SHEEP FOR WOOL, MUTTON AND BOTH USES 4I 



loss of wool or failure to produce wool on the underline. 

 The most wool and the best wool is, therefore, produced 

 by young sheep. It is also true that the percentage of 

 wool to live weight decreases steadily with increase in 

 the size of the sheep. In the best shearers the unwashed 

 fleece of the Merino goes as high as 36 per cent of the 

 live weight. The percentage of wool in the middle wool 

 breeds to the live weight is considerably less and in the 

 coarse wool breeds there is further decrease. The high 

 relative production of wool in Merinos is due in part to 

 the large amount of yolk in the wool. It is claimed that 

 the weight of the secretions and exhalations from the 

 yolk glands exceed the evacuations from the bowels and 

 bladder taken together. 



Influences that affect mutton production — The chief 

 influences that aflfect the production of mutton are 

 climate, food, breeding, care and wool. As in the produc- 

 tion of wool, these influences are by no means equally 

 potent. Food, breeding and care exert a more potent in- 

 fluence on mutton form than climate or the fleece. 



In the evolution of breeds, climate has exerted an 

 important influence. This influence is, of course, much 

 greater when sheep may be maintained with little or no 

 protection. Climate affects both size and constitution in 

 sheep. It affects size largely through the character of the 

 food, which is the outcome of climatic conditions. This 

 explains, in part at least, why the largest breeds of sheep 

 have been evolved in temperate climates. The oppressive 

 heat of hot climates militates against size and the stern- 

 ness of cold climates exerts a similar influence. A moist 

 climate is more favorable to increase in size and also to 

 prolificacy than a dry one. The favorable influence on 

 prolificacy is the outcome of the succulence in the food. 

 The best climatic conditions for the development of 

 sheep are those where the temperatures are moderate and 

 equable and where the air is moist. This, in part, ac- 

 counts for the great success attained in growing sheep 



