Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-05-23
.tGisECt Lss 1kAL.

spring lamb.
AGkiCI Lss kAL.
Annual sheep Sh"nriog of tho Vermont
ASSOCIATION.
Ctlbart Chspmip in Agricultural Jonrnlil
The third animal public shearing of
the Vermont Sheep Shcarlng Association
took place IN their large and fine barn,
erected especially to holu He So shearings,
on April 1st. 81, and 81 by a compari'
son of the results OF the two years, 1883
and 1884. we find the gains gratifying, as
well as very large, and they are the more
from the larger number shorn
this wear than in 1882. There appears to
he n gain at nearly all points, the e1cep-
tions being in classes and 4, the heaviest
vearlng ram, in 1882, being 2 lbs. g oz
heavier in fleece than the heaviest in 1884
There is an indication of wisdom at this
point. The evidence of tendency to
crowd the growing young ram to get the
heaviest possible fleece the first year, was
not AS apparent this year as in the past
two. Too many promising young rams
have been sacrificed IN the endeavor to
force them prematnreIy to the front, most
of those that get there the first year are
obliged to resign their lead the next and
subsequent years. | will cite "a few cases
in proof of this The ram that led rs a
venrling. in 1882. with II lbs. or, fell
back to second place in 1888, falling y
TBS. behind one he had beaten in 1882,
AMI dropped out of the race altogether IL
1884 The ram that led in 1888, rs 4
vearing, with fleece of a lbs. = o.,
falls back to fourteenth place in the list
Of two-vear.olds, in 1884, yielding 10 lbs
) ~. less than one he had beaten il
1888. and actually sheared oz less thar
the average of the entire class of 81 rams
two years old. His owner and friends say
he was sick during the time This VT
grant, but as hlo owner often, during the
past wear, has cOmplainel that he had NJ
appetite, and he could not make him ca
any grain, it is manifest that his want o.
condition was caused by too much forcing
the first year 1t is hoped he may recover
from this. as he was very promising the
first year, and would undoubtedly have
proved valuable shrep bad he been de
veloped more slowly. The ram that lee
this year in the 2 cnSs, sleared So Tbs
w., gaining 13 Tbs. ) OF. from his first t.
his second fleece. His live weight wal
Hobbs, exhibiting three points worth.
of notice 1st. Weight OF fleece as !
two year-old. Cd. Great gain betweeI
| first and second fleeces. 81. Large per
rentage of fleece to live weight. His sir
was Broker. owned by " Rich, Richville
Vt, who also bred his dam. The per
centage of fleece to carcass, it Will b
seen, is 81 and $40 per cent.
In the 1st, or class of rams three year
old or over, the points worthy o: mention
are, the very large average OF the twenty
| five, 80 TBS. 3 OF. the very large averag
Of the best fourteen 81 Tbs 8 OF. : tn
very large average Of the best fourtee
81 lbs. 3 oz. the very large average u
the hest fourteen 81 fbs. 9cz, aud til
heaviest, 3S TBS. II o., being gain owe
any Spanish Merino ram ever shorn i
public IN Vermont and a point il thi
last is the fact that the lead ut the pub
lie shearings of this association for tire
Years has heen held by the same ram
Rip Van Winkle, bred and Owned by ii
S. Brookius, Ricnville, Vt, This ram
also remarkable Ill not only holding TIN
position, hut i'll continuing 10 increase
weight of fleece up to his seventh. Ill
last three heeces being his fifth, sixth
and seventh, have weighed 30 tbS. 10 OF
3S lbs. 5 W and 80 lbs. IL oz or II
leverage Of 37I tbS for the three tieeces,
remarkable weld ut wool for ram of tht
age. that has been heavily used IN tn
stud each wear. nm evidence OF strong au
vigorous c III titution. He is also tn
sire of many of the heavy shearlng ram
in the first and second class. Seven {
his get that appear in these classes aver
aged 3O9 lbs. each.
, Another noticeable ram III the lst elias
was three year-old ram, owned by j. /
Ainsworth. Middlebury, bred by d \
Bissell. East Shorrham, sired by Rich
Banker This ram weighed 10 lbs. nfte
sheariug. and gave fleece OF 81 Tbs.
o., or 80 2-l0 per cent. of fleece to ca
cass.
In the 4th. or class of aged ewes, viii
one eve, in 1882, gave 8 %. more han u
, best one in 1884, there has been grei
gam in the IA best, they caring ID
OF. more, ON an average, than the SAN
, number two years since aud 1t must |
acknowledged that the gain OF ! OF
= pound on so shorn i'll 1854, over the
shorn in 1882, is a very material one wht
we consider the numbers are increase
nearly four times. We cannot torbe
claiming that the result of these publ
shearings are very encouraging to the II
provers of Meriuo Sheep IN Vermont, al
that we are more than vindicated III VIII
the Vermont Merino Sheep Breeders A
n ISOLATION claimed in 1873, when the ar
. Gle on Improvements of Mernos IN We
l mont" was written for the first volume
r Its Register. On page 67 of that volum
o 1t will be found that we gave the facts
4 prove that nine Vermont rams had shes
d ed an average of 20 lbs per fleece, al
mentioned that at least nine more mig
r have been found within the State til
e would yield as high an average. TAXI
II the detailed list of the rams report
o from this public shearing, We find that
e rams, all shorn in one year, gave 597 10
u an average of 33 lbs, o., or lbs. ga
> more than we claimed for l8 IN 1873. L
lightest fleece from the Is this year
l. 20 tbs. 5 OF. or more than we claimed
is the average of the Is III 1878 At tt
,r time we did not contiue ourselves to
r, year or to one county, but the lS for q
10 year are all owned in one county a
10 other point that makes the casa stront
N in relation to improvement, 10 that 10 K
70 we ueut5uusd mature rams only such