260 Sheep-Farming 



A smaller margin is needed to insure a profit 

 when sheep sell at high prices than when they are 

 low. This is true even though the purchase price 

 is also high. If the finished sheep are also sold at 

 high prices, then there has been a greater return 

 received for the weight put on in feeding and a 

 security against loss in the feeding itself. If, at the 

 same time, the cost of feed was less than the selling 

 value of the increased weight, then the outlay and 

 feed expense would be recovered even if the selling 

 price was lower than the purchased price. 



This is shown in the italicized figures in the fol- 

 lowing table from Ohio Bulletin No. 179. The lower 

 left-hand figure, 6.638, is the selling price that would 

 repay the entire outlay in a case in which sheep 

 were bought at $7.50 per hundredweight and fed 

 upon hay at $6 per ton and corn at 45 cents per 

 bushel. The table assumes a consumption of 5 

 pounds roughage, 4 paun,ds grain for each pound of 

 increase. Lambs bought at the same price and fed 

 upon feed valued at the highest figures shown would 

 return their cost selling at 5 cents per hundred 

 below the original cost. In the case of the lower 

 value and expensive feeds, a margin of $1.35 is nec- 

 essary to prevent loss. 



