174 Western Live-stock Management 



breds in every way but in the important points of abun- 

 dance and cheapness. Not over one or two per cent of the 

 sheep in America are pure-bred, hence it is impossible to 

 obtain pure-bred ewes to produce the mutton and wool 

 needed. The few pure-bred ewes obtainable are too high- 

 priced to be used for commercial mutton and wool pro- 

 duction, and, except the culls, are of much more use to 

 the country when used for raising good rams for grading 

 up our common flocks. The question of whether to raise 

 grades or pure-breds is not, therefore, one of the relative 

 merits of grades or pure-breds, but a question of whether 

 one is to raise mutton and wool for the usual market chan- 

 nels, or to raise breeding rams and ewes for other sheep- 

 men. While for the production of commercial mutton 

 and wool, grade ewes are a necessity, the ram should in 

 all cases be pure-bred. The grade ewes vary in quality, 

 depending on the judgment that has been exercised in 

 their selection and the extent to which they have graded 

 up from common stock by the use of pure-bred sires. As 

 a rule, the better ewes are the most profitable investment, 

 since ewes that have not been bred up to the point where 

 they are reasonably well suited to the purpose in hand 

 can seldom be purchased at their true value. After the 

 flock has been established, it may be constantly improved 

 by the continued use of good sires so that altogether there 

 is no reason why the breeder of grades should not have 

 a strictly high-class flock. Ewes carrying considerable 

 Merino blood are usually hardy good mothers, and heavy 

 shearers, and, therefore, very good for farm use except in 

 western Washington and Oregon where the winter climate 

 is ill-suited to the tight Merino fleeces. The long open 

 fleeces of the Cotswold or Lincolns are better suited to the 

 warm winter rains of this region, as they drain and dry off 



