WOOL GHOWERS' ASSOCIATION. 1^41 



are fioin,a: to Imid .-iiul what tlic socoiid cross is j^oiiiti' to hi'. liut if 

 you liavt' liioroiijiiilui'ds you icuow wlu'ro you arc going to land. If 

 you arc Idci'dinj;: thoroughbred sheej) you can tell nineteen times oiit of 

 twenty wliat the offspring will be. You breed sheep for the block, and the 

 sheep tliat the ItutciitM- will pay the greatest amount of money for is the 

 sheep that tlie farmers of Indiana sliould breed. The sheep that 'will 

 produce the greatest numl)er of pounds of liigli class mutton with the 

 least feeding and in the shortest time is the on« to breed. 



We are an association of wool growers. I did not hear the wool 

 ipu'stion mentioned in lliat paper. It is well to have a good fleece along 

 with your tirst-class mutton. There are certain things you can do witli 

 a thoroughbred sheep that you eaimot do with the grades. The prediction 

 was made last spring that sheep would i-each eiglit cents a imnnd, that 

 laml)s would 1)ring eight dollars a hundred in 11)02. I sold twenty land)S 

 from thoroughbred sheep that were produced at Locust Grove for six- 

 teen cents a pound delivered in Chicago. Tliey weighed (!.t i»ounds 

 apiece the tliii-d day of April. I have a standing order today for '27> to 

 oO of these laml)s for the p]astern market and I liave declined it. 



Mr. H. H. Keim. The Secretary made the nunouncement tliat was 

 referred to by the last speaker, that lambs on the open market would 

 connnaud eight cents a pound. We were not discussing tlie winter laml» 

 marlcet. I have a friend in this State who says he gets 2.1 cents a pound 

 for his lambs here in Indianapolis as soon as they weigh twenty pounds. 

 These are exceptions, however. As I understand it, the price was not 

 considered on winter lanilis, or wliat we call "hothouse" lambs. 



Mr. I. M. Miller: Of course tlie people wjio want to grade up their 

 flocks buy thoroughbreds. In doing this people like to have the thorough- 

 l>i-c(ls. because they know wliat they will do. Many peojile Avill get the 

 grades from this thorougiiln-ed and think they have as good as anyone 

 el.se, and will keej) them. l)(t they know where they are going to 

 land? They will not have anything in a few years. We should all 

 keep in miiid the l)Utclier"s l)lock. Peojile have compl.-nned that they could 

 not get enough pigs from the Poland Chinas and they have crossed with 

 tlie Duroc. The idea with some men is to g«'t the luunber. and they will 

 keep on until after a while they will have neither Poland Chinas n(»r 

 Durocs. 1 like to have thoroiiglibred lambs to breed uji my grades, for 

 then I feel 1 know wlu're I will l.iiid. That is the point we have to 

 keep in view. The average fainier wants to breed up his flock by 

 selecting .some thoroughbred rams. .M.my farmers Iniy Shropshire rams 

 .•iiid exiH'ct to I'aise as good lani]>s as the thorouglilired m:in has in his 

 specialty. They expect their grades to be ;is gooil. and they may bo 

 of one cross, but my experience is that that will not conilnue unless 

 they go higher. Many make the mistake of crossing on something else, 

 and soon they have such a mixed herd or flock that they can not say what 



16— A«ri. 



