458 MANAGEMENT AND FEEDING OF SHEEP 



ance and, consequently to render their transmission more 

 uncertain. 



The time called for to bring grade sheep up to the 

 level of the flock from which the sires are chosen will 

 depend to some extent on the blood lines possessed when 

 the upgrading begins, and to a greater extent on the pre- 

 potency of the sires. It would seem correct to say that 

 in no instance would more than five generations of such 

 breeding be necessary to effect such improvement in the 

 animal form, and in some instances three generations 

 would suffice. For making meat, the grades thus im- 

 proved would probably average better than the pure 

 breds, as the presence of alien blood brings with it in 

 many instances renovating power. Many generations of 

 such breeding would be called for to make the wool fibers 

 resemble exactly those of the breed from which the sires 

 have come. Many generations would also be necessary 

 to make transmission as certain from animals thus up- 

 graded as from sires of the breed used in improving them. 



The rapid improvement that may be effected in the 

 meat-making qualities of grade sheep finds illustration in 

 a certain line of experimental work conducted at the 

 Minnesota Experimental Station, under the direction of 

 the author. Ewes were purchased of the commonest 

 types. Some were purchased at the stock yards at South 

 St. Paul, and some from farmers. The former came 

 from the western ranges. The breeding, especially of 

 those bred on the ranges, was very much mixed. There 

 were evidences in their make-up of the blood of the 

 coarse wool, the middle wool and the fine wool breeds. In 

 many of them the evidences of Merino blood were dom- 

 inant. Dark-faced sires, chiefly Shropshire, were used 

 upon them in some instances for one, and in others for 

 two generations. A number of the females were then 

 selected in the autumn of 1900. These were mated with 

 a well-bred and well-chosen Southdown ram and a num- 

 ber of the lambs were prepared for exhibition at the In- 



