10 



mal. If the spine and ribs are prominent as revealed by the touch, 

 it is a sure indication that the animal is too low in condition to 

 grade high on the market. In general it does not pay to market 

 healthy lambs until they are at least in choice condition, and those 

 who produce them should realize the importance of this fact fully 

 as well as the growers of pigs realize that it pays to have them fat 

 before marketing. 



The majority of the growers of native lambs neglect to castrate 

 the ram lambs. The market denounces this neglect in unmistakable 

 terms. Some growers are ignorant of the fact that "buck" lambs 

 are not as desirable as wether lambs; others are afraid to castrate 

 because of probable losses from the operation, and thus thousands 

 of "buck" lambs reach the markets each year. When these lambs are 

 no more than two and one-half months old, they begin to develop 

 a coarseness which increases rapidly with age. As their sex instinct 

 develops they become very active at teasing the females in the flock 

 and at fighting among themselves. By this activity they not only 

 reduce themselves in flesh, but all others in the flock. They become 

 large and coarse in frame and thin in flesh, a combination that places 

 them in the cull grade when they reach the market. In many in- 

 stances they show the breeding and the care, such that, they would 

 have graded as choice had they been castrated early in life. During 

 the latter half of the summer season these "buck" lambs sell for at 

 least one dollar per hundred weight less than choice lambs. On a 

 hundred lambs averaging eighty pounds, this represents a loss of 

 eighty dollars, not taking into account the loss of flesh which results 

 from the fretful activity of ram lambs. Thru the head buyer of a 

 large packing firm in Chicago the writer learned of a firm, Messrs. 

 Hall & Campbell, Shelbyville, Kentucky, that makes a practice of 

 contracting a large number of lambs each season with the privilege 

 of castrating the ram lambs. This firm has built up an enviable rep- 

 utation for the superior quality and finish of the spring lambs it 

 sends to market. The writer sent the following questions to Messrs. 

 Hall & Campbell, and the subjoined letter, which is a reply to these 

 questions, illustrates how well it pays to castrate ram lambs in- 

 tended for the meat trade. The questions follow. 



First. How long have you followed the practice of castrating 

 the lambs you contract for early in the season ? 

 * Second. At what age do you operate on the lambs ? 



Third. How much do you think it improves the quality and 

 value of the lambs? 



Fourth. Is this very high quality for which your lambs are 

 known due principally to docking and castrating, or do you see to 



