112 SHEEP FEEDING 



from nine to ten months of the year, and pure spring water 

 is generally abundant. Stomach worms and scab are trou- 

 blesome, and dogs are considered by most sheep men as the 

 greatest drawback to the industry. 



Inexpensive grade ewes in the South. The ewes from 

 which the Kentucky and Tennessee lambs are raised aver- 

 age poorer in breeding, form, quality, condition, and wool 

 than the grade Down ewes owned by the Middle States 

 farmers. In the southern sections of this region most of 

 the ewes come from the mountain district of Tennessee, or 

 from Alabama or Georgia. They show coarse-wooled cross- 

 ing, having white faces and legs and rather heavy bone, and 

 are upstanding, with somewhat slender bodies and a scanty, 

 inferior covering of coarse wool. Breeding ewes for the 

 northern part of Kentucky are generally purchased at the 

 Chicago, St. Louis, or Louisville stockyards. They are, for 

 the most part, the grade Downs that Middle States farmers 

 considered for some reason unprofitable and sent to market ; 

 but these Southern farmers do remarkably well with them 

 for two or three years, at the end of which time they are 

 fattened and returned and a new flock is purchased. 



Southdown rams in the South. The great majority of the 

 rams used in the South are Southdowns. A Southdown 

 ram gets a lamb that will reach a weight of from sixty to 

 seventy -five pounds sooner than a lamb of any other breed. 

 They are noted for their ideal mutton form and quick- 

 maturing tendencies. The lambs bred from this cross have 

 dark faces and legs, short, low-down, compact bodies, and 

 a medium Down wool characteristics which make them 

 favorites with the buyers and killers. 



Handling the flocks. Let us suppose that a Tennessee or 

 Kentucky farmer with one hundred and sixty acres of land, 



