402 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



artificially heated on severely cold days, it is useless to think of pro- 

 ducing February lambs. Early lambs are desirable, as they may be 

 marketed before the hottest weather, when infection and loss from 

 parasites are most likely, and the early market is also the best. A 

 good fall market may be had also, but in breeding for the fall market 

 considerable more care and risk will be incurred in carrying the 

 animals through the summer than if they are sold before the latter 

 part of June, coming chiefly from internal parasites, as the stomach 

 worm. 



Winter Lambs. 



The term "hot-house lambs" is misleading, as most people imagine 

 that their production requires extremely artificial conditions, which 

 is not true in the sense they mean. The conditions required are not 

 nearly so artificial as are furnished dairy cattle and horses. The "hot- 

 house lamb " is simply a lamb born in November or December, fattened 

 and sold during the first ten weeks of the new year, when there is a 

 strong demand for choice lambs from 45 to 60 pounds in weight. 

 They will bring very favorable prices, often averaging from $8 to $10 

 per head, and the demand is always stronger than the supply. The 

 chief markets are in the larger cities, so the selling must either be 

 done through commission men or a fancy private butcher trade built 

 up. If possible, it is desirable to deal directly with some large mar- 

 ket, or to furnish hotels with lambs direct from the farm. 



In producing "hot-house lambs" immunity from j^arasites is ob- 

 tained, thus avoiding one of the most serious handicaps of the business. 

 The lambs suffer from parasites more severely than their dams, being 

 young and comparatively weak, but winter lambs cannot suffer, as it 

 is when feeding in pasture that the parasites obtain a foothold. The 

 winter months are, as a rule, a time when work on the farm is some- 

 what slack, and the production of the Christmas lamb requires con- 

 siderable work during this slack season, thus giving a better distribu- 

 tion of labor on the farm. Not only are the highest prices for the 

 lambs obtained at this season, but as they are sold earher than at other 

 times they return more pounds of gain per pound of food, and their 

 cost is therefore at a minimum. 



In the production of winter lambs certain peculiar conditions must 

 be met, and careful attention given to the details, which make the 

 difference between profit and loss. This puts the "hot-house lamb" 

 business into the hands of the man who is careful and methodical about 

 his work. The first requisite is that the lambs shall come at the proper 

 season, in November or December. October lambs would most likely 

 be all right here, though too early in the west. They must be marketed 

 during the Christmas holidays, as they will be too heavy to sell as 

 fancy lambs if held much later. The heaviest demand is from the 

 first of January to the middle of March, so it is best to have the ewes 

 yean in November or December. The period of gestation in sheep 



