12 



Practical Sheep Husbandry 



also noted for the dark exterior surface of their wool, caused by a free 

 flowing yolk that hardens on the surface and turns black. 



The Rambouillet 



The Rambouillet is a still 

 larger type than the Delaine or 

 B type, and mature rams with a 

 full fleece weigh around 225 to 

 250 pounds, ewes 140 to 175. 

 Their wool is rather coarse for 

 the fine wool breeds, and in 

 twelve months the fibre reaches 

 a length of about three inches. 

 Mature rams will shear about 15 

 to 25 pounds of unwashed wool, 

 ewes 10 to 18 pounds. The rams 

 The ewes are hornless. The Rambouillet 

 He is also a pretty good 



have large spiral turned horns 



is very prolific, robust and a good rustler. 



mutton sheep and is in favor with the big ranchman to breed on his 



grade flocks, to produce the rugged feeding lambs required at the market, 



as well as the desired mutton animal. 



THE ENGLISH MUTTON BREEDS 



The English mutton breeds which were developed in small flocks 

 are opposite to the Merino in several characteristics. Good shelter, 

 feed and care are a big part of their inheritance, so in this country, if 

 we hope to attain the success obtained by the British shepherd, we must 

 closely follow and improve on their methods. The English shepherd has 

 always firmly believed that a different kind of sheep was required for 

 different localities, and so England saw fit to develop several types that 

 were distinctly different in size, wool and mutton. 



The first really great English breeder to come on the stage was Rob- 

 ert Bakewell (1725-1794). Wool had declined in price to such an extent 

 that raising sheep principally for the wool had become very unprofitable. 

 Bakewell saw the need of a better mutton sheep, and set to work on a 

 long, ungainly, coarse wooled, slow maturing sheep and crossed it with 

 a smaller, finer wooled sheep. He was successful in developing an early 

 maturing, compact, snugly built animal that was easy to fatten. He 

 started a period of improvement in the breeding of sheep, such as the 

 world had never seen. "Better mutton and better wool" was his slogan, 

 and the breeders that followed him are to be commended highly in the 

 success they attained. England today is the native home of nearly all of 

 the modern mutton breeds, and flock-masters from all parts of the world 

 still go there for their breeding stock. The following are the principal 

 English mutton breeds that are found scattered more or less over this 

 country. The American flock-master has done little or nothing towards 

 improving the English mutton breeds. 



