26 



breeders should aim to secure good fleeces as well as a good carcass. 

 Late lambs and, mutton will pay if carefully managed, though the 

 margin is not wide. Early lambs on the contrary are capable of 

 bringing large returns if skillfully managed. It is just this skillful 

 management that is responsible for the large returns. Comparatively 

 few breeders are skillful in raising early lambs. The necessary care 

 is not taken. Few lambs are to be had when the market is high and 

 the few successful growers obtain large profits. 



One of the first essentials in raising early Iambs is the selection of 

 the breeding flock. It is well known that the mutton breeds, i. e. the 

 Downs and large sheep (perhaps excepting the Dorset Horn) do not 

 breed early enough in the season for the lambs to come at the proper 

 time. It requires a part of the Merino blood in the ewes to make the 

 best early breeders. Some of the most successful growers of early 

 lambs use cross-breed Merino and Southdown or Shropshire ewes and 

 mate with a mutton breed ram. Such a flock gives better and heav- 

 ier carcass than high grade Merinos and will breed equally early. If 

 properly managed such a flock will give lambs in early December, 

 which may be fed so as lo be ready for market by the first of March. 

 Eight to twelve dollars is not an unusual price for lambs that will 

 weigh from fifty to sixty pounds at that time. 



It is true that such a system requires attention and care in mid- 

 summer when haying and weed-killing and tobacco culture are all 

 crying for the farmer's whole time. Still by giving his flock a very 

 little attention then he could soon rest assured that little more need 

 be none till after the harvest was over and all the time needed was at 

 his disposal. It requires mucli less work to care for a flock of sheep 

 than for a daiiy of cows, and by following such a course as the one 

 described the profits would be large. Moreover most of the income 

 of the farm is received at harvest time, late summer and early fall. 

 A good sale of early lambs would affect the farmer's pocket-book 

 just at a time when the lucre would be most welcome. Also in early 

 summer when there is not so much else to turn into money, the 

 returns from a crop of wool from a good flock would be very 

 convenient. 



Dogs are a serious hindrance to sheep raising in our section, and 

 they are much more a nuisance here than where sheep are more gen- 

 erally kept. Perhaps a partial solution to the dog problem is to keep 

 more sheep. While our dog laws are not all they might be, they are 

 now framed so that the sheep raiser need not suffer serious loss, and 

 dog owners are liable to suffer heavily for any damage done. 



