Show DISCUSSES TIME FOH SHEEP three year yea ro old ewes furnished heaviest fleeces government man says wool growers are accustomed to think that yearlings yearnings year lings shear the heaviest fleeces of any age group recent tc tests ats made by D A spencer in charge of the sheep and wool investigations united states department of agriculture do not bear out this popular belief averaging the weight of the fleeces of 1486 Ram rambouillet boullet sheep rang ranging ing in ages from 1 to 7 years old he be found that the 3 year old ewes sheared the heaviest fleeces of clean wool produced by any group their average being 13 per cent greater than the average for the entire group the fleeces from 7 years old or older averaged 15 per cent below the average and were the lightest fleeces produced by any group the yearl ings fleeces fleece 3 were nvere nearly 8 per cent below belon the average and with the inception exception of the 7 year old group they were the lightest in spite of the fact that they had grown for about 13 or 14 months while all the fleeces from ewes older than yearlings yearnings year lings had grown exactly one year on the whole the data shows that the trend is up from yearlings yearnings year lings to 3 year olds and down from 3 year olds to 7 year olds the fleeces were biown under practical range conditions at the united states sheep experiment station dubois idaho |