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SHEEP 



the carcass contest awarded on yearlings and lambs, five were for 

 pure-bred Southdowns and one for grade Southdowns. The grand 

 championship went to a lamb shown by W. H. Miner that weighed 

 82 pounds alive, dressed 57.32 per cent carcass, and sold for 

 62 cents a pound. "This carcass," said Robert Lorimer, the judge, 

 "was the most perfect I ever saw in my life ; from the butcher's 

 point of view, it might be called a model." 



The Southdown crossbred or grade has long met with great 

 favor in the mutton market. In fact the Southdown has played 



FIG. 248. Five grade Southdown wether lambs sired by Babraham Magician, 



out of grade Merino ewes. Bred and owned by the Ohio State University. From 



photograph by the author 



a leading part in forming several breeds, notably the Shropshire, 

 Hampshire, and Oxford, though it has been used more or less 

 on other breeds to improve the fleshing and maturing qualities. 

 Grade lambs, the result of Southdown rams on common ewes of 

 the Merino type or of middle-wool form, will always be in com- 

 paratively high demand by butchers. In breeding Southdown rams 

 to native grade Merino ewes at the Ohio State University, very 

 superior progeny have resulted from a mutton point of view, show- 

 ing strong Southdown character. It is an interesting tribute to 

 the value of Southdown blood in mutton improvement that rams 

 of this breed have been used more than any other for securing 



