230 PROFITABLE STOCK RAISING 



must be provided to prevent severe losses of the 

 lambs at the time of birth and to insure against 

 shrinkage on account of cold weather during grow- 

 ing time. 



BREEDING 



The Dorset sheep, or cross-bred Dorset Merino, 

 are the most suitable of the best-known American 

 sheep for breeding for winter lambs, because they 

 will breed at any season of the year, and the ar- 

 rival of the lambs can be timed to suit the desires 

 of the owner. Professor Shaw, at the Minnesota 

 experiment station, crossed ordinary range ewes 

 with Dorset rams, and then selected from this off- 

 spring the ewe lambs which showed markedly the 

 early breeding tendencies of the Dorset for the 

 second cross, and at the end of three generations 

 had established a very successful type of sheep for 

 the production of winter lambs. In addition to the 

 hardy qualities of the common western sheep, this 

 stock showed the early breeding tendencies and 

 quick-maturing qualities of the Dorset. This 

 breeding procedure may be safely recommended to 

 any farmer who desires to develop the best type of 

 breeding ewes for raising hothouse lambs. An ex- 

 cellent breeding practice is the crossing of ewes of 

 the type just described with Hampshire or Cleve- 

 land rams. This will tend to produce unusually 

 large lambs, and while the cross would be unfavor- 

 able if the lambs were to be kept to maturity, it 

 will tend toward the production of lambs of a mar- 

 ketable weight in a shorter period of time than by 

 any other method. The more common practice is 

 the crossing of this type of ewes with Shropshire 

 rams. 



