NATIVE AND WESTERN MARKET SHEEP 3 



a bad showing on the lamb crop, and judging from the small 

 amount of flesh they carry, these late arrivals should at once 

 be placed in the feeder classes. If they are, it is only the 

 novice, unfortunately, that takes them out to feed, for in the 

 majority of cases they prove unprofitable consumers of grain 

 and rouglmess, and the per cent of loss generally runs quite 

 high. In the writer's opinion there is no good reason why 

 native sheep should continue to hold on the market the 

 secondary place that they have to, especially when the highest 

 honors are held by sheep that are bred, and in many cases 

 inbred, so indiscriminately that we often hear Western men 

 reply, in answer to a question regarding the breeding of their 

 sheep, " Oh, I don't know; they ain't got no breeding." Also 

 the water and feed that Western sheep often have to subsist 

 on would be considered by Middle West farmers as starva- 

 tion rations. When in such competition it seems strange 

 indeed that those with the stock of superior breeding and 

 feeding, according to our modern ideas, should be content to 

 hold a secondary place. Even more strange does this seem, 

 and greater appear the i)ossibilities, when we are told by 

 market men that the Ijest native sheep that reach the market 

 are better than the best ^\'^esterns. The only explanation 

 seems to be found in the fact that the Western sheep 

 average better than the natives. AVestern sheep men carry 

 on their operations as a business, whereas the majority of 

 natives are handled as a side line. If a word of prophecy 

 may be allowed here, it will be that these conditions will 

 not always exist and the farmer with the best advantages 

 will assert his ability and take the lead, as he justly should. 

 But, regardless of our wishes and prophecies, native sheep 

 are as a rule unprofitable feeders, because most Middle 

 West sheep farms are infested with stomach worms. The 



