544 



SHEEP 



placing that of mature rams in breeding condition at 185 to 220 

 pounds and ewes at 135 to 155 pounds. George McKerrow of 

 Wisconsin, for many years a leading Southdown breeder and 

 importer, reports the following average weights of specimens of 

 the breed about September I, 1889 : two two-year-old rams, 206 

 pounds each; three yearling rams, 153^ pounds each; two aged 

 ewes, 150 pounds each; four yearling ewes, 134! pounds each; 

 March lambs, ioil pounds each. The heaviest yearling weighed 



FIG. 247. Four grade C type Merino ewes, dams of the five lambs in Figs. 248, 



249, and 250. Compare the hind "quarter of these ewes with those of the lambs 



in Fig. 250. From photograph by the author 



161 pounds and the heaviest lamb no pounds. The imported 

 ram Cheveley Sheik, owned by the Ohio State University, weighed 

 218 pounds as a three-year-old in breeding form and with a 

 trimmed fleece. In view of the criticism the Southdown has been 

 subjected to on account of small size, it would seem desirable for 

 breeders to seek somewhat more scale, still maintaining quality. 

 A weight of at least 200 pounds for rams and 150 pounds for 

 ewes, in breeding condition, would redound to the credit of the breed. 

 The Southdown as a feeder is certainly in the front rank. In 

 1856 Wilson wrote that their disposition to fatten enables them 

 to be brought into the market at twelve and fifteen months old, 



