55^ 



SHEEP 



to 250 pounds for rams and 140 to 180 pounds for ewes. Two- 

 hundred-and-fifty-pound rams 'cind one-hundred-and-eighty-pound 

 ewes are very exceptional, notwithstanding the present tendency 

 to breed for more size than was the case a few years ago. In 

 the show ring, providing there is sufificient quality, the larger 

 Shropshires receive preference from the critics, although exces- 

 sive size is as undesirable as undersize. 



The Shropshire as a mutton sheep is of a superior order, rank- 

 ing next to the Southdown, and when well fed often equaling it. 



In the Iowa Station 

 breed test Shropshire 

 fattening wethers of an 

 average age of three 

 hundred and seventy- 

 one days,- in the first 

 trial, made an average 

 daily gain of .48 pound, 

 and in the second trial, 

 covering two hundred 

 and seventy-nine days, 

 gained an average of 

 .56 pound daily. In 

 one trial it required 

 718 pounds dry matter 

 for 100 pounds gain, 

 and in the other 1026 

 for 100 pounds gain. The valuation per 100 pounds live weight 

 ranked second to the Southdowns, namely, ^4.63 and ^5.60 for 

 each trial. In feeding experiments on Shropshire lambs con- 

 ducted by Professor Brown at the Ontario College, grades of this 

 breed made the best record among five tested. The Shropshire 

 has not figured prominently in the carcass contests at the Inter- 

 national Live-Stock Exposition, perhaps because breeders were 

 not interested to present this breed in an aggressive way for this 

 purpose. In 1908 the University of Wisconsin won first in the 

 yearling carcass class with a Shropshire that weighed 167 pounds 

 on foot and dressed 59.88 per cent carcass, but won the grand 

 championship with the carcass of a Southdown lamb. In general 



Fig. 257. Montford Emblem (imp.), the champion 



Shropshire ram in America in 1918 at the leading 



shows. Owned by Jess C. Andrew, West Point, 



Indiana. From photograph by the author 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



