130 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



Q. Don't you think that the kind of sire we should use de- 

 pends on what we are breeding for — whether wool or mutton? 



Mr. Boles — Yes, of course, it depends on what a man wants. 

 If you want a dairy cow you breed with that in view, and if you 

 want a beef cow you breed with that in view, etc. And it is the 

 same with the sheep. 



Q. At what age would you commence breeding? 



Mr. Boles — At one year of age. Never breed lambs. I don't 

 think it is the best plan, especially for a man who has pure breds. 



Q. What age sire do you begin with? 



Mr. Boles — Begin with yearlings ; and I don't advocate selling 

 lambs and don't sell more than one or two a year myself. It is not 

 satisfactory to the man who sells them. You have got to protect 

 your business. 



Q. I have an idea that it is well for a man, in buying his 

 breeding stock, to buy the young ones and raise them up himself. 

 Sometimes a disease gets among the stock he buys from, but if 

 he raises them up himself he can keep them free from disease ; 

 whereas, if he buys an old one he might get the disease in his 

 herd. 



Mr. Boles — I think most of us make mistakes in breeding to 

 too young a sire than to too old a sire. We very often get rid of 

 the sires of our breeding stock just at the time when I think they 

 are at their best. 



Now, just a word in regard to selling our sires. We all know 

 that if a man comes to our herd to buy a sire, the good looking 

 one is the one he wants ; and if you keep them in just medium con- 

 dition you will never be successful as a pure bred breeder in sell- 

 ing your sires. The buyer wants him to look well. 



Now in regard to buying these young sires. There are a great 

 many men who will buy these lambs and turn them out on pasture 

 and never feed them, and they go down and don't grow any, and 

 next year some farmer comes along and wants to know where you 

 got that little old scrubby lamb, and of course they don't want to 

 buy any where it came from. So that is why I never sell lambs. 



