Fattening Range Lambs in Winter 155 
they sell at top prices, even though they may look some- 
what leggy and rough. Range lambs that are born very 
late in the season and that perhaps have had very poor 
feed, come off the range in the fall weighing forty to fifty 
pounds each. Such lambs are usually known on the 
market as “pewees” or “peanuts,” and sell for rather a 
low price. These lambs are not desirable for mutton pur- 
poses of course, and are badly in need of more weight and 
finish, but they are usually rather delicate and too light 
to be profitable feeders. Unless they are known to be 
fairly thrifty, and the feeder has an abundance of rich 
feed, they had better be let alone. Generally speaking, 
the ideal feeder is the thrifty fleshy range lamb, weighing 
sixty pounds in October or November. The more mutton 
blood which these lambs carry, the better. Lambs with 
heavy wrinkled pelts are objectionable, as they do not 
gain rapidly and sell to a disadvantage. The black-faced 
lambs are preferred, as the black faces are an indication 
of Shropshire, Hampshire, or Oxford blood. 
LENGTH OF FEEDING PERIOD 
The time lambs are ordinarily kept on full feed in win- 
ter is about ninety to one hundred days. This period 
varies very little in the different feeding sections. A 
shorter period than this commonly does not put on suf- 
ficient gain to pay a profit, while a longer feeding period is 
unnecessary, as good lambs will be sufficiently fat in one 
hundred days to bring the top price. There are a num- 
ber of large feeders in the West, however, that do not feed 
for any regular length of time. These men buy sheep of 
all kinds, sell the fat ones for mutton, and put the others 
in the feed-lot. These sheep that go into the feed-lot 
