222 ESTABLISHING THE COMMERCIAL FARM FLOCK 



should be active in their movements and alert to strange sights and 

 sounds. They should carry their heads well up; their chests should 

 be wide and their bosoms full; their legs should be fairly short, 

 wide apart and placed so that they support the body well. Their 

 whole contour should suggest style, compactness, capacity, and 

 vitality. Without hardihood and productive power, breeding ewes 

 are of little use to their owners, and these properties are not present 

 to the fullest extent in ewes having weak constitutions. 



FIG. 149. Old thin ewes past their day of usefulness for breeding purposes. As a 

 rule such ewes do not have good teeth nor sufficient vitality for growing either lambs or 

 wool. (Illinois Station Bulletin 129.) 



Fourth, ewes selected for raising market lambs should possess 

 good mutton form. If they are undesirable in form their lambs, 

 even though sired by a ram that is ideal in form, "may reach market 

 finish and weight too slowly, or they may not be sufficiently good 

 in form ever to develop into a choice or prime market product. 



Fifth, ewes intended for the farm flock should have dense, com- 

 pact fleeces. Wool, being a non-conductor of heat, tends to lessen 

 the effect of sudden changes in temperature on the body and the. 

 structure of the wool fiber is such that to a certain extent it holds 

 water and foreign substances away from the skin. Therefore, sheep 

 that are clothed in dense, compact fleeces extending over all parts 



