TYPES AND MARKET CLASSES OF LIVE STOCK 



219 



erence for lamb. Seventy-five per cent, of the ovine receipts 

 at Chicago are lambs, and the percentage is increasing. Never- 

 theless, mature mutton sheep will never disappear from the 

 market, because surplus and spent breeding stock will always 

 be available for slaughter. At from 12 to 14 months of age, 

 lambs pass into the yearling or ewe sub-classes. No definite 

 age limit can be drawn about the lamb sub-class, for the dis- 

 tinction is based upon the degree of maturity exhibited by the 

 young animal. For this reason native lambs pass out of the 

 sub-class at a younger age than western lambs, because they are 

 better fed and are usually free from Merino blood. The western 

 lamb's slower approach to maturity, due to its breeding and 

 feeding, is something of an advantage, enabling it longer to 



>r 



Fig. 61. Choice Western Lambs. 



enjoy the advantage in price that lambs have over older animals. 

 A feeder may buy light western lambs in the late fall and feed 

 them until the following May, at which time they will still be 

 classed as lambs; while native lambs of the same age and similarly 

 managed would be classed as sheep upon their return to market. 



This makes clear why for several weeks in the year it is 

 necessary to make two separate quotations on lambs, one of 

 which is for those known as "spring lambs," referring to those 

 born in the year the quotations are made, as distinguished from 

 those born the year previous.. These separate quotations first 

 appear about May 20, and continue until July 1. After July 1, 

 all animals born in the spring of the previous year are known 

 as yearlings or ewes. The first run of spring lambs to western 

 markets is from Tennessee where pastures are green very early 



