13 
The actual annual expenditure on a band of sheep, of course, varies 
with many conditions, such as the distance of the ranch from a rail- 
road, the owner raising his own hay, or acting as his own packer, the 
necessity of renting private range, the size of the band, ete., but in 
general the estimated cost of running sheep is 75 cents to $1 per head. 
Sheep owners are accustomed to estimate that the cost of running a 
band of sheep will be paid by the sale of the wool, while the increase 
represents probable profits. 
Sometimes sheep are leased, the annual rental varying from 40 cents 
to $1 per head, according to the condition of the wool and mutton mar- 
ket, the lessee returning to the owner as many ewes as he received and 
taking the increase as part of his profits. Sometimes, particularly 
when the lessee is a young man getting a start in the business, the 
rental paid is half the wool and half the increase. 
The sheep of eastern Oregon are chiefly of Merino stock, but the 
increasing profitableness of good mutton sheep has induced many of 
the owners to introduce Shropshire blood. This movement appears to 
be successful, particularly with careful management of the bands. An 
annual increase of 90 per cent to 100 per cent is quite feasible and is 
actually secured by sound methods, where careless methods give an 
increase of only 50 per cent to 60 per cent. 
YEARLY ROUTINE IN HANDLING SHEEP. 
The yearly routine of a band up tothe time of starting for the moun- 
tains in the spring may be given briefly as follows. When the sheep 
are brought back in the autumn from their summer range during the 
month of October, the bands arereadjusted, the breeding ewes going in 
one group, the wethers, lambs, and dry ewes in another. [For about a 
month, usually beginning between October 20 and November 1, the 
bucks are allowed to run with the ewes. They are herded on range 
land near the owner’s ranch, seldom going more than a day’s drive from 
headquarters. At this season the fall rains have started the grass and 
often a luxuriant growth takes place before it is checked by the cold of 
winter. When the snow storms begin, commonly toward the middle of 
December, the sheep are kept within corrals at the ranch and fed upon 
hay. The snow lies upon the ground for a period varying from six to 
forty days, according to season and elevation. When the snow has 
disappeared, the same system of ranging is pursued as in the autumn, 
until about the middle of March, when the lambing season begins. The 
period of gestation is twenty-one weeks. The lambing continues for 
about a month. After all the lambs are yeaned and the males cas- 
trated, the shearing of the adults begins, and keeps up until it is time 
to start for the mountains. The shearing is done on the ranch and the 
wool afterwards hauled to the shipping point. The practice, common in 
some regions, of driving the sheep to the shipping point and shearing 
them there is not generally followed in the Oregon plains. 
Between May 15 and the end of the first week in June, when the 
