THE DORSET HORN 



593 



once a year. The custom of breeding the ewes twice a year 

 has been in vogue since the earhest history of the breed. It is 

 doubtful, however, on the basis of lambing once a year, if the 

 Dorset is the equal of the Shropshire in prolificacy. A writer 

 on the Dorset Horn in the Americmi Breeder (October 5, 19 16) 

 states that the rate of increase may be put at 150 lambs per 

 100 ewes, and when bred twice a year they will average 180 to 

 200 lambs per 100 ewes annually. Craig places the rate of 

 increase as high as 180 per cent. Relative to this subject 

 Professor Frank Kleinheinz states ^ that at Wisconsin University 

 Dorset ewes as a rule have dropped twins, and he cites one ewe 

 of the flock that gave birth to 4 lambs, all of which she raised, 

 and which weighed on an average 63 pounds at three months of 

 age. He believes that 75 per cent of pure-bred ewes will lamb 

 twice a year if bred for that purpose. The ewes make excellent 

 mothers and produce a large amount of milk, often times drying 

 off with difficulty. 



The Dorset Horn as a grazer is not in the first class. It will 

 not do well on inferior pastures and is better suited to the richer, 

 lower-lying farms than to uplands, especially if rough. In their 

 native home, according to the English flock book, about one to 

 one and one-half ewes are kept to the acre, and " they require 

 plenty of room and are generally allowed to roam the pasture in 

 the daytime, being brought to the arable land at night." They are 

 also hurdled to a considerable extent on forage plants and roots. 



The Dorset Horn as a wool producer is open to material im- 

 provement. Mature rams will shear about 9 pounds and ewes 

 about 6 pounds of unwashed wool. Twenty imported sheep of 

 J. B. Henderson of Pennsylvania are credited with shearing an 

 average of 10 pounds each. The fleece of the Dorset has im- 

 proved in weight and quality. Wrightson states that fifty years 

 ago it was computed as averaging 3| pounds, whereas now (1895) 

 a breeding flock of ewes will clip from S to 6 pounds of wool, 

 and yearling ewes from 6 to 7 pounds, while rams will clip 8 to 

 12 pounds each, all these weights following brook washings. 

 Dorset sheep have too short a fleece and show too little wool 

 on the underside of the body. The quality of the staple is of 

 1 American Sheep Breeder (May, 1918), p. 309. 

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