Extension Bulletin No. 184
May, 1932
SHEEP CLUB MANUAL
Clair Gilbert of Steuben  County  and his  flock of Shropshire sheep.    This flock has
wen for Clair a national  reputation  in  breeding, producing, and exhibiting.
There are three methods of establishing a farm flock of
sheep: (1) Purchase a few ewe lambs after they are weaned
from their mothers and grow them into breeding ewes. When
15 to 18 months of age and they weigh 120 or more pounds
they are usually mature enough to breed for producing lambs.
(2) Select and purchase a small number of healthy mature
ewes from one to four years of age which may be used in
producing lambs. The size of the flock may be gradually increased by keeping the best ewe lambs produced each year.
(3) Another method of establishing a farm flock is to purchase outright the number of ewes to be maintained on the
farm. Thus, an individual may buy 10, 20, 40, 60, or even
100 ewes. They may be uniform in type, age, and thrift or
they may be of all types, all ages and varying in thriftiness.
For the beginner this method of establishing a farm flock
may be expensive and discouraging because management, production, and disease problems may arise which the owner cannot solve.
Purdue University, Department of Agricultural Extension
J.  H.  Skinner, Director, Lafayette, Ind.
Co-operative Agricultural Extension Work, Acts of May 8 and June 30,  1914