Seo. 7.] 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



91 



the pelt and all tlie offal, so that the butcher, if lie could sell tlie carcass at 

 cost, would still have the pelt, rough fat, head, etc., I'or a profit, lleuce it 

 will be seen how it is that mutton in tlie carcass is often quoted in market 

 reports at less than it appears by livestock reports to have actually cost. 



123. Western MuttoUi— It is one of the incomprehensible things in "Western 

 agriculture tliat so little attention is paid to the business of fattening sheep. 

 With a vast country, as well adapted to making mutton as pork, and in many 

 respects even better, it is one of the rarest things to see a farm devoted to 

 the raising of sheep for their meat alone, while it is equally rare to find a 

 farmer who does not raise hogs and fatten them for their pork. 



We are aware that the West is full of sheep, and that the business is not 

 considered very profitable. There are some good flocks — in fact, some large 

 flock-masters, whose princi])al business is to raise sheep — but it is for their 

 fleece alone. Very few farmers. East or West, have ever made a business of 

 making mutton. The sheep are almost entirely bred for wool, not for meat. 

 And besides this, more than one iialf of all the sheep in the United States 

 are not bred distinctly for meat or wool, but simply because tliey are sheep, 

 and will answer in some sort for both purposes ; but their fleece is often of 

 a coarse, unprofitable kind, and their bodies lean and light. Such sheep are 

 naturally slow to acquire fat, wlicn fed for that purjiose, just as their tleeco 

 is naturally of light weight or coarse fiber. Such sheep are not profitable, 

 althougli so common all over the country. 



Of all varieties of domestic animals, the flesh of sheep is least used, except 

 in cities, in proportioTi to the quantity that is, or rather might be, profitably 

 consumed. We esteem mutton almost the very best kind of meat provided 

 for a civilized people. That its production would be found among the most 

 profitable we have no doubt, provided a good breed of sheep were selected, 

 especially for their meat-producing qualities. For tliis purpose we esteem 

 the Southdown variety the very best. We have known flocks of fat sheep 

 of this sort sold here for $25 per head. Certainly this is a paying price. 

 We have several times reported sales of sheep in New York, of the long-wooled 

 kind, at $12 to $20 per head, which was equal to 12 to IG cents a pound 

 for the meat. Is this a profitable price for tlio farmer, ])articularly the 

 farmer of the West, tlie greatest country in the world for the production of 

 pork ? • 



All the long-wooled varieties of sheep, known as Bakewell, Leicester, 

 Cotswokl, New O.xfordshirc, etc., are fat-producing animals ; that is, they 

 are as naturally inclined to acquire fat as other animals arc to produce only 

 lean meat. In England, such mutton is much esteemed. In tiiis country 

 the lean kinds are preferred. In Ohio and other Western States there is a 

 grade of sheep called common, that are as well fitted for the ])urposcs of the 

 AVestcrn farmer as any ho could obtain in this country (except the South- 

 downs) to breed for mutton, if careful selections were made, and some care 

 exercised in breeding and feetling. It is true they are a mongrel breed, 

 made up of crosses of all the varieties ever imported, but they arc strong 



