THE HAMPSHIRE DOWN 



581 



have a great capacity for assimilating food to advantage. At the 

 Smithfield Fat-Stock Show in England, Hampshire Downs have 

 held a leading place among the best killers and have demonstrated 

 daily gains rarely surpassed. In giving weights and gains of fat 

 wethers at this show, from 1895 to 19 15 inclusive, Henry and 

 Morrison 1 show that 78 yearling Hampshire Down wethers had 

 an average weight of 282 pounds at six hundred and sixty-one 

 days of age, showing an average daily gain of .42 pound. Year- 

 ling wethers of the breed in carcass contests had a live weight 

 of 185 pounds and 

 dressed out 64 per 

 cent carcass. These 

 sheep, owing to their 

 large size and heavy 

 bone, will not dress 

 out as well as some 

 of the lighter breeds, 

 neither does the mut- 

 ton rank quite so high 

 in quality. 



The Hampshire 

 Down for early lambs 

 has held a premier 

 place in the United 

 States for many years. 

 They were first pro- 

 moted in the East for 

 this special quality, as 



a valuable feature for the Eastern early-lamb market ; and James 

 Wood and J. S. Woodward, both of New York, imported many 

 years ago for this special purpose and became large early-lamb 

 producers. One may find many testimonials in behalf of the 

 rapid gains in weight by the lambs, and it is probable that this 

 breed has no superior for gains made during the first two or three 

 months after birth. Smithfield records compiled by Henry show 

 that 94 Hampshire Down lambs, averaging three hundred and 

 nine days of age, gained an average of .67 pound a day per 



1 Feeds and Feeding (1915), p- 518. 

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Fig. 270. Hampshire Down ram, champion at the 

 1918 Ohio State Fair. Shown by the Munroe Stock 

 Farm, Lucas, Ohio. From photograph by the author 



