Fattening Range Lambs in Winter 155 



they sell at top prices, even though they may look some- 

 what leggy and rough. Range lambs that are born very 

 late in the season and that perhaps have had very poor 

 feed, come off the range in the fall weighing forty to fifty 

 pounds each. Such lambs are usually known on the 

 market as "pewees" or "peanuts," and sell for rather a 

 low price. These lambs are not desirable for mutton pur- 

 poses of course, and are badly in need of more weight and 

 finish, but they are usually rather delicate and too light 

 to be profitable feeders. Unless they are known to be 

 fairly thrifty, and the feeder has an abundance of rich 

 feed, they had better be let alone. Generally speaking, 

 the ideal feeder is the thrifty fleshy range lamb, weighing 

 sixty pounds in October or November. The more mutton 

 blood which these lambs carry, the better. Lambs with 

 heavy wrinkled pelts are objectionable, as they do not 

 gain rapidly and sell to a disadvantage. The black-faced 

 lambs are preferred, as the black faces are an indication 

 of Shropshire, Hampshire, or Oxford blood. 



LENGTH OF FEEDING PERIOD 



The time lambs are ordinarily kept on full feed in win- 

 ter is about ninety to one hundred days. This period 

 varies very little in the different feeding sections. A 

 shorter period than this commonly does not put on suf- 

 ficient gain to pay a profit, while a longer feeding period is 

 unnecessary, as good lambs will be sufficiently fat in one 

 hundred days to bring the top price. There are a num- 

 ber of large feeders in the West, however, that do not feed 

 for any regular length of time. These men buy sheep of 

 all kinds, sell the fat ones for mutton, and put the others 

 in the feed-lot. These sheep that go into the feed-lot 



