. Types and breeds of farm animals . Livestock. THE DORSET HORN 411 yearling ewes at the 1889 royal show weighed at shearing time 262, 245, and 222 pounds respectively, and in August each dropped twin lambs. These, however, were excessive weights. The Dorset as a mutton producer cannot be placed in the front rank. The meat of the wether is of fair quality when not over- fat, while fat lambs rank very well indeed. In the dressed car- cass the Dorset does not reach the best standard. In the Iowa station breed tests, in the first trial with fattening wether lambs, the Dorsets dressed percent
. Types and breeds of farm animals . Livestock. THE DORSET HORN 411 yearling ewes at the 1889 royal show weighed at shearing time 262, 245, and 222 pounds respectively, and in August each dropped twin lambs. These, however, were excessive weights. The Dorset as a mutton producer cannot be placed in the front rank. The meat of the wether is of fair quality when not over- fat, while fat lambs rank very well indeed. In the dressed car- cass the Dorset does not reach the best standard. In the Iowa station breed tests, in the first trial with fattening wether lambs, the Dorsets dressed percent carcass, being valued at $ per hundred, the poorest record made by ten breeds ; while in the second trial they dressed per cent, being surpassed only by the Southdown, the carcass selling at ;$ a hundred, compared with ^ for Southdown and $ for Shropshire. Under fair conditions Dor- set mutton will rank as about medium in quality. The Dorset as a feeder will do well. The lambs grow rapidly, and with abundance of feed may be turned on the market at an early age. The breed stands confinement and folding well. In the Iowa breed test the fattening Dorset lambs made an average daily gain of .48 and .43 pound in the first and second trials respectively, requiring 785 and 989 pounds of dry matter for 100 pounds of gain. The Dorset as an early-lamb producer has great distinction, having long been famous in this regard over other British breeds. The ewes will breed during much of the year, so that they have a special value for producing Christmas lambs. It has long been customary in England to breed the ewes in June and July to lamb in November and December, furnishing early lambs for the London market. In the United States, owing to the hot sum- mers, the ewes are more readily bred from the middle of March. Fig. 190. A Dorset ewe of unusual merit. First prize at several state fairs in 1898. Shown by Tranquillity Farm of New Jersey. Photograph by the author. Pleas
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Keywords: ., bookauthorplumbcha, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookyear1906
