11 
o°Knn e u eSt ° f the Season * 0ne herder is required for each 1,000 to 
^O00 sheep, according to the season, feed, and location of the range. 
Jroni 3,000 to 4,000 with two herders is a common size of flock. 
Ihe 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 tresh pastures. The range, however, is unfenced and the man who 
leaves a part unpastured for winter feed is liable to find that another 
Hock 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 
teed they want on ten sections to the thousand head of ewes with 
their ambs, or six acres to the head. About double this is considered 
liberal allowance. In the mountain valleys and parks a half to a 
quarter this amount is usually sufficient. 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 
TLOt drop their first lamb until they are three years old, and they are 
fattened for market at six years 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 flockmasters 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 
o the blood of any of the mutton breeds—Shropshire, Southdown, or 
Cots wold—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 
die ewe lambs are to breed at two or three years old, it is considered 
idvisable to give them extra care and feed the first winter. 
From the statements just made it can be judged that the cost of 
•anging sheep will vary widely. In the South, with cheap Mexican 
abor and no winter feeding, the cost per year is estimated at from 
orty to fifty cents per head. In northern Colorado, where consider 
tble wdnter feed is given, the expenses increase to nearly eighty cents 
)er head. The principal items of these expenses are for labor and 
nterest on investment. In southern Colorado with Mexican herders 
^liberal estimate of the yearly expenses per head of a band of two 
housand sheep would be: 
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