LECTURE LIV. 



THE HOT-HOUSE LAMB. 



The term "hot-house lamb" often leads to a misunder- 

 standing, for the uninformed are liable to be led to believe 

 that the successful raising of these lambs requires extremely 

 artificial conditions. This is not true. The hot-house lamb 

 is simply a lamb born in November or December, and fattened 

 and sold during the first ten weeks of the year, at which time 

 there is a strong fancy demand for choice fat lambs ranging 

 from 45 pounds to 60 pounds in weight. They will bring 

 prices ranging from $8 to $10 each, and the demand is always 

 greater than the supply. The great cities furnish the mar- 

 ket, and selling must be done through commission merchants, 

 unless the producer has an intimate acquaintance with some 

 of the large consumers. Commission charges are 5 per cent. 

 The lambs are marketed, hog dressed, and are shipped by 

 express or refrigerator freight. 



The advantages of raising "hot-house" lambs are: 



1. Practical immunity from parasites, which so seriously 

 hamper the sheep industry in the United States. The para- 

 sites are far more fatal in lambs than in older sheep; but 

 inasmuch as they almost invariably gain access to the lambs 

 when the latter are feeding on pasture, this trouble is done 

 away with, and losses from this source are nil. 



2. Constant occupation at a profitable task for the farmer 

 at an otherwise dull season. The work comes from November 

 to March when regular farm work is slack. 



3. A high price and maximum profits. Lambs only eight or 

 ten weeks old bring as much money as those five or six 

 months old ordinarily do. Choice lambs will realize the owner 

 $8 to $10 per head, and as he has only had the care and feed- 

 ing of them during their babyhood days when they return 

 more pounds gain according to pounds of food eaten than any 

 other animals known their cost, so far as feed is concerned, 

 is at a minimum. 



The raising of "hot-house" lambs, however, is not a task 



