FARMER'S CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK 



MARKETING AND SHIPPING SHEEP 



Fat sheep should be shipped to market 

 when they reach mature condition. A 

 prime fat sheep has been described else- 

 where in this chapter. (See page 508. ) 

 Fat lambs usually bring the highest 

 price of any sheep on the market. The 

 most desirable weights are between 90 

 and 95 pounds, and the best prices are 

 usually obtained in May or June. 



The shrinkage i n shipping varies 

 from 1 to 2 pounds a head for a short 

 shipment of 100 or 200 miles, to 7 to 

 8 pounds a head when shipped 1,400 to 

 1,800 miles. 



A single deck car w iH carry about 

 100 sheep and a double deck car, 150 

 to 200. Details as regards shipping, 

 etc, have been discussed in Chapter IV. 



Sheep of the same size and class 

 should be shipped together in order to 

 thus make a better appearance and are 

 likely to bring a better price on the 

 market than a mixed lot. Sheep dress 

 out from 50 to 65 per cent of their live 

 weight. Directions for slaughtering are 

 given in Chapter V. 



HOTHOUSE OR WINTER LAMBS 



This is probably the most profitable 

 phase of the sheep industry when prop- 

 erly managed. It consists in the pro- 

 duction of fat lambs weighing 35 to 60 

 pounds live weight and the marketing 

 of these during the period between 

 Christmas and the following March or 

 April. The lambs are dressed and bring 

 between $6 and $12 apiece. The chief 

 markets are the larger cities like Phil- 

 adelphia, New York, Chicago, etc, but 

 there is a growing yearly demand in all 

 the smaller cities for winter lambs. A 

 few lambs can be sold at Christmas 

 time, but the market is rather limited 

 at this period, owing to the large 

 amount of poultry then on the market. 

 The best market comes in January and 

 February and up to about March 15. 

 From March on the price for winter 

 lambs, while a little higher than for 

 lambs born earlier in the season, is 

 not so good as in January and Febru- 

 ary. 



Best breeds for winter lambs — The 

 chief difficulty in the production of 

 early winter lambs is in getting the 

 ewes to breed, so that they will drop 

 their lambs in October, November and 

 December. The two pure breeds appar- 



ently best suited for this purpose are 

 the Dorsets and the Tunis. The Dorset 

 is much the more popular of the two. 



Various other breeds of sheep are also 

 used to produce winter lambs, but are 

 not so satisfactory as the Dorsets, be- 

 cause there is no uniformity in the 

 early breeding. A few may breed in 

 May and along during the summer, but 

 most of them will not begin breeding 

 until September and October, which is 

 too late for the best prices of winter 

 lambs. The Dorsets are big mill?; yield- 

 ers, leading all other breeds in this re- 

 spect. The lambs are sent to market 

 while sucking the ewe and a large and 



Fig. 375 — CHAMPION" WETHER LAMB AT 

 CHICAGO IN 1905 



continuous supply of milk is a vital fac- 

 tor in their rapid growth. On this ac- 

 count, Dorset lambs grow faster and ar- 

 rive at a marketable age sooner than 

 most other pure breeds. 



Dorset and Shropshire ewes — I n ex- 

 periments reported by the New York 

 Cornell station, pure bred Shropshires 

 were compared with pure bred Dorsets 

 to determine their relative value for 

 winter lambs. The Shropshire lambs 

 averaged 9.7 pounds in weight at birth, 

 and 42.75 pounds a head nine weeks 

 later, thus making an average weekly 

 gain of 3.5 pounds a head. The Dorset 

 lambs averaged 10.6 pounds at birth and 

 weighed 53.5 pounds a head when nine 

 weeks old, having made an average 

 weekly gain of 4.8 pounds a head. 



