16 SHEEP FEEDING 



shipped during the fall months, for at this time the feeder 

 demand is at its height. Yearlings are hardier than lambs, 

 will stand more exposure, and will do better on second- 

 grade feed. In the feed yard they grow but little, almost 

 all the gain being fat. Yearlings weigh from sixty-five to 

 one hundred pounds on the market when they are direct 

 from the range. 



Western Wethers 



Wethers the hardiest of all. The heaviest Western sheep 

 that reach the market are the wethers, weighing as much 

 as one hundred and twenty pounds in some cases, and sel- 

 dom less than ninety pounds, except in the case of the 

 Mexicans, that sometimes drop down to the weight of an 

 average lamb. The wethers are perhaps the most rapid 

 gainers and heaviest consumers of feed that we have. They 

 will do better under rough and adverse conditions than 

 either of the other younger classes, and will consume a 

 poorer grade and kind of feed, but it requires a little 

 more margin to feed wethers than lambs. Among the best 

 wethers to reach the market are the big coarse- and fine- 

 wooled crosses from Montana. The best fat wethers fill 

 our export trade. 



Western Ewes 



Good Western ewes better breeders than feeders. Many of 

 the Western ewes that are shipped East have broken mouths. 

 This term must not be taken too literally, for it simply refers 

 to ewes with mouths that are broken of a full set of teeth. 

 It does not necessarily mean that all the teeth are gone, 

 although this is sometimes the case. When a ewe's teeth 

 are gone or broken to the extent that it interferes with her 



