SHEEP BREEDING AND FEEDING. 19 



WEIGHTS AND GAINS OF LAMBS. 



The lambs were weighed at birth and numbered, weekly weights being 

 made of each individual lamb until eight weeks of age. The average 

 birth weights of all lambs as presented in Table 3 shows a com- 

 parison of the several cross breeds of lambs. The records show that 

 the Hampshire lambs averaged the heaviest at birth, weighing 10.3 

 pounds, with the Lincoln cross a close second with an average of 9.98 

 pounds. The straight Bambouillet lambs averaged the lightest at birth, 

 this average being 8.4 pounds. It will be observed from the table that 

 during the first eight weeks after the birth of lambs all seemed to make 

 approximately the same amount of gain, the Lincoln cross being slightly 

 in the lead at this age. 



As shown by Table 3, at the time of being placed on feed, October 

 12, the Lincoln cross averaged 10.9 pounds heavier than the Hamp- 

 shire cross, which was second in weight. This is a remarkable gain 

 over that made by the other lambs and is worthy of further in- 

 vestigation. By again referring to Table 3, it will 'be observed that 

 during the period October 12 to January 5, the Hampshire cross made 

 the highest daily gain, the average for the period being .34 pound, 

 with the Shropshire second with a gain of .32 pound, while the South- 

 down cross made the smallest, or a gain of .28 pound daily. The gain 

 made by the Lincoln cross during the period was next above the South- 

 down average for the same period. 



The lambs were divided into two lots January 5, eighty-four being 

 placed in one lot and thirty-six in another. The thirty-six lambs were 

 selected for exhibition at the National Feeders' and Breeders' Show at 

 Fort Worth in March, 1916, six representative "typey" individuals being 

 selected from each of the lots of cross-bred lambs. 



The show lambs were fed separately after January 5, as the plan was 

 to ship the main portion of the flock during the middle part of Jan- 

 uary, and as these lambs were on full feed at that time it would not 

 have been the best policy to full-feed the show lambs at this time, 

 especially in view of the fact that the Fat Stock Show was still two 

 months away. 



As may be seen by referring to Table 3, the eighty-four lambs 

 were weighed separately from the show flock after January 5. During 

 the period January 5 to January 17, the Hampshire cross still con- 

 tinued to make the largest daily gain, with the Karakule cross second 

 and the Lincoln third during the period. 



At the feed lots on the afternoon of January 17 prior to shipment 

 to the Fort Worth market the Lincoln cross averaged 6.4 pounds heavier 

 than the Hampshires, the Southdown cross averaging the lightest at 

 this time. The lambs all carried heavy fleeces, which tended to reduce 

 the dressing percentage. The Lincoln cross-bred lambs dressed the 

 highest percentage of meat to offal with the 1 Karakule cross second and 

 the Hampshire cross next to the lowest. 



The shrinkage enroute market proved interesting. The Lincoln 



