168 CONKEY'S STOCK BOOK 



MARKETING It won't pay to send skinny, half-fat lambs to market. 

 Besides, it's easy to get lambs fat, and 30 Ibs. nice and 

 plump, rightly "dressed," and with plenty of caul to protect it, will show 

 bigger money than 40 Ibs. lean in flesh, small kidneys, and with a scanty, 

 veil-like caul for covering. So don't fail to finish your lambs properly for 

 market. It's this extra care just in the finishing that counts. For instance, 

 the rest of the flock will do nicely through the winter even if they don't 

 get grain in their ration. But put plenty of grain-fat on your lambs if 

 they are intended for that early market. Silage and hay alone won't make 

 a lamb that tops the market. But silage with alfalfa or clover hay and 

 grain will do it. Silage is useful for fattening some. But don't use in too 

 large amount. Practical feeders say 2 l /2 Ibs. per day is the limit. It is 

 possible to fatten on a cheap ration without grain; for instance, alfalfa, 

 turnips and oil-meal. But read the section on Feeds and Feeding. 



KEEP YOUR BEST Don't market your fine and fat ewe lamb. Keep 

 her even if you do miss a good price. You'll be 



glad you saved her from the block when she is two years old and you 

 begin to get your reward in other lambkin duplicates of herself. It would 

 be different if it were easy to go out and get good ewes for breeding but 

 you can't always tell just what you are getting. Always look over the 

 flock before winter comes, and cull out the old fat sheep and let the 

 butcher have them while their weight is up. Always keep your best. 



The Wool Side of Sheep 



A PERFECT A perfect fleece! It is a certificate of health and an adver- 

 FLEECE tisement of the sheepman's good care and management. 



Even growth means even management. And the sheep 

 isn't the only one who gains or loses! 



A SHEEP'S He keeps it every day; and whatever the record, he can 

 DIARY never erase it. He uses it chiefly to tell his troubles, setting 



down every hardship, every period of suffering, every blight 

 of season or disease. Anyone who knows can read it, and the expert wool- 

 buyer always knows the language. See him test the wool of your sheep, 

 passing his hand over it for closeness and evenness, stretching a lock and 

 looking to see it "break." No need to look under the microscope. The 

 story is told; and if there are weak spots in the fibre of the wool, the 

 fleece is put aside as worthless or given only a poor grade. That "break" 

 has told the story. 



"BREAKS" ARE Each fibre of wool is the sheep's diary. As it grows 



WEAK SPOTS out of the skin it registers the animal's condition. In 



its actual structure it changes with health or disease.' 



A "break" or weak spot shows hardship. Going without water for several 

 days in hot dry weather will every time show this "break" in the staple. 



Your sheep's back isn't all one grade of wool far from it. It must 

 be sorted. Only the wool from the center sides is really first choice; at 

 the top and back it is coarser, grading back to the breach, where it is very 

 much inferior though better than the fleece on belly and brisket. The leg 

 wool is often useless. Study the diagrams carefully. 



