MUTTON BREEDS 47 



grass, with a little bit of grain, while the lambs "ran 

 forward" in other hurdle-enclosed bits of grazing. 

 As protection against sun the lambs had small 

 squares of canvas stretched over the corners of 

 their pen. The lambs got a full allowance of "corn 

 and cake"; that is, grain with broken linseed oil 

 cake which is much fed in that country and seldom 

 ground into meal. The lambs were as fat and round 

 as little pigs and were sold as they ripened, week 

 by week, on the London market. Of this system of 

 hurdle grazing we will speak later at more length. 



There are few breeds with more adaptability 

 than the Southdown. It is especially useful on high- 

 priced land and near markets that demand fancy 

 lamb mutton. Though a Southdown flock will not 

 shear so much as some others of the Down family 

 it is questionable whether there is a more profitable 

 breed for the production of fat lambs to be marketed 

 either from their mothers' side in late spring or 

 early summer or to be fed later and marketed at the 

 age of eight to ten months. Their smaller size is in 

 their favor, seeing that small and very perfect lambs 

 well finished, command a premium always. South- 

 down ewes are prolific and excellent mothers, and 

 the lambs are strong at birth. 



In America the breeding of Southdown sheep is 

 largely confined to Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio and 

 Illinois. They are especially liked in the southern 

 states, where they make the bulk of the early lamb 

 mutton coming from that source. They have not 

 been taken much to the ranges, yet in 1906 a carlot 



