82 FARM MANAGEMENT 



according as the in-bred capacity for early 

 maturity increases in the flock. 



The actual feeding varies in the north and 

 south. In the former the whole flock goes on to 

 swedes and young grass as soon as available, 

 but in the south swedes are the diet, and sub- 

 sequently the flock is folded on a variety of 

 winter-grown forage crops, often moving from 

 one crop to another two or three times a day. 

 In either case concentrates are added, and it 

 is more conducive to quick fattening to give a 

 mixture of a number of food-stuffs, such as 

 decorticated cotton cake, linseed cake, maize, 

 peas, locust beans, crushed oats and malt 

 combs. 



By the above method lambs can be 

 marketed at anything from three to twelve 

 months old, and at the youngest age men- 

 tioned it is quite possible for them to weigh 

 five stones each, or three stones dead weight. 



Cross-Breeding. — There are some twenty 

 breeds of sheep in this country, each breed 

 being particularly adapted to its own locality. 

 It is always risky to introduce a flock be- 

 longing to a breed from another district ; in 

 fact, when taking over a farm it is not only 



