Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1873-12-08
A GOOD CROSS IN SHEEP--COTs-
WOLDS AND SOUTHDOWNS.


Eastern farms is early lambs. For
month or six weeks the demand is lively,
and farmer can sell all he can raise to
the butchers at fair profits or if he pre-
fer it he can retail in the nearest city
market for twenty to thirty cents
pound. The dressing of lambs is not
difficult process, and many farmers
near good markets dress their own lambs
and sheep as regularly as they do their
poultry. They find it makes difference
of nearly quarter in the amount of sales
from their focks. We had had good
results from flock of Southdown grades
for two years, raising nearly all the
lambs dropped, and selling them dressed
during the Summer for an average of
about 81. The butchers wanted them
at 81 so and S., but we did not covet
their greenbacks. The only fault we
had to find with the Southdown grades
was lack of size. They would dress
from thirty to forty pounds. The flesh
is savory, and to our taste better than
any buffalo or deer we get in Eastern
markets. Last Fall we procured a
thorough bred Cotswold buck, from the
flock of L. A. Chase, for the purpose of
securing larger lambs. He was put
with the flock quite early, and all the
lambs came in March. We had antici-
pated some trouble in the parturition of
the ewes, but the large lambs were safely
delivered without any unusual peril,
and we only lost one of pair of lambs
several days after birth. The lambs
are exceedingly thrifty, have had no
disease among them, and will average
at least twenty-five per cent. heavier
than the lambs of former years. The
pelts have much longer wool, and will
sell for considerable more. Of course,
the receipts from lambs this year must
be at least a quarter more than that of
last year, without any increase in the
cost of production, except in the cost of
the buck and in the increased amount of
food consumed. AS they have run in
the same pasture, the increased cost is
only perceptible in the hay-mow and
, meal bin. All that we anticipated in
: the cross is fully realized. The Cots
: void, we think, is not quite so hardy as
the Southdown and other coarse-wooled
sheep. But the cross has all the good
: qualities of the dam with the size of the
| sire. We have no doubt that it pays
| to buy thoroughbred Cotswold buck
S for the purpose of raising lambs from
common coarse-wooled sheep or South
: down grades. 1t might pay better, per-
: haps, to hire the use of the ram; and
e if there were demand enough among our
8 sheep breeders for this kind of service,
n it would be met by the Cotswold breed
{ ers, and we could have the annual letting
$ of bucks as they have in England
Sheep husbandry would be much more
b profitable in Virginia and the Carolinas
,. than in the North but for the dogs
e Sheep masters there could meet thu
|. demand for early lambs in March ane
It April in our large cities, and could &c
;, much higher prices without any add
r tional cost of production. Lands ar,
cheaper, the climate is mild, and every
o thing favors the cheap production o
J. sheep and lambs to meet the demand
n of this early market. We can recon
mend the cross under consideration a
n admirably adapted to meet the wants 0
,r the market.
!. This cross has not been much attempt
IS ed in this country on account of th
e. scarcity Of Cotswold sheep. But in Eng
S. land it is very common, and is though
J. to be one of the most profitable in tn
er sheep-raising districts. Tom Brown, G
r Norfolk County. and Hugh Aylme
at sell and let annually close upon so
rams, chiefly to the farmers in the coun
I'd ty and vicinity, who use the rams 70
IS crossing with some sort of Down eve
ke South, Hampshire, Wiltshire, or wha
re is now called Suffolk Down, the latter
n. black-faced sort. It is said by thes
II farmers who have sharp eye to pr
err fits, that the produce of this cross-hal
bred -Cotswolds are probabl
sheep that come earlier to maturit
make more wool and mutton, and cons
n quently more money than any other SO
ve the world over. They are not, howeve
). sold generally as lambs but as yearling
90 twelve to fifteen months, worth fro
TT, $40 to S23 a head Of course, SUI
en- sheep must have liberal feeding-all
tie the grass, turnips, linseed-cake and me
- they can consume This extra feedi1
:. pays in the increase of wool and mute
u and in the superior quality of the m
IS nure dropped by the sheep.-Amessct
Agrfcadtu-sst.