CROSSING SHEEP.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1137, 9 October 1879, Page 2

CROSSING SHEEP.

Leonidas McDaniel, an extensive wool-grower, of Rush Country, Indiana, gives through tho ' Indiana Parmer.' his experience in crossing the different bre< ds. He says . — Merino sheep will herd together in \&rac flocks better than any • other kind, if a man is only breeding for wool. They will not do for mutton and wool combined, =is a breed, but to cross them with Cots wolds m kos m s xt to the best cross I ever tried. But the most successful cross is one-fourth Southdown and three-fourths long-wool. Por hardness, size o r carcass, and wool all combined, thi. cross cannot be beat in thiN State climate, market and wool all considered, fo get th's cross I will s'arfc with the largest, best Cotswold ewes that I could raise or buy, and would stay with them all the time, but in about <_ years, or five at most, they will run down. To counteract this tendency to run down and take scours and rot, and all other ails that this open-wool breed is liable to take, on acoount of our severe winters, I just throw in one-fourth Southdown bide on these last ewes, theu cross again with Leicestor, or L' n^ o ' n - 1 know some thoroughbred gemlemen will cry out, •' this is a mongrel Im-eii." Weli. I know tha ! . I sheared lo.y lb off ray yearlings, and sold a l'o^ that .weighe.l 135 lb. In a month afier shearin _: lime my ewes will weigh from 1801 bs to 2)0! b, an.l are always fat witli a Inlt-chance. They live leng and hivoil well I havo some that raised lambs at \$ years old, an.. l I have Sold the lambs at 10 dollars,