540 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



is being tested by the United States Department of Agriculture and 

 various ranchmen, and also attempts are being made to develop along the 

 same line an American breed, the Columbian, which will fit western 

 conditions. 



828. Building up the farm flock. Often the most economical way for 

 a farmer to establish a flock of sheep is to buy young, thrifty western 

 range ewes of good conformation. These are commonly less infested 

 with internal parasites than native eastern ewes. By the use of a good 

 type pure-bred mutton ram on such ewes, an excellent flock may soon 

 be developed, and the lambs of even the first cross will show pronounced 

 improvement in mutton characteristics. By continued use of pure-bred 

 rams of the same breed, a flock of excellent mutton type and conforma- 

 tion will soon be built up which can scarcely be distinguished from pure- 

 breds. 



Faville, 3 at the Wyoming Station, mated 29 fine-wooled western ewes 

 with a good Cotswold ram and another lot with a Southdown ram, and 

 fattened the resulting lambs. The Cotswold grades made slightly larger 

 and more economical gains, but the Southdowns gave a higher percentage 

 of dressed carcass, worth more per pound. Carlyle and Iddings,* "on 

 fattening a lot of 139 Lincoln-Merino lambs and 161 Shropshire-Merinos 

 at the Idaho Station, found that the latter made slightly larger gains, 

 while the feed consumed per 100 Ibs. gain was practically the same for 

 both lots. 



If native ewes are purchased locally to start the flock, it is important 

 that they be vigorous, thrifty, free from disease, and of as uniform breed- 

 ing as possible. In certain sections of the eastern states native Delaine- 

 Merino ewes can be purchased more cheaply than ewes of the mutton 

 breeds. As they are also hardier, they make desirable foundation stock 

 for building up a farm flock by the use of pure-bred mutton rams. In 

 trials at the Pennsylvania Station 5 Tomhave and McDonald found that 

 cross-bred lambs from Delaine-Merino ewes and Shropshire or South- 

 down rams made considerably more rapid gains than Merino lambs. 

 Furthermore, the return per lamb over cost of feed consumed by the 

 lamb was only $5.95 for the Merino lambs, while it was over $8.00 for 

 the cross-bred lambs. 



829. Fattening lambs versus older sheep. The tender, juicy, high- 

 flavored meat from lambs is in much greater demand than mutton from 

 older sheep, even tho they be well fattened. Hence, fat lambs sell for 

 a much higher price per hundredweight on the market than fat year- 

 lings or older animals. For this reason, and also because lambs make 

 much cheaper gains than older sheep, ordinarily lambs which are not 

 to be retained for the breeding flock are never carried over to the second 

 year. Only when wool is unusually high in price may it be profitable 

 to do otherwise. If lambs raised on farms are not sufficiently fat in 



Wyo. Bui. 95. 'Idaho Bui. 77. 'Penn. Bui. 163. 



