640 SHEEP 



very well, but the per cent of fat and bone is too great to suit the 

 modern trade. There is too much waste for the average housewife. 



The Lincoln as a feeder makes a creditable showing. In feeding 

 experiments at the Iowa Experiment Station, Lincoln wether 

 lambs in one trial made an average daily gain of .55 pound and 

 in another trial of .46 pound. The price paid for the carcass 

 was $4.50 and $5.25 per hundred compared with $4.75 and $5.75 

 respectively, the highest price paid. The Lincolns dressed out 

 55.7 and 51.08 per cent in the carcass, which was about an aver- 

 age of the breeds tested. Comparatively few feeding experiments 

 with Lincolns are recorded. In the report on the prize-winning 

 wethers at the Smithfield Club Show, compiled by Henry and 

 Morrison, covering the years 1895 to 1912 inclusive, 48 Lincoln 

 wether lambs, averaging two hundred and ninety days old, weigh- 

 ing 209 pounds each, made an average daily gain of .72 pound ; 

 while 55 yearling wethers, averaging six hundred and thirty- 

 nine days old, weighing 334 pounds, made an average daily gain 

 of .52 pound. This record of daily gain for both ages surpassed 

 each of the other thirteen breeds reported on. These figures 

 clearly indicate the capacity of the Lincoln as a feeder and also 

 show to what size the wether may be fed. To do as well as these 

 reports indicate he must be fed in a generous manner the best 

 of food, with concentrates and succulents suitably represented. 

 Hawkesworth comments on this point and says if feed is scarce 

 the Lincoln loses weight rapidly, and when in low condition is an 

 expensive animal to put in good condition. 



The crossbred or grade Lincoln is to-day an important factor 

 in the British mutton market. A large number of Lincoln rams 

 are used on the common ewes of Argentina or on the grade Merino 

 ewes of Australia. A visit to the yards at Birkenhead, England, 

 about 1900, where shiploads of live sheep were received from 

 Argentina, showed the prevalence of Lincoln blood. These crosses 

 or grades made a big, growthy lamb which fattened easily and 

 furnished a large chop or leg of mutton more acceptable in the 

 English than in the American market. Hawkesworth says that 

 the Lincoln and Merino make a really good serviceable cross and 

 a suitable mutton for export, and many who have kept to that style 

 of breeding have found good results in both carcass and wool. 



