462 



March, 1914 



the l)est ram lambs avcraj^ed 107 

 11). at this tiine. This year 36 

 ewes were mated, and lambintj 

 took i)lace under the favourable 

 conditions of a good season. Four 

 ewes missed, and to the remain- 

 ing ^2 ewes (many of which were 

 maidens) 47 Iambs were born. 

 Of this number, no fewer than 

 .^o lambs were twdns. Fortv-four 

 lambs were marked, making a 

 percentage of 122 on the number of 

 ewes mated. A couple of lambs 

 have since died from misadventure. 



On the 14th August this vear, 

 when the lambs were approximate- 

 ly 14 weeks old, 23 ram lambs 

 averae^d 88 Hi. live wei'^'ht, and 16 

 ewe lambs 75',< Ito. : on 9th Sep- 

 tember, when the lambs were 17 

 weeks thev, they averar^ed 100 R). 

 and 90V2 0). resnectively. Two davs 

 later these lambs were shorn, and 

 cut 2'{ lb. of verv drv wool. 



Below are appended the exact 

 live bodv weights of the lambs on 

 the two dates mentione'd ; an;!, as 

 the weights are in the same order 

 on both dates, individual increases 

 can be followed : — 





— Ram 



Lambs. — 





be 





be 





ft 



< 



(i 

 «> 



< 







W 















+J 



■SI- 







■Ir' 



t-< 



OS 



lb. 



lb. 



lb. 



lb. 



60 



80 



87- 



108 



93 



IT 2 



77 



91 



79 





94 



112 



86 



lOI 



74 



92 



S2 



95 



82 



97 



78 



94 



84 



104 



74 



90 



86 



107 



lOI 



115 » 



68 



81 



91 



11,3 



90 



108 



62 



78 



67 



84 



no 



131 



74 



92 



8.5 



105 









— Ewe 



I/ambs. — 





be 





be 





< 



d, 



< 



(X 



<D 









CO 









♦J 



+j 





Xi 





ON 





+-> 



OS 



lb. 



lb. 



lb. 



lb. 



67 



81 



88 



102 



7'5 



92 



68 



82 



82 



96 



77 



93 



6.5 



81 



»5 



loo 



74 



88 



77 



92 



80 



88 



74 



85 



78 



92 



59 



73 



78 



99 



84 



104 



Three lambs which were dropped 

 v-efy late are omitted from this 

 list. It will be noticed that one 

 ram lamb scaled lb. on 9tih 



September. The first Dorset lamb 

 at the Wagga Farm was noticed 

 on 20th April, and assuming that 

 this heaviest lamb was the first 

 dropped, it could not possiblv have 

 been more than 4 months and 19 

 days old. 



It also will be seen that in the 

 .short time of twenty-six days 

 many of the lambs eained 20 tb. 

 and o\'er in body weight. One 

 would expect this in pip-s, but 

 hardly in sheep. These facts, l^ear- 

 in? evidence of the wonderful early- 

 maturintr qualities of the nure 

 Dorset Horn, are all the more 

 convincine in that, from Hr^h 

 to this last weitrhiu"-, the flock 

 was depastured on natural nas- 

 tures only. 



The lambs do not retain this 

 rate of increase in weisrht over the 

 last half of their first year. Adiilt 

 rams bred from the Wan^n-p Farm 

 flock wei?h between 200 lb. and 

 230 lb. in p-ood but not over-fat 

 condition. Thus the lambs at aV, 

 months wei"-h half as much as thev 

 they will when fully devel'-'"- 



— The Dorset Horn Cross for 

 Early Lambs. — 



No less than twelve different 

 cross breeds are being tested for 

 lamb-raisin£T- (among other thing-s) 

 at the Government Experiment 

 Farms. On every occasion at the 

 sale of these lambs of aDproxi- 

 matelv the same asres, the nro- 

 '"•enyf of the Dorset Horn rams 

 and first-cross ewes have brought 

 and Sydney markets. Thouo^h the 

 top prices, both in the London 

 Dorset Horn crosses lack the finer 



quality of the Southdown-cross 

 carcases, this deficiency is more 

 than compensated for by the "re it- 

 er live and dressed weights olf the 

 'former crosses. In larrib-raisinT 

 the time which lambs take to 

 reach a marketable condition is all- 

 important to the farmer ; at the 

 same time, Quality must not alto- 

 gether- be sacrificed. Recently a 

 consiofninpnt of suckers from the 

 Wacpira Experiment Farm., repre- 

 .sentino- twelve different cross breds, 

 \vere forwarded to Svdue^- f r s.^le. 

 They wefe penned se'>nrat'"li-. T-d 

 offered in lots accordinfr to the 

 breedin^r. Tbe Dorset Horn-Border 

 Leicester-Merino crosses t ^ ^ •H<^ 

 market at t-/tt. FuU particulars 

 will be found in the 4 '^ric Ot-iral 

 of a shinment of lambs to London 

 Gazette for Mar^h, 191 2. 



As a breed siiitable for lamb- 

 raisino-, when correctly crossed, the 

 Dorset Horn promises to fill a 

 ver->r important position in this 

 i>rofitable industry, which in Aus- 

 tralia has hardly beirun. 



Recently Mr. Forde, of " Mont- 

 rose," Tarag-o, New South Wales, 

 communicated with this branch of 

 the Department, and a few ex- 

 tracts from his letter will interest 

 prospective lamb-raisers. Inter 

 alia, Mr. Forde says : — " I have 

 now been using Dorset Horn ra s 

 for two seasons. Last year I used 

 T/incoln Rams and Dorsets. and 

 found the Dorset-cross lam.bs d. 

 long way ahead of the Lincoln 

 cross; This vear 8 Dorset Horn 

 and 6 Shropshire rams were ioined 

 with 700 cross-bred ewes, on the 

 14th .January ; but they did not 



BAGOT, SHAKES, & LEWIS, Ltd. 



Stock and Station Ag-ents, Wool Brokers, Live Stock Salesmen 

 and Licensed Land Brokers. 



Managing Directors— G«orge W. Bagot, John I^wis. 

 Wool Managers — Creorge Uowling. (J«orge Jeffery. 



Land Manager — Alfred C. Catt. 

 Inspector of Branches— J ames Wilkinson. 



Sale* of fat and store stock, land, and farn3 clearing sale* conducted in 

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