270 FARM ANIMALS 



rams with the ewes in November makes the Iambs 

 come in May. By the time these lambs are fit for 

 market the demand for young lambs is not very 

 great and if they are held over until the winter 

 market opens they are too old to command the 

 highest market price. It is highly desirable, there- 

 fore, from a business standpoint, to secure ewes 

 which will breed in the spring or early summer so 

 as to mature the lambs for the winter market, just 

 after the holiday poultry season is closed. For the 

 purpose of winter sheep production the Dorset 

 ana Hampshire sheep are the best adapted, but 

 the Dorset is unquestionably the best. This sheep 

 can be made to breed at any season of the year and 

 even twice in a single year. The latter practice, 

 however, is hard on the ewes and is not to be 

 recommended for the average farm. Moreover, 

 the Dorset produces twin lambs in about thirty- 

 nine per cent, of cases and, as already indicated, 

 give enough milk to force these twins to early ma- 

 turity. In the production of winter lambs it is, 

 therefore, best to depend on the Dorset tendencies 

 of early breeding and twin lambs. It is not neces- 

 sary to purchase outright a whole flock of Dorsets, 

 but if a Dorset ram is bought and bred to ordinary 

 sheep, the grade ewes thus obtained will breed 

 earlier than their mothers, in fact, in some cases 

 they will breed as early as pure Dorset ewes. At 

 any rate, the second crossing on these grade Dorset 

 ewes will produce ewes which for all practical pur- 

 poses in early lamb raising are equal to Dorsets. 

 In some respects, the grade ewes thus obtained are 

 superior to the pure bred ewes in hardiness and in 

 form. Moreover, some markets demand black- 

 nosed lambs and these can be secured in grades, while 

 the pure Dorsets have white noses. The best results 



