JUDGING SHEEP IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS, 7 
market grades and classes should be given first place. In connection 
with this study a visit to a packing house and its stockyards may 
be made very profitable if it can be arranged. At such a place there 
is usually an opportunity to study the methods used in handling the 
sheep as they arrive, as well as their conversion into mutton ready 
for the dealer. 
If it is not convenient to visit a packing house it may be possible 
to visit a local meat dealer and there make a study of wholesale and 
retail cuts of mutton or to visit a farm where sheep and swine are 
killed for meat. It will be profitable to compare the hog carcass 
with the mutton carcass to note the difference in the depth of fat 
covering the body skeleton. Even the comparison of a pork chop 
with a mutton chop at the school will be worth while in illustrating 
such a fact. 
The classification shown on page 8 is from University of Illinois 
Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 129, Market Classes and 
Grades of Sheep. 
Relation* of type to efficiency.- — In connection with a visit to a 
packing house or a dealer to afford the students an opportunity 
to make a comparative study of sheep carcasses, the sheep should 
be considered in the classroom as a meat-producing machine and the 
relation of type to efficiency brought out. It is well to consider the 
sheep from the standpoint of the packer, as it is the buyer who ulti- 
mately will determine its value. Charts, such as figure 2, should be 
used to show the wholesale and retail cuts of meat, with relative 
prices marked off on an outline of a sheep. Quality of meat, smooth- 
ness in dressing, relative size, and age in connection with the season 
are factors considered by packers in determining the price to be paid 
per pound. In considering the sheep from the feeder's point of 
view, emphasis should be given such points as capacity for feed, 
efficiency in its use, strength, and vigor. 
The sheep should be considered also as a wool-producing animal 
and the amount and quality of the wool given attention. Though 
a technical study of wool has not been considered generally a phase 
of agriculture, yet, now that the importance of wool production is 
increasing, the farmer engaged in the industry should know more 
about his product. 
The class should give most emphasis to the sheep from the breeder's 
point of view. The breeder should pay attention to all the points im- 
portant to the buyer and the feeder and at the same time consider 
such points as fecundity, strength of constitution, and prepotency. 
The last-named quality will involve a study of records and pedigrees 
of breeding animals. Such a study fits more logically with a study 
of breeding. In taking up sheep as a home project, every encourage- 
ment should be given students to get hold of registered animals of 
good breeding. 
