4 I2 



SHEEP 



into May. The lambs fatten rapidly and soon attain good weights. 

 In England November or December lambs are generally sold fat 

 in March and April, when they weigh 40 to 44 pounds in the 

 dressed carcass, according to Thomas Chick, long a well-known 

 Dorset breeder. 



The fecundity of the Dorset is very fair. Not only will the 

 ewes produce lambs twice a year if desired, but they frequently 

 produce twins, while triplets are not rare. The general evidence 

 from all sides shows the Dorset Horn to be one of the more 

 prolific breeds. The evidence given in the Dorset Horn flock 



books, however, does not 

 show the breed to be so 

 prolific at one lambing as 

 is the Shropshire. The 

 dams make excellent 

 mothers and produce a 

 large amount of milk, 

 oftentimes drying off with 

 difficulty. 



The Dorset Horn for 

 grading or crossing has a 

 special value, if mutton 

 production is the thing 

 sought. Shropshire or 

 Southdown rams on old 

 Dorset Horn ewes will 

 produce very high-class 

 lambs with dark faces, just what the market wants. A grade 

 or cross from Merino stock meets with favor in America. In 

 discussing this subject Messrs. Wing and Miller state that 

 a Merino grade from large, roomy Merino ewes and a blocky 

 vigorous Dorset ram will prove a surer breeder, if possible, than 

 the pure-bred Dorset ewe. There are not many growers of hot- 

 house lambs but what prefer Dorset grades from Merino foun- 

 dation to any other ewe, the pure-bred not excepted. These 

 ewes are again bred to pure-bred Dorset rams, and the result is 

 a very blocky, easily fattened lamb. These grade ewes are also 

 better milkers than the pure-breds. 



FIG. 191. The first-prize pen of Dorset ewe 

 lambs at the Royal Agricultural Society of 

 England Show, 1904. Photograph by H. B. 

 Arbuckle, from the National Stockman and 

 Farmer 



