THE RANGE PROBLEM 423 



" Predatory Animals. — ^There are also regular losses from pred- 

 atory animals, which are taken into account by all sheepmen. 

 Thousands of dollars are annually paid out by the State govern- 

 ments as well as the sheepmen in bounties for their destruction. 

 These bounties, often doubled by the sheep owners, are turned over 

 by them to the herders to encourage them in the work of extermina- 

 tion, and they are also freely furnished with ammunition and rifles, 

 as well as traps and poison. 



" Strays. — Losses by ' cuts ' or small bunches of animals which 

 get cut off from the main band and are not discovered by the herders 

 are quite frequent. Sometimes the ' stray gathers ' find and return 

 part or all of these cuts, but more often they are picked off one by 

 one by the coyotes, wild cats, and other predatory animals which 

 continually hang along the flanks of every sheep herd the year round. 



" Coyotes. — ^The coyote is the one great scourge of the western 

 sheepman. Unlike other wild animals, the coyote takes kindly to 

 civilization and rather flourishes under it. Every year thousands 

 upon thousands are killed, and yet there seems to be but little 

 reduction in their numbers. To these predatory animals the western 

 sheepman pays a heavy annual toll and one which cuts deeply into 

 his expected profits. 



" Losses of Young Lambs. — In addition to the losses among 

 the old sheep, there is a regular loss among the lambs between the 

 time of 'marking up,' which takes place when they are about two 

 or three weeks old, and the time of selling. 



" This loss is due to a great variety of causes. Two bands are 

 sometimes accidentally mixed on the range. In the worry and 

 ' milling ' attending the separation many lambs lose their mothers, 

 and if too young soon die, or if they live are stunted. 



"A good many lambs die from docking operation and many more 

 from castrating. 



" Taking the various causes into consideration, it is a con- 

 servative estimate to place the loss among the lambs between mark- 

 ing-up time and selling time at 10 per cent. That is, if 1000 lambs 

 are ' marked up ' in May the owner will do well if, counting every 

 lamb in the bunch, whether a ' top ' or a ' cut-back,' he has 900 to 

 sell in November." 



The Range Problem. — Another problem which confronts the 

 western sheepman is the matter of range. He may have an abund- 

 ance of winter range or vice versa, but comparatively few are com- 



