120 SHEEP FEEDING 



hundred lambs ready the twenty-fifth of May, all to be of 

 standard grade and averaging from seventy to seventy-five 

 pounds in weight, with none lighter than fifty-five pounds. 

 This number of lambs for sale at one place, all of a guar- 

 anteed weight and quality, brings out bids from the East, 

 the West, and locally. Bidders know that only desirable 

 lambs will be offered and that no trick or dishonest meth- 

 ods will be used by the club to deceive the buyer ; for the 

 club as a whole stands back of every sale. Such conditions 

 very naturally call for the highest prices. The result gen- 

 erally is that these club lambs sell for from a cent to a cent 

 and a half per pound higher than equally good lambs that 

 are bargained for in small lots. In one instance, in 1909, 

 lambs sold for five and three-quarters cents not seventy- 

 five miles from a successful lamb club that received seven 

 cents. Wool is sold on the same principle as are lambs. 

 The executive committee of the club grades each lot that 

 comes in, and places it in the first, second, or third class. 

 The grading of the committee is based entirely on the 

 amount of dirt, burs, and foreign matter that the wool car- 

 ries, the first class being entirely free from all foreign mate- 

 rial. The fact that from ten to fifteen thousand pounds of 

 wool of uniform and guaranteed grades may be purchased 

 on a single bid, attracts large buyers who would not con- 

 sider wool from that community if it had to be picked up 

 a few pounds here and there. 



A summary of the early-lamb business. Let us summarize 

 the important points of the lamb-raising systems followed 

 by the Southern farmers, and see to what degree they may 

 be carried out in the Middle West or corn belt. 



1. The Middle West farmer can provide barns and sheds 

 that furnish satisfactory protection for early lambs. 



