The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1872-06-01
Grade Lambs.

Mr.. Harris, writer of "Walks and
Talks on the Farm +" for the American
Agriculturist, gives his experience in
raising lambs, from a Cotswold buck
with Merino ewes:
We have weighed March 22d)
grade Cotswold eve, that is about a
year old. l can not tell her exact age.
| had "A lambs last spring from 60 Me-
rino ewes. | sold 10 to the butcher,
and this eve is one of the four he left
me, and he certainly did not leave me
the best l killed two for the table
when from eight to nine months old,
and never ate more tender orjuicy NUT
ton. But l thought it rather deficient
in flavor This eve we have just
weighed is covered with heavy fleece
of long wool that will answer for comb
ing purposes. In fact it is nearly as
long as that of the full-blooded Cots
wolds. The eve weighs to-day l2l lbs.
Her mother at four years old did not
weigh over so lbs This is what these
cross-bred lambs are capable of doing.
This quality of rapid growth on the
part of the Cotswolds is the result of
years of careful breeding and liberal
feeding. Now take such flock of lambs
and starve them, and what does any
sensible man think would be the result?
Is it not reasonable to expect Wlank,
living specimens and dried pelts"
The grade lamb have spoken of as
weighing IA lbs was born March Sd.
On March lst we had one that weigh
cd when born II - lbs. We have
just weighed them again March 22d).
Both of them weighed exactly % lbs
each. | allow all my lambs few oats,
fine middlings. bran, sliced mangels, or
anything that they will eat, placed in
small troughs separate from the ewes;
but it is not probable that these two
young lambs, only three weeks old,
have eaten very much. They have de-
rived their nourishment from the Me-
rino eve. The milk seems to be very
rich, and the secret of it is simply this:
The ewes had good pasture last sum-
mer and autumn, and have been liber-
ally fed all winter, and before and after
lambing have abundance of milk-form-
ing food-such as good clover hay,
bran, and a few mangels
My own opinion is that farmer who
has been accustomed to Merino sheep,
and who does not expect to raise more
than Is lambs from 100 ewes, had bet
ter have nothing to do with Cotswolds,
Leicester, or South Down sheep The
poorest Merino sheep he can find pro-
vided they are healthy, will be best
adapted to his mode oftreatment. When
he is prepared to give better feed and
more care he should get some improved
Merinos; and if he keeps on improving
in his general system of management
he will in time be prepared to keep a
still more artificial breed of sheep, and
will at length succeed with Cotswolds
or Leicesters. Whether it will pay to
keep sheep that require so much more
care and better feed will depend entire
ly on the demand for mutton, lambs, etc.
Some of the Cotswold breeders are
disposed to expel me from the party for
entertaining such notions-or rather for
publishing them am not afraid of the
truth hurting this splendid breed of
sheep To me it is encouraging rather
than otherwise that these high-bred
sheep are not adapted to " roughing it "
on the cheap lands and vast prairies
and plains and mountain-sides of the far
West. If such was the case, the best
thing we could do would be to pull up
stakes and take our nocks out there
But depend upon it that Merino sheep
will do better in such sections. Our
Merno wool will be raised on these
cheap lands, and the long-combing WOOL
good mutton, and early lambs will be
raised in the better farmed and more
highly cultivated parts of the country
1t fact, | do not see how those of us
who live in the older settled wheat
growing sections Of the country can
keep up the fertility of our farms with
out keeping more stock And we have
to decide between dairying, or beef,
pork, or sheep growing. / think we
shall feel the competition from the West