Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1898-07-08
FARMING MATTERS.
QUESTION OF sH AIRING LAMB
Interesting Experiments Made at the Agri
cultural College at Fort Collins.

Interesting Experiments Made at the Agri-
cultural College at Fort Collins.
For the past three years several
feeders in the Fort Collins district
have sheared part of their lambs be-
/ fore sending them TO market No one
has been able to see much profit in the
/ transaction and several have known
that it occasioned them a considerable
/ loss. Yet each year it is believed that
| the prices are such as to warrant
| shearng. We have not previously
sheared our lambs at the Agricultural
College because prospects of gain
thereby were so small.
This year. yielding to the requests
Of several feeders, we made an expert
ment to see just what the comparative
results are of sheared and wooded
! lambs. A bunch of one hundred and
twenty lambs was selected; sixty were
sheared April 26th and the other six
ty left unsheared. The feed of both
lots was the same as they ran together
in the same corrals The season was
not the best for sheared lambs, as it
will be remembered that there was a
long continued snow storm the first
week in May, and both the sheared
and wooded lambs suffered from the
cold and wet.
The lambs were shipped together to
Chicago month after shearing. The
shorn lambs sold for $3.50 per hundred
pounds. and the wooded lambs for
1915. This difference of 40 cents be-
tween the wooded and the shorn is as
favorable TO the shorn lambs as could
be expected.
The lambs We're weighed individual
~ at the time of shearing, again just
before shipping, and also in Chicago
when sold The wool of each was
weighed separately, so that we have
the full records for determining the
financial results of the shearing. The
wool has not yet been sold, but others
around here. who sheared this spring,
sold their wool for II cents per pound
and this price is used IN the computa-
lions.
The lambs sheared 3S pounds Of
wool each, giving them credit for the
wool of 40 cents. They did not grow
so fast after shearing as those that
kept their wool. They did not make so
good fill ut the market, that is they
shrank more from Fort Collins to Chi
cago than the wooded lambs, and they
sold in Chicago for less price. There
are therefore three items to offset the
credit for the wool.
The sheared sheep gained in weight
during the month after the shearing
90 pounds less than the wooded lambs,
they shrank 1.6 pounds more in ship
ping and sold for 10 cents per hun
bred pounds less than the wooded
lambs. The effect of these three items
is - cents per head; that is the shorn
lambs sold in Chicago for 10 cents per
head less than they would have sold
for had they not been sheared. Against
this there is an offset of 40 cents for
WOOL making a net loss of 80 cents
per head as result of shearing.
In the above statement two items
have not been taken into account.
These are the cost of the shearing and
the decreased cost of freight to Chi
cago. because more shorn can be ship
ped to the car than of wooded lambs
These two items are on opposite sides
and will just about balance so that the
above result would not be changed If
both these items We're considered.
The above results show that, at least
In our case. the shearing of the lambs
was not only of no advantage, but
was a positive loss.
w. w. COOKE,
Agricultural College.
Fort Collins Colo. June 6, 1898.