32 
BULLETIN 716, U. 
DEPARTMENT OE AGBICLLTr/EE. 
of stock, and that when proper credit was given for this, the returns 
per animal unit from sheep were lower than those from any other 
class of stock. 
This does not mean that sheep were unprofitable on all the farms. 
In reality they were profitable on some farms. Profit or lack of 
profit from sheep seemed due not so much to the sheep themselves as 
to different practices of farmers in handling them. They have been 
kept mainly for wool production, and on some farms were kept for 
several years with no other returns than the wool they produced. 
A few farmers have been following the practice of keeping flocks 
of ewes that produced lambs in April or May. The better ewe lambs 
were retained, and the remainder sold, either in the fall when about 
6 or 7 months old or after shearing when about 1 year old. Over one- 
fourth of the farmers that kept sheep have followed this practice to 
Fig. 11. — Most of the farms had flocks of fine-wooled sheep, which grazed on the hill- 
sides during the pasture season. Flocks of ewes that raised lambs which were sold at 
12 to 11 months of age returned much higher receipts per head than flocks kept only 
for the wool they produced. - 
some extent and all report favorably. Table VI shows the number 
of sheep kept per farm, the per cent of the sheep receipts that were 
from wool, and the receipts per sheep for the farms that have prac- 
ticed selling lambs and for those that have not. The farmers who 
sold lambs received $1.12 per head more from their sheep than those 
who did not. 1 
Table VI. — Receipts per sheep for farms that practice selling lambs awl for 
farms that do not (Palmer Tovmship, Washington County, Ohio). 
Farm group. 
Number 
of farms. 
Number 
of sheep 
per farm. 
Per cent 
receipts 
from 
wool. 
Receipts 
per 
sheep. 
7 
16 
40 
38 
60 ^4.40 
Farms not selling lambs 
69 3.28 
1 Sheep and wool both brought higher prices in 1917 than during the years covered by 
this study, and with the higher prices the farmers selling lambs still obtained higher 
receipts per head than those not selling them. 
