RAISING EARLY LAMBS. 
3 
2 
The California Merinos require more care and warmer 
quarters than the Shropshires. The Shropshires can stand 
any amount of dry cold and their lambs are soon up and 
strong. The Merino lambs must have close attention and 
warm quarters, but the same attention would be necessary 
during the spring months and then other farm work would 
be crowding and prevent the expenditure of the necessary 
time to make a successful lambing. 
When spring comes winter lambs are ready to go to the 
range or pasture with their mothers and will hold their own 
anywhere._ 
E. M. SMITH, on the farm of A. M. LAMBRIGHT, Las Animas- 
My early lambs in 1897 sold as follows: Lambs dropped 
in January sold in April at Kansas City for 7c per pound, live 
weight, and weighed 48^2 pounds or $3.40 per head. None 
of these lambs had any green alfalfa, but the ewes were 
turned onto the alfalfa after the lambs were sold. These 
ewes were sold in Kansas City in June, weighing 81 pounds, 
at $3.85 or $3.02 per head. 
My March lambs sold in Kansas City in June for $4.25 
per hundred pounds and weighed 61 pounds or $2.60 per 
head. These lambs were dropped in the corral and were 
fed alfalfa hay, corn chop and bran until March 26, when 
they and the ewes were turned onto alfalfa pasture and re¬ 
mained there until they were sold in June. We had 600 ewes 
and 590 lambs on 95 acres of alfalfa and with the addition 
of one-fourth pound of corn chop per day for a ewe and her 
lamb, they kept in fine shape. We commenced selling in 
June and sold until fall. The ewes were sold as soon as fat, 
some ewes going with each bunch of lambs. The April 
lambs in August weighed 71 pounds. In 1898 the feed on 
the range was so good that we pastured but little on alfalfa. 
JOHN McNAUGHT, Las Animas. 
In 1898 I lambed 200 ewes in January and sold the 
lambs in Kansas City in March for 8c per pound. They 
weighed 53 pounds or $4.24 per head. Two weeks later I 
sold the ewes for $4.75 per hundred pounds and as they 
weighed 96 pounds each they brought $4.56 per head. 
Neither these ewes nor lambs had any green alfalfa. 
In April and May I lambed 500 ewes on alfalfa pasture. 
They remained there until May 26 when they were turned 
on the range. 
