SHEEP UNDER FARM CONDITIONS I49 



keted under a year old at a weight of 85 to 90 

 pounds. This type has been developed by a blend- 

 ing of the extreme wool-producing tendencies of 

 the Merino, and other fine wool breeds, with the 

 blocky mutton form of the English mutton breeds. 

 Probably the most common course in developing 

 this type has been the use of Shropshire rams upon 

 the common Merino foundation stock. This is es- 

 pecially true in the western range country. When 

 lambs sell, as they have in recent years, as high as 

 5)4 cents per pound on the Open range, and, 

 when fattened, for as high as 10 cents per pound 

 on the Chicago market, it can readily be seen 

 that we are far removed from the day when sheep 

 could be grown for wool alone. 



BREEDING FOR WOOL AND MUTTON 



This demand for a combined wool and mutton 

 type has shown its result in marked change in the 

 characteristics of the foundation stock of the coun- 

 try, both in the large flocks of the West and under 

 farm conditions in the East. While the Merino 

 characteristics are still easily discernible, the con- 

 tinued intelligent selection of the dual-purpose type, 

 and the long-continued use of rams from the Shrop- 

 shire and other mutton breeds, have produced 

 breeding stock which, to a large degree, represents 

 the dual-purpose ideal toward which progressive 

 breeders have been striving for the past 20 years. 

 The wool-producing characteristics have been pre- 

 served by the occasional use of Rambouillet or 

 Merino rams when it was seen that the type was 

 inclining too much to mutton form or when the 

 weight of the fleeces began to decrease. 



In recent years the fattening of lambs for market 



