Breedtng Sheep for the Export Trade. 839 



like a tail' chauce to do so, and care is taken to keep tlieni free from 

 worms. This is absolutely necessary if the best results are looked 

 for. This cross also g-ives a fleece of black wool which is of a good 

 hosiery quality and has brought up to 19 kl. per lb. Tlie average 

 weight of fleece for twelve m^onths is about 2 lb. 



The second cross, breeding from the first cross ewes with Suffolk 

 rams, is even better; they mature earlier, and as lambs at five months, 

 kept under exactly similar conditions, average from seven to eight 

 pounds heavier, while their fleece is superior in quality, and a large 

 percentage are white-woolled sheep. The weight of fleece is also 

 nearly double, and the price obtained for the wool much better. 



With winter-fed lambs on green feed (oats and green lucerne) 

 some excellent results have been obtained at Potchefstroom, where 

 20 first-cross lambs at nine weeks old at the beginning of July, off 

 veld, weigiied an average of 44J lb. each (890 lb. total weight), and 

 12 second-cross, of the same age, averaged 53 lb. each (636 lb. total 

 weight), the average weight for the 32 lambs being 47.69 lb. each. 

 These lambs were fed on crushed mealies, bran, and oats at a cost of 

 2s. 3d. per head for ten weeks, in the same paddock of green oats or 

 lucerne. The first-cross gained 33.5 lb., or nearly half a pound a day, 

 finishing at 78 lb. each (total weight of 20 lambs, 1560 lb.). The 

 second-cross gained 39.75 lb. each in the same time and on the same 

 feed, and finished at the remarkable weight of 92.75 lb. each, a gain 

 of over half a pound a day (total weight of 12 lambs, 1115 lb.). 



These lambs would have sold on the Johannesburg market at 

 anything from 35s. to 40s. each, and at the present time would fetch 

 considerably more. 



Seventeen similar lambs — 10 of which were first-cross and 7 

 second-cross — whose total weight was 743 lb., or an average of 

 43.75 lb. each, kept as controls, and fed entirely on green oats or 

 lucerne with no artificial feed, did remarkably well. They started 

 on the green feed at the same time as the fed lambs, and ten weeks 

 later had gained 27.25 lb. each, the total weight of the 17 being 

 1200 lb., or an average of a fraction less than 71 lb. each, and were 

 all fit for market. 



In CoMrETiTiox. 



During the past three years trial lots of these cross-bred lambs 

 have been sent to London for sale, and have been very highly thought 

 of by the leading salesmen there, who say they can do with any 

 quantity of similar lambs. As these salesmen are not backward in 

 criticizing anything that is considered unsuitable, it is sufficient proof 

 that lambs of the above kind will always be welcome, and that the 

 grown sheep are of the type wanted. 



Picked lambs of the first cross of this type (actual age 4 months 

 20 days) won first prize in the under-six months class at Johannes- 

 burg Fat Stock Show in 1917; first and champion in 1918; while 

 second-cross got first prize, with first-cross second, in September, 1919, 

 and were beaten by lambs one year old for the championship, seem- 

 ingly an unfair comparison in view of the differences in the ages of 

 the competitors. In 1917 the first-cross lambs averaged 74 lb. ; in 

 1918, 78 lb.; and in 1919, 83 lb. The second-cross, exhibited only 

 in 1919, averaged at the same age (4 months 23 days) 93 lb. live 

 weight. These weights speak for themselves, and comment is needless. 



