ios6 



Rural School LEArLEf. 



In our markets there are two classes of sheep meat, lamb and mutton, — 



1. Lamb— any meat from a sheep under i year of age. 



2. Mutton — any meat from a sheep over i year of age. 



Most of the meat on the American market is really lamb, since there 

 is comparatively little mutton eaten. But to avoid confusion of terms, we 

 will hereafter call all classes mutton. The production of mutton in this 

 country is limited to the prodution of carcasses that will go on the 

 market under one year of age. There are four market classes of these 

 lambs: 



1. Winter or hot-house lambs. 



2. Spring lambs. 



3. Fall lambs. 

 4- 



Yearlings. 



The production of 

 hot-house lambs is a 

 highly specialized 

 business, requiring 

 extra good stock and 

 a good knowledge of 

 the breeding and the 

 feeding habits of 

 sheep. The market 

 for hot-house lambs 

 is from November to 

 May. 



Spring lambs, and, 

 in fact, all the lambs 

 marketed under the 

 last three heads, are 

 born in the spring. 

 The second market 

 class is made up of the 

 earliest of the lambs 

 born in the spring. They are grown on mother's milk and grass and 

 are marketed from June to August. The fall lamb class is made up of 

 those lambs that are born a little later, or of the early lambs, which do 

 not grow well. The fall lambs are pastured during the summer and 

 then are weaned and fed for some time. The time of marketing this 

 class is from September to November. 



The fourth class, the yearlings, are marketed from November to 

 June. This class includes by far the larger number of animals, and the 



Fig. 83. — bkrop:>hi>c. 



