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for the rest of the season. One herder is required for each 1,000 to 
2,500 sheep, according to the season, feed, and location of the range. 
From 3,000 to 4,000 with two herders is a common size of flock. 
The size of the range is quite variable. Of course, the shepherd 
takes all he can get and, if possible, moves his flock from to time to time 
to fresh pastures. The range, however, is unfenced and the man who 
leaves a part unpastured for winter feed is liable to find that another 
flock has reaped the benefit. In the present condition of the prairie 
range of Colorado, it is considered doing well if the sheep get all the 
feed they want on ten sections to the thousand head of ewes with 
their lambs, or six acres to the head. About double this is considered 
liberal allowance. In the mountain valleys and parks a half to a 
q[uarter this amount is usually sufiicient. When we consider that 
six acres of alfalfa will yield enough to keep fifty-five sheep in plenty 
through the year, it can be seen how scanty is the growth of vegeta¬ 
tion on the open range. 
The pure-bred Merino is a slow-maturing animal. The ewes do 
not drop their first lamb until they are three years old, and they are 
fattened for market at six vears old. So a ewe is kept six years for 
the sake of three lambs, or, since only eighty per cent, of lambs are 
raised, there is a product of two hundred and forty lambs from one 
hundred ewes in six years. The return is about the same if the ewes 
drop their lambs at two years old, for then they are usually sold for 
mutton when five years old. The only chance for profit in such a 
transaction comes from the fact that the wool of the ewe each year 
pays nearly all expenses. 
Some fiockm asters breed their ewes the second December to drop 
lambs when two years old. On good range with extra feed and care 
the second winter no harm results from this procedure. An infusion 
of the blood of any of the mutton breeds—Shropshire, Southdown, or 
Cotswold—hastens the growth and makes a ewe that is fully mature 
at two years old. Pure-bred Shropshire ewes will take the buck at 
six to seven months old, but the lambs from these young dams are 
apt to be weakly and the dam also stunted in its growth. Whether 
the ewe lambs are to breed at two or three years old, it is considered 
advisable to give them extra care and feed the first winter. 
From the statements just made it can be judged that the cost of 
ranging sheep will vary widely. In the South, with cheap Mexican 
labor and no winter feeding, the cost per year is estimated at from 
forty to fifty cents per head. In northern Colorado, where consider 
able winter feed is given, the expenses increase to nearly eighty cents 
per head. The principal items of these expenses are for labor and 
interest on investment. In southern Colorado with Mexican herders 
a liberal estimate of the yearly expenses per head of a band of two 
thousand sheep would be: 
