THE EARLY LAMB. 



Sheep in a state of nature drop their lambs on grass, and it is 

 hard to induce them to conceive to drop them earlier. The Dorset 

 is so much an artificial production, has been so long under the mould- 

 ing hand of its shepherds, that it has lost this instinct and now the 

 lambs come in the late Fall or early Wtnter months. The shep- 

 herds have provided abundant winter food for so long, the ewes 

 have learned to look for it; the habit has been so firmly fixed that 

 Dorset ewes habitually lamb in November, December and January. 

 And they will lamb earlier than that if rightly treated. This habit 

 is of the utmost importance and value. It isthis habit that gives the 

 Dorset ewe her great value in her native land. There her lambs 

 are born out of doors, preferably in the pretty wind-protected val- 

 leys it is a mild clime, in these sheltered valleys there is generally 

 some grass, there are turnips, and hay, and the little lambs are fed 

 with their mothers upon our corn and what they term "cake," that 

 is oilmeal. The little lambs grow prodigously, filled to bursting by 

 their mother's milk, and eating grain like little pigs. Lambs in Dor- 

 set will even get too fat to walk, as little pigs will sometimes in our 

 land. In winter and early spring these round, plump, sweet, juicy 

 lumps of baby mutton go to the London butchers. They bring good 

 grices, what would be considered fabulous prices in our country. 



Thus it is that the shepherds of Dorset stick by their Horn 

 sheep. It is, perhaps, first a sentiment, it is next a matter of profit. 

 No other sheep in the world has in it the capacity for profit that the 

 Dorset Horn has. And this is true in America as well as in her 

 native county of Dorset. 



GETTING FALL LAMBS 



In taking the Dorset away from her native hills it must be borne 

 in mind that you have changed the conditions materially. To get 

 the same results that have been gotten in Dorsetshire, then you 

 must in some measure supply similar conditions. How are we to do 

 this? Well, let us start from what we might call, a basis of com- 

 parison. In Dorsetshire the ram is usually coupled with the ewes 

 during June and July, but in this climate (referring to the Eastern 

 and Middle States) that any large and uniform success in breeding 



