BEEF AND WINTER LAMB RAISING 



their native home, Dorsetshire, England, this 

 breed has been so long under the moulding 

 hand of its shepherds, that it has lost its natural 

 instinct of lambing on grass, and now the lambs 

 come in the late fall or early winter. In bring- 

 ing the Dorset to this country we have changed 

 the conditions entirely, and we must in some 

 measure supply surroundings like those to which 

 it has been accustomed. These conditions, Mr. 

 J. E. Wing tells us exactly how to reach : 



" Let us start from what we might call a basis of 

 comparison. In Dorsetshire the ram is usually coupled 

 with the ewes during June and July, but in this cli- 

 mate that any large and uniform success in breeding 

 Dorsets as late as June and July will result, I think 

 improbable. The natural time of mating is fall, Oc- 

 tober and November, cool months. So if we want 

 them to breed in spring we should select cool periods. 

 This seems a simple thing, yet like many simple things, 

 is overlooked. When I started with Dorsets we were 

 told they would breed any time of the year; also that 

 June was the month to mate them for fall lambs. I 

 tried them in June, but with partial success only. 

 This experience convinced me that while Dorsets will, 

 in isolated cases, breed at any time of year, ' any time ' 

 must be a time when conditions are right. I was 

 now on the true track and realized that for spring 



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