Fitting sheep for show ring and market . nd of animals that would make the butcher moneythey had without a possible shadow of doubt sadly erred intheir judgment. They handled, to my mind, exceedinglyblubbery and the tokens plainly convinced me that theywere so sadly lacking in flesh as to be of very little useto the butcher. My surmises were amply verified by theblock test. They proved to be enveloped in a thick mantleof useless spine fat that along the loins was not muchless than one and a half inches in thickness, while the fleshof the loin was exceedingly poor, that streak of flesh whichis
Fitting sheep for show ring and market . nd of animals that would make the butcher moneythey had without a possible shadow of doubt sadly erred intheir judgment. They handled, to my mind, exceedinglyblubbery and the tokens plainly convinced me that theywere so sadly lacking in flesh as to be of very little useto the butcher. My surmises were amply verified by theblock test. They proved to be enveloped in a thick mantleof useless spine fat that along the loins was not muchless than one and a half inches in thickness, while the fleshof the loin was exceedingly poor, that streak of flesh whichis in evidence in the loin of mutton from sheep of reallygood quality being almost entirely absent. How can abutcher possibly make a profit out of such animals? Whereis our judgment when we award premiums to animals sapoor in flesh, and carrying such a superfluity of fat, overthose carrying wealth of flesh and teeming with other de-sirable qualities? I cannot, perhaps, better illustrate the idea I wish to con- FOR Show Ring and Market. 231. LAMB DRESSED WITH SHORT BACKSETSFRONT VIEW. 232 Fitting Sheep vey of how ea^y it is for the inexperienced to err in theirjudgment than by giving a brief history of the yearling-Shropshire grade wether herewith illustrated as he appearedboth alive and \/hen dressed. Although I call him a yearlinghe was when slaughtered but 351 days old. His dam was ahalf-blood Merino; his sire an imported Royal winningShropshire. From birth to death he was crowded alongon the best rations I had at command, among them beingrape, lupins, thousand-headed kale and kohlrabi. He dressed104 lbs. net. I do not know what per cent he dressed asI did not weigh him when alive, but I think I can safelysay he dressed over 60 per cent of his live weight. Beforekilling him I sought the opinion of many flockmasters onhis merits as a mutton sheep. Without exception he to be an animal of true mutton conformation andan ideal mutton sheep. Every one seemed surprised whe
Size: 1012px × 2469px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidfittings, booksubjectsheep
