FOR SHOW RING AND MARKET. 227 



On Judging flutton Sheep. 



OOD judges of mutton sheep are those who,, 

 after examining the various points of a sheep 

 can, to use an old country phrase, tell how it will 

 "kill." It is, comparatively, an easy matter for 

 a breeder to tell us whether or not a certain 

 sheep of the breed he champions is, or is not,, 

 truly conformed, true to type, and symmetrical, 

 but for him to determine whether it will "kill well" and under 

 ordinary circumstances prove profitable to the butcher is 

 quite another matter. A sheep may appear thick and squarely 

 built but may nevertheless make anything but a profitable 

 carcass from the butcher standpoint, for the reason that its 

 .thickness is not made up of desirable flesh but rather of 

 superfluous blubber. Sometimes we find sheep dressing not 

 more than 60 Ibs. giving more actual weight of flesh than 

 others dressing over 100 Ibs.; while the flesh of the loin of the 

 former would perhaps be as broad over as a dollar, that of 

 the latter would not be larger than that of a fifty cent piece. 

 Then again we find in some 100 Ib. carcasses of mutton 20 

 per cent more flesh than are found in others of the same 

 weight. From this we can easily see the advantage a butcher 

 has in profit making when he is a really good judge of 

 what he is buying. If the joints of mutton from the sheep 

 he selects for trade are not sold in their normal shape and 

 condition, but on the other hand have to be reduced say io 

 per cent in weight by trimming off a large quantity of su- 

 perfluous fat to make them saleable and satisfactory to his 

 patrons, it is easy to see that his profits cannot be large from 

 carcasses such as these. Furthermore, what makes it difficult 



