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the best prices on the Chicago market. If but one breed were to be 
used, it is probable that the Shropshire comes the nearest to filling 
the demand. 
Great pains have to be taken not to get too far from the original 
Merino blood lest the sheep do not do well on the range. Pure-bred 
Shropshire, Cotswold, or Southdown do their best in flocks of less 
than 100, and can not be profitably run in bunches of more than 200. 
A mixture of a small percentage of Merino blood gives them better 
grazing habits and enables them to be run in flocks of even five 
thousand, although from one to two thousand is the more common 
size. It is not profitable to range sheep in flocks of less than one 
thousand. 
THE RANGING OF SHEEP. 
The method of ranging sheep is much the same in the soiitli and 
in the north. The more common and much safer form is to have the 
sheep in a corral at night. The most advantageous form is to 
have the corrals in the shape of a triangle, a day’s journey apart, 
moving from one corral to another and thus not tramping over the 
ground so much near the corral as would happen if the sheep were 
herded each night in the same place. In southern Colorado the sheep 
have no home, but are herded by Mexican herders who camp out 
summer and winter without corrals and nothing but pinon timber for 
shelter, staying at one place but a short time, and moving from place 
to place with burros and dogs to keep the coyotes away at night. A 
band of sheep will feed from one to three miles wide when on the 
range. Until a few years ago, almost no feeders provided any winter 
feed for the sheep. A band of eleven thousand was kept north of 
Fort Collins for fourteen years, only needing feed once during that 
time and then for less than two weeks. It is much better for the 
sheep if they can have a sheltered place for the winter range. It 
used to be quite common in Colorado to have the sheep range on the 
plains in the summer and near the foothills in winter. With¬ 
in the last four or five years it has become quite common in Colorado 
to bring the entire band of sheep to the home ranch for the winter, 
and while feeding the lambs for market and some of the old sheep, 
supplement the range feed with alfalfa. This puts the ewes in a 
better condition for lambing and gives stronger lambs with a lower 
death rate. Still another plan is to divide the flock, leavdng the 
stronger sheep on the range and bringing the smaller and weaker ones 
to the feeding yards. All degrees can be found; from depending on 
the range the whole year, to ranging six months and feeding the other 
six. Some flock masters have even gone so far as to feed a little grain 
to their ewes during the severe storms of late winter, and 
are well satisfied with the increased vi^or of ewes and lambs. 
O 
