EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 325 



trated if at all about a week after docking. After docking and castrat- 

 ing the lambs and shearing the ewes they are permitted to run on pas- 

 ture. If the ewes are provided with good warm barns and sheds they 

 are usually sheared before the lambs are dropped. That veteran breeder 

 and careful observer, Albert Chapman, says : 



The advantages of early shearing are that the fleece starts more readily, and will 

 attain a growth that will be sufficient to protect the sheep from the hot sun in the 

 summer, and the cold storms of fall and early winter. The new fleece starts out and 

 grows very rapidly on sheep shorn very early, continuing to grow well all summer ; 

 while if not shorn until late the fleece appears to start very slowly, and makes little 

 progress until fall. While with a heavy fleece on after warm weather comes in the 

 spring there is a very little growth, therefore, but little gain in the amount of wool, 

 although there may be more in amount of oil at the expense of the strength and 

 vitality of the sheep. 



The ewes and lambs require but little attention after being turned 

 out on grass, but are usually housed every night of rain and permitted 

 to lie out only when the nights are pleasant. Three quarts of salt are 

 given weekly to about 100 sheep. When the lambs are four months old 

 they are weaned and taught to eat a mixture of oats, bran, and oil- 

 meal. This regimen is continued even after they are again turned into 

 the pasture, particularly should the grass be scant and parched. Lambs 

 and yearlings are fed more liberally than are the breeding ewes the 

 first winter, to keep them growing well, but they are not forced into 

 too early maturity or extraordinary size the first year. 



The heaviest-fleeced flocks are sheltered in summer as well as winter 

 from rain, and particularly from frost or hail, and thus all their natural 

 yolk is retained. Even in the best of summer weather many of the 

 flocks are not permitted to lie out should showers threaten. Eain and 

 even dew to some degree wash and rinse out the oil. The object is to 

 preserve that dark coating which is so much sought for and prized, and 

 because it adds to the fleece. 



The age at which the ewes are put to breed varies according to the 

 ideas of the breeder. Some commence when the ewe is two years old, 

 others when she is three. The Merino ewe can produce when she is 

 about one-half the period of her growth. As grown by most breeders, 

 she will, if not put to breeding, nearly or quite reach her growth when 

 three years old. This, however, is not always the case. The reasons 

 in favor of breeding ewes at two years of age are, first, a crop of lambs 

 one year earlier than if full maturity was waited for, and, second, a 

 more certain and continuous breeder. The fact has been well estab- 

 lished to the satisfaction of most Merino breeders that an ewe put to 

 breeding when two years old will make a more certain continuous 

 breeder than if kept one year longer. There is analogy found in the 

 human race in this respect, early marriages producing a more natural 

 and healthy reproduction, with a stronger and better physical develop- 

 ment both in the mother and child than in cases where the marriage has 

 been delayed until a much later period of life. A ewe that has a lamb 



