SHEEP BREEDING AND FEEDING. 23 



against the account are high. Under the ordinary farm conditions it 

 will not be necessary to feed as much grain as was consumed during 

 the test herein reported. With small flocks numbering twenty-five to 

 seventy-five head, there will be enough waste on the farm to carry them 

 through the winter months in good shape. Some of the progressive 

 farmers of Xorth Texas allow the flocks to graze the winter wheat fields 

 during the winter months. Care is taken not to over-graze, and in 

 the spring the flocks are removed to the native pasture grasses, where 

 they remain until the wheat and other farm crops have been harvested; 

 then they are given access to these harvested fields, upon which they 

 convert into flesh and fat, products that ordinarily go to waste on the 

 great majority of Texas farms. The preceding statement shows that 

 a profit of 75.5 per cent, was realized on the original investment. In 

 other words, the sheep in the test herein reported returned the Texas 

 Experiment Station $489.14 in cash, and today there are ninety ewes 

 on hand and 80 per cent, of them now have lambs at their side ready to 

 go on feed this fall. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 



The author is indebted to Mr. E. E. Dickson, Superintendent Sub- 

 station No. 7, and to Mr. H. E. Evans, the sheep attendant, whose com- 

 bined efforts aided materially in carrying the experiment herein reported 

 to a successful termination. 



SUMMARY. 



1. Each of the several lots of cross-bred lambs studied during the 

 experiment herein reported were thrifty and hardy from birth. 



2. The highest average birth weight was attained by the Hampshire- 

 Rambouillet cross. 



3. The Lincoln-Kambouillet cross made the greatest total gain. 



4. The Lincoln-Kambouillet cross seemed to finish in a shorter period 

 than did the other crosses, although in this respect all the lambs put on 

 a good finish. 



5. On the market January 20, 1916, the packer buyers graded the 

 entire offering, with the exception of one Rambouillet, as "choice." With 

 the one exception above enumerated, the six lots sold at $9.90 per 

 hundred pounds live weight, this figure being the highest ever paid 

 on the Fort "Worth market at that season of the year for fat lambs. 



6. On this test the lambs made the cheapest gains during the early 

 portion of the feeding period where they secured a great deal of their 

 bulky feed in the fields. 



7. With the choice of five of the best lambs from each of the re- 

 spective crosses in competition for honors in the fat lamb class at the 

 National Feeders' and Breeders' Show in March, 1916, the several pens 

 in competition were placed in the following order: 



Lincoln-Rambouillet cross, first. 

 Hampshire-Rambouillet cross, second. 

 Southdown-Rambonillet cross, third. 



