first impressions were quite favorable to them. If preparations for 
the feeding of 1895-96 had been made in February 1895, most of the 
feeders would have tried some western lambs. 
The lambs fed here were from western Wyoming or Idaho and 
were graded with Shropshire and Cotswold blood. They were larger 
than the southern lambs when they were put in the feeding yards 
and they grew faster. They made a handsomer looking animal, and 
it seemed that they must give a fine profit. But, when the final test 
came in the Chicago markets, the buyers refused to pay as much for 
them as they were eager to give for the inferior looking southern 
lambs. The lower price of from fifty cents to a dollar per hundred 
pounds took away the expected profits and few western lambs will be 
fed in Colorado the coming season. 
First-class western lambs in bunches weigh about seventy pounds 
per head at the feeding pens the first of November. They cost last 
fall two dollars per head here, or twenty-five cents more with freight 
paid to the Missouri river. They cost, then, a little over three cents 
per pound, live weight, as compared with the two and three-quarter 
cents per pound that the southern lambs cost. 
QijPer head they eat more than the southern lambs, and per thousand 
pounds of live weight fully as much, if not more. In shipping, the 
freight per head is more and the freight per thousand pounds about 
the same as the southern lambs. On the market they bring less per 
pound and about the same per head as the southern lambs. Under 
these conditions, it can be seen that the chances for profit are slight 
An average statement of receipts and expenditures for western 
Iambs would be as follows: 
Cost of lamb.$2.25 
500 pounds hay @ $4 per ton. 1.00 
120 pounds grain @ $15 per ton.90 
Labor of feedino;.35 
Interest and death loss.06 
Freight and expenses to Chicago.60 
$5.16 
Receipts, 96 pounds @ $5.25 per hundred. . $5.04 
The above showing is not very favorable to western lambs. A 
bunch might possibly be bought for less than the $2.25, but if so the 
chances would be that they would not be good enough to weigh out 
96 pounds in Chicago. If cheap corn could be obtained to feed with 
the alfalfa, the time of feeding could be shortened to about four 
months and about fifty cents per head saved on the cost of the feed. 
One of the greatest objections to the western lambs is their aptitude 
for growth. If put on ripe timothy hay and clear corn chop, they 
might fatten without much growth, but on Colorado alfalfa and wheat 
they grow rapidly in frame and muscle^ but are loath to lay on hard fat. 
