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the flock during breeding season, should not be expected to serve more 

 than 30 or 40 ewes. A lamb ram should not be allowed more than 15 

 or 20 females, a yearling or "shearling" ought to be confined to not 

 more than 40, and 60 ewes is the outside limit for any vigorous and 

 mature lamb if best results are desired. Between the ages of two and 

 six years a buck is in his prime. With the ordinary flock in this State 

 it is as good a plan as any to turn the ram with the ewes when the 

 breeding season arrives. If he has been fed grain liberally before the 

 breeding season a slight grain ration should be continued if possible, 

 but he will do well on pasture alone. After the ewes have all been bred 

 the grain ration should be cut down gradually, and the ram eventually 

 allowed to pick his living from pastures and roughage, taking care not 

 to starve him, as many do. 



Ewes- should be bred to drop lambs as early in the winter as accom- 

 modations for taking care of them are available. If the farmer has no 

 sheds which are dry, and is without one or two rooms which may be 

 artiflcially heated on severely cold days, it is useless to think of pro- 

 ducing February lambs. Early lambs are desirable, as they may be 

 marketed before the hottest weather, when infection and loss from 

 parasites are most likely, and the early market is also the best. A 

 good fall market may be had also, but in breeding for the fall market 

 considerable more care and risk will be necessary in carrying the 

 animals through the summer than if they are sold before the latter 

 part of June. 



Winter Lambs. 



The term "hot-house lambs" is misleading, as most people imagine 

 that their production requires extremely artiflcial conditions, which 

 is not true in the sense they mean. The conditions required are not 

 nearly so artificial as are furnished dairy cattle and horses. The "hot- 

 house lamb " is simply a lamb born in November or December, fattened 

 and sold during the first ten weeks of the new year, when there is a 

 strong demand for choice lambs from 45 to 60 pounds in weight. 

 They will bring very favorable prices, averaging from $8 to $10 per 

 head, and the demand is always stronger than the supply. The chief 

 markets are in the larger cities, so the selling must either be done 

 through commission men or a fancy private butcher trade built up. If 

 possible, it is desirable to deal directly with some large market, or to 

 furnish hotels with lambs direct from the farm. 



In producing "hot-house lambs" immunity from parasites is ob- 

 tained, thus avoiding one of the most serious handicaps of the business. 

 The lambs suffer from parasites more severely than their dams, being 

 young and comparatively weak, but winter lambs cannot suffer, as it 

 is when feeding in pasture that the parasites obtain a foothold. The 

 winter months are, as a rule, a time when work on the farm is some- 

 what slack, and the production of the Christmas lamb requires con- 

 siderable work during this slack season, thus gi'V'ing a better distribu- 

 tion of labor on the farm. Not only are the highest prices for the 

 lambs obtained at this season, but as they are sold earlier than at other 

 times they return more pounds of gain per pound of food, and their 

 cost is therefore at a minimum. 



In the production of winter lambs certain peculiar conditions must 

 be met, and careful attention given to the details, which make the 

 difference between profit and loss. This puts the "hot-house lamb" 

 business into the hands of the man who is careful and methodical about 

 his work. The first requisite is that the lambs shall come at the proper 

 season, in November or December. October lambs would most likely 



