No. 7, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 605 



would prove utter ruin to a whole flock to tolerate any such animal 

 in our flocks and herds. 



Therefore, if we wish to make a name for ourselves as breeders of 

 high-class, profitable sires, we must see that we never lose sight of 

 the utility parts of the kind of animals we are interested in. Hence 

 1 Avould urge all breeders of high-class sires expected to reproduce 

 and improve our standard flocks, to guard against being carried away 

 by the fancy points instead of the utility parts, as the latter are essen- 

 tial in the line of improvement to make profitable sheep. 



But to make a profitable sheep we must do more than get a sheep 

 of superior breeding and constitutional vigor. In conjunction with 

 the above it must be properly cared for from birth until it is either 

 sold as a sire to head a pure-bred flock, or to the butcher for con- 

 sumption as meat. The care of that animal should be so that it is 

 developed in as rapid a way as nature has provided in order that the 

 development may be done with the least possible waste. This means 

 the most generous and judicious feeding and care carried out in 

 every part of the system. As any breeder of experience knows, with 

 insulficient feeding and poor care a flock will very soon lose their 

 vigor and degenerate. So that the more rapid growth means not 

 only about one-third less cost in the production of our animals, but 

 animals produced in this way are produced at a less cost for feed and 

 are generally worth more pound for pound on the market. This is 

 a decided encouragement for good feeding and early maturity to 

 make a profitable sheep. The even, healthy, rapid development of 

 the young animals is the great thing to be sought for in profitable 

 sheep as in every other class of live stock feeding, which is to fit 

 animals for the consumer of meat foods of the present day. It is 

 the tender, juicy, high-flavored mutton that tempts the appetite 

 and fills our desires for that class of food, so that the matter of early 

 maturity is of the utmost importance in the production of high-class 

 meat to make the profitable sheep. These are some of the things we 

 must bear in mind in the production of high-class animals for con- 

 sumption as meat. 



The question will now arise. Will it pay the average farmer and 

 breeder of this class of stock? It has been my experience both in 

 breeding high-class pure-bred sheep, also in growing sheep in a com- 

 mercial way, that the best I could produce was always the most prof- 

 itable sheep. The market is alw'ays good for meritorious animals 

 either in breeding flocks, or, in case of lamb and mutton, to supply 

 hotels and restaurants in our large cities w^here the demand is far 

 in excess of the supply. 



There is no animal on the farm today that will give us more clear 

 meat for the amount of food consumed and the work required to take 

 care of it than the sheep. You can take the latest Buffalo market; 

 fat lambs sold for |7.75 and as high as .|8.00 per hundred-weigh i. 

 I do not see why each and every one of our farmers does not keep 

 a few sheep to eat up the waste both in the summer and winter. 

 Sheep are not expensive. If you have some roots for them, ensilage, 

 corn, or something like that, they get along very well. I have seen 

 sheep fed by the thousand on nothing but clear roots. Of course, 

 we could not feed sheep alone on that in this country. In my coun- 

 try we have a different climate, and we can feed sheep with much 



