6 SHEEP FEEDING 



Native Wethers 



Few native wethers. A wether, in market parlance, is 

 any castrated male two years old and over. Very few 

 native wethers reach the market. Farmers find it more 

 profitable to stock their farms with ewes than to keep the 

 male lambs until they are two or tliree years old just for 

 the wool. 



Native Ewes 



Cull native ewes not reliable breeders. As a rule native 

 ewes reach the market as aged stuff, because the average 

 Middle West farmer keeps up his flock by raising the ewe 

 lambs; hence the females are not generally disposed of 

 until they have served their most useful days as breeders, 

 or become infested with worms. Native ewes seldom change 

 hands as feeders. Some of the best of them go south for 

 breeding flocks, to be kept for a year or two and then re- 

 placed. It is seldom advisable to start a breeding flock 

 from this class of ewes. 



Native Rams and Cull Sheep 



Too many native cull sheep. The scrubby lambs and cull 

 sheep are, unfortunately, quite too abundant ui the native 

 classes. The fact that large numbers of native ram lambs 

 reach the market each year run down m flesh, coarse, and 

 unfinished, is unpardonable. This condition is due to the 

 neglect of the farmer and his fear of loss from castration. 

 Ram lambs can be safely and profitably castrated, and when 

 the farmer realizes this and puts it into practice we may then 

 look for a reduction in this class of sheep, which is wanted by 

 no one and is sold to reluctant bidders at their own prices. 



