RAISIKG LAMBS FOR MARKET. 7 



given, it will not be difficult for the intelligent reader and shepherd 

 to arrive at a correct judgment, and conform his plan of feeding 

 to the peculiar circumstances of his flock, and with a view to the 

 greatest profit. 



EARLY MARKET LAMBS. 



There are some special objects in the winter feeding of sheep 

 which require particular methods of management to ensure suc- 

 cess. In regard to feeding store sheep, and when the chief object 

 is the increase of the flock, and the healthful growth of the fleece, 

 nothing need be said beyond what has been given in the preced- 

 ing pages. But special management is needed for the production 

 of early market lambs, and for the fattening of sheep purchased to 

 ensure profit both in money and manure ; in regard to these cases 

 some special explanation may be pertinent. The production of 

 market lambs, if rightly managed, may be made very profitable. 

 This business may be followed on a suitable farm anywhere within 

 150 miles of a good market. The markets for lambs are found 

 chiefly in the large cities, Washington, New York, Boston, Phila- 

 delphia, Baltimore, and Albany being the chief eastern markets, 

 and St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Chicago, the chief western ones. 

 Some few of the southern cities offer good markets for lambs early 

 in the spring. April, May, and June are the months when the 

 prices are the most remunerative ; after June the prices per pound 

 for lambs are but little more than those for sheep. In April and 

 May, a lamb weighing 40 pounds will often sell for $10. Those 

 farmers who make the raising of early lambs a special business, 

 follow one of two methods. In one case they keep a permanent 

 flock of ewes, selected for their good character as nurses and 

 milkers, quiet in disposition, docile, and easily managed, and ready 

 to act as foster mothers to other lambs whose mothers have 

 been sent away. The other plan is to purchase, late in the sum- 

 mer, a flock of ewes, as well selected as may be, from which to 

 raise a crop of spring lambs ; the ewes are then shorn, and after- 

 wards fattened and sent to market before the year is complete. 

 Which of these two methods would be the best to adopt depends 

 upon circumstances. The first plan needs for its successful opera- 

 tion a farm suitable for pasturing sheep, or which has at least 

 sufficient suitable summer pasture for the flock. For the second 

 plan little or no pasture is required ; a rough field in which the 

 ewes may run while being fed for market, or a run upon the clover 

 sod to be plowed for corn in May, being all that is required. A 



