16 MISC. PUBLICATION 9 0, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



sore footed, fewer men are required to drive them, they can be 

 handled more easily at night on the trail, and they can go longer 

 without water. It is more satisfactory to raise sheep than cattle 

 where deserts at a considerable distance from the summer ranges 

 must be relied upon for winter feed. Sheep are able to graze steep 

 and brushy ranges better than are cattle. They can sometimes do 

 well on ranges that cattle can not use at all. 



PLACE OF SHEEP ON THE FARM 



Sheep, like cattle, fit into farm activities by utilizing by-products 

 and forage crops that are part of the production under diversified- 

 crop practice. They also furnish a means for marketing farm crops 

 " on the hoof " at points a long distance from railroads. 



BREEDS OF SHEEP 



Well-bred sheep and scrub sheep differ little in the amount of for- 

 age they consume, but they differ a great deal in the production of 

 wool and meat from a given amount of forage. 



The advantages of well bred over scrub sheep are numerous : They 

 have a maximum of meat production to a carcass (especially in the 

 mutton breeds). Of the meat produced there is a maximum of the 

 choicer cuts ; therefore the meat commands a more ready market and 

 a higher price. With the same feed and care, well-bred sheep grow 

 larger than do scrubs. Other desirable characteristics have been 

 brought out by breeding, such as prolificacy, milking functions (for 

 better lamb growth), and feeding capacity. The wool crop has been 

 bettered in quality and quantity. The improvement in quality has 

 been in greater density and length of the fibers, and in securing fibers 

 that are regular in crimp, bright, clean, sound, and moderately oily. 

 An effort has been made to have the fleeces free from gare hair or 

 black fiber; to have them soft and elastic to the touch. The in- 

 creased quantity of wool is due to a better growth over the head, legs, 

 and belly, and a heavier fleece in general. 



ISTot many years ago it was customary to classify sheep into three 

 large groups : The breeds having fine wool, those with coarse wool, 

 and the mutton type or medium wool. The fine wooled were the 

 Merinos and Rambouillets, the fleeces of which are made up of very 

 fine, crimpy fibers. Such breeds as the Cotswold and Lincoln made 

 up the coarse- wooled class. The wool fibers of these breeds are long 

 and comparatively coarse. They are large animals, but do not have 

 the proper conformation to be classed as ideal mutton sheep. In 

 the mutton, or medium-wooled class, were placed such breeds as the 

 Southdown, Shropshire, and Hampshire. These breeds have wool 

 which is intermediate in fineness and length of fiber. Lately the 

 tendency has been more to class sheep as wool breeds or as mutton 

 breeds, placing Merinos and Rambouillets in the former class and 

 placing the coarse wooled in the mutton class with the Hampshires, 

 etc. Of course, the wool breeds are used for meat produc- 

 tion, but do not produce quite the quality and quantity of meat 

 the mutton breeds do. The mutton breeds produce more or less heavy 

 fleeces, but they lack the fineness, crimp, and other characteristics of 

 the fleeces of the wool breeds. 



