THE DORSET HORN 



411 



yearling ewes at the 1889 royal show weighed at shearing time 

 262, 245, and 222 pounds respectively, and in August each 

 dropped twin lambs. These, however, were excessive weights. 



The Dorset as a mutton producer cannot be placed in the front 

 rank. The meat of the wether is of fair quality when not over- 

 fat, while fat lambs rank very well indeed. In the dressed car- 

 cass the Dorset does not reach the best standard. In the Iowa 

 station breed tests, in the first trial with fattening wether lambs, 

 the Dorsets dressed 52.6 percent carcass, being valued at $3.75 

 per hundred, the poorest record made by ten breeds ; while in 

 the second trial they dressed 54. 11 per cent, being surpassed only 

 by the Southdown, the 

 carcass selling at ;$s.50 a 

 hundred, compared with 

 ^5.75 for Southdown and 

 $5.60 for Shropshire. 

 Under fair conditions Dor- 

 set mutton will rank as 

 about medium in quality. 



The Dorset as a feeder 

 will do well. The lambs 

 grow rapidly, and with 

 abundance of feed may be 

 turned on the market at 

 an early age. The breed 

 stands confinement and 

 folding well. In the Iowa breed test the fattening Dorset lambs 

 made an average daily gain of .48 and .43 pound in the first and 

 second trials respectively, requiring 785 and 989 pounds of dry 

 matter for 100 pounds of gain. 



The Dorset as an early-lamb producer has great distinction, 

 having long been famous in this regard over other British breeds. 

 The ewes will breed during much of the year, so that they have 

 a special value for producing Christmas lambs. It has long been 

 customary in England to breed the ewes in June and July to 

 lamb in November and December, furnishing early lambs for the 

 London market. In the United States, owing to the hot sum- 

 mers, the ewes are more readily bred from the middle of March 



Fig. 190. A Dorset ewe of unusual merit. 

 First prize at several state fairs in 1898. 

 Shown by Tranquillity Farm of New Jersey. 

 Photograph by the author 



