^ to sell as 

 wethers rather than lambs, and vice versa. In former 

 decades the range stocks were disposed of as wethers, 

 but at present the disposal of males as lambs is on the 

 increase. The tendency is to increase the ewes, since a 

 ewe will furnish a fleece and a lamb, while the wether 

 furnishes a fleece only. It is true, nevertheless, that a 

 wether will sell for more than a lamb, and he will con- 

 sume less grazing than a ewe and a lamb. 



On the range the surplus stock is usually sold to go 

 to the block directly or after having been fattened at 

 some place of finishing not in the range country. The 

 aged ewes culled out are disposed of similarly. But on 

 the farm it may be different. Where the flock is small 

 the animals singled out for disposition may frequently be 

 all used in supplying meat for the farmer and his family. 

 It may seem incongruous to recommend the disposal of 

 culls in that way, but when sheep are kept in but lim- 

 ited numbers the grade of culls even may rank relative!}- 

 high. 



Determining the age of sheep — When culling the 

 flock, it is not always possible to determine the age of 

 those which ought to be discarded on the ground of age, 

 nor can a judge be quite sure of the exact age when pass- 

 ing upon sheep in the show ring. In the latter instances, 

 however, he can make a close approximation from indica- 

 tions furnished by the teeth. The absence of teeth and 



