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LIVE STOCK HANDBOOKS.

Edited by James Sinclair, Editor of the *' Live Stock Journal^
'^^Agricultural Gazette,'' Sk.

No. I.

SHEEP.

BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

JOHN WRIGHTSON, M.R.A.C. F.C.S.,

PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, DOWNTON ;
PROFESSOR OF AGRICULTURE m THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE, LONDON. IV

ILLUSTRATED.

FIFTH FJDITIOIT.

XoiiDon :

VINTON & COMPANY, Ltd.,

■9. NEW BRIDGE STREET, LUDGATE CIRCUS, E. C.

190S

CONTENTS,

PAGE

Chapter I. — The EflFects of Domestication ... ._ ... 4

Chapter II. — Long and Fine WooUed Sheep ... ... ... 10

Chapter III. — British Long-Woolled Sheep ... .». ... 17

Chapter IV. — The Border Leicester ... ... ... ... 24

Chapter V. — Cotswolds ... ... ... .►. ... 29

Chapter VI.— Middle-Woolled Sheep ... ... .„ ... 41

Chapter VII. — The Improved Hampshire Downs ... ... 53

Chapter VIII.— Other Middle Woolled Sheep ... ... ... 66

Chapter IX. — Mountain or Forest Breeds ... ... ... 81

Chapter X. — Mountain or Forest Breeds (continued) ... ... 88

Chapter XI. — Apparent Differences in Breeds ... ... ... 103

Chapter XII. — The Management of Sheep ... ... ... 109

Chapter XIII. — The Lambing Time... ... ... ... 12S

Chapter XIV. — Ordinary Treatment of Lambs ... ... ... 137

Chapter XV. — Extraordinary Treatment of Lambs ... ' ... 142

Chapter XVI.— Single and Twin Lambs ... ... ... 153

Chapter XVII. — Winter Feeding of Sheep ... ... ... 162

Chapter XVIII. — Exhibition Sheep ... ... ... ... 180

Chapter XIX. — The Future of Sheep Farming .. ... ... 185

Chapter XX. — Sheep Farming in Sutherland ... ... ... 190

Chafier XXI. — A Large Flock ... ... ... ... 195

Chapter XXII. — Diseases of Sheep ... ... ... ... 204

ILLUSTRATIONS.

pa(;e

.vierino Ram ...

. To Face \o

Leicester Ram

„ 20

Lincoln Ram ...

„ 22

Border Leicester Ewe ...

26

Cotswold Ram

30

Kent or Romney Marsh Two-Shear Ram...

33

Devon Longwooled Shearling Ram

36

Wensleydale Ram

38

Southdown Ram

47

Southdown Shearling Ewes

48

Hampshire Down Shearling Ram

56

Hampshire Down Ram Lambs ...

62

Oxford Down Shearling Ram

68

Shropshire Shearling Rams

70

Shropshire Shearling Ram

72

Suffolk Ram ...

75

Dorset Horn Ewe Lambs

76

Black-faced Ram

82

Cheviot Ram ...

88

Herdwick Ram

91

Dartmoor Two-Shear Ram

97

Welsh Ram ...

99

Lincoln Rams

105

SHEEP.

BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

PROLOGUE.

There is genuine poetry in pastoral life which it would be
sad to lose. Nevertheless, agricultural science and litera-
ture are between them rapidly taking the romance out of
it. Perhaps we should add, hard times, and the vital im-
portance of making things " pay." It is a pity to lose the
faculty of disctiming the beauty of " the dewy eve and rising
moon," or listening as " the amorous thrush concludes his
song"; or only to think of the price of mutton and of wool,
or of lambs as fore and hind quarters.

The haunt o' Spring's the primrose brae,
The Summer's joy the flocks to follow ;

How cheerie through the shortening day
Is Autumn in her weeds o' yallow t

* The sweetness of pastoral life is going. It is disappearing
under the influence of commercial enterprise, the spread of
science, and the difficulties of competition. We ourselves
are victims to utilitarianism, and must plead guilty to sharing
in the universal want of sentiment, even when "birds rejoice
in leafy bowers, and bees hum round the breathing flowers ; "
or when "within yon milk-white hawthorn bush, among her
nestlings sits the thrush." One is sometimes inclined to
wonder if steam power and chemical manures, pedigree stock
and iron fencing, weigh-bridges and milk registers, will ever
compensate us for the loss of the fresh and simple country

2 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

life of our forefathers. It is useless to repine, and perhaps
the best thing we can do is to cherish those pleasurable
feelings with which we may still view the flock spread o'er
the down, or listen to the varied tones of the sheep bell ; and
to cultivate more of personal interest and affection for our
domesticated creatures. There is no doubt that the humble
dairyman, the carter, and the shepherd, obtain more enjoy-
ment from watching and tending their charges than do their
masters ; and the pleasures of farming might be greatly
enhanced by devoting more personal attention to live stock,
and studying their habits. Love of animals may be culti-
vated, and with it comes an interest in the creatures which
surround us.

A few beans in the pocket for the horses, a few pets among
the sheep, or a handful of corn thrown to the poultry, soon
beget love on both sides, and is not thrown away, even
where profit is concerned. Interest and kindness on the part
of the master insure and promote similar interest and kindness
on the part of the servants, and help to form a good judgment
as to the merits of the animals. A judge of dogs and of
horses must be really fond of these animals, and unless a
man is fond of cattle, sheep, and even pigs, he can hardly
hope to excel, either as a manager or as a breeder of stock.
Individual characters only become apparent after long
observation, and hence we recommend the cultivation of
kindly feeling and real interest in the welfare of indivi-
dual animals, as one way at least of preventing the merely
commercial feeling from absorbing us too exclusively.

In commencing a book on sheep, we urge the importance
of real interest in the animals themselves. The shepherd,
if worthy of his position, knows his flock individually ; and
it is absolutely necessary that he should so know his sheep,
if progress is to be made. This intimate knowledge can
scarcely be expected of the master, but he should at least
sympathise with his shepherd, and maintain such an interest
in his sheep as to encourage him in his work. Frequent

PROLOGUE. 3

visits to the sheepfolds, and talks with the shepherd as to
the well-being of his charge, are in themselves interesting
and also instructive to both parties. The knowledge pos-
sessed by the shepherd is of a different sort to that of the
master, but both are equally useful, and the exchange of
ideas is mutually beneficial.

^^^si^^- v . .^mM^^iMf^

SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

CHAPTER I.
THE EFFECTS OF DOMESTICATION.

That our domesticated animals are more or less related tc
certain wild forms is evident ; but it is also true that in many
cases we are unable to trace any close resemblance between
a highly-bred domesticated specimen and its wild relations.
It is not our intention at present to dilate upon this topic,
except to indicate the fact that similar variations are to be
found wherever a wild form has been domesticated. Nay
more, a similar diversity of type, brought about by cultivation,
is to be noted in the products of our gardens, whether among
ornamental flowers and shrubs, useful vegetables, or fruits.
Varieties are endless, and in many cases can be traced to
changes in one normal or aboriginal type. Roses, dahlias,
pansies, and begonias among flowers ; cabbages, broccolis,
cauliflowers, and potatoes among familiar vegetables ; apples,
pears, and peaches among fruits ; each appears to have been
originally descended and improved from more or less un-
promising prototypes. Taking a similar general view of our
live stock and domestic pets, we see many different descrip-
tions of dogs, cats, and pigeons, or even of mice or rats, when
bred in confinement. Wherever, indeed, the hand of man
has been laid upon an animal or a vegetable we witness a
strange metamorphosis, not only in the form of varieties
already in existence, but in the easy formation of new ones.
This liability to vary when animals are domesticated, or
plants cultivated, is an accepted fact by all naturalists and
all breeders of fancy stock, and in its light it is not difficult

THE EFFECTS OF DOMESTICATION. 5

to imagine that all our breeds of sheep may have been
descended from one wild form. That this has actually been
the case cannot be asserted, and in fact is scarcely likely to
be true. Wild species of all animals vary with the con-
ditions of climate and food under which they live. The
original native sheep of England, if such there was, would
probably be slightly different from the wild sheep of the
Continent of Europe or of Asia, or even from the original
sheep of northern and of southern Europe.

Whether our sheep were originally brought from Asia in
the train of conquering armies, as was no doubt the case with
the ancestors of man)- of our domesticated animals, may be
considered an open question, excepting that we can hardly
imagine that they were absent from those vast migrations of
the human family. They, however, existed in Europe in the
Stone period, although in less number than goats. The pro-
bability is that domesticated sheep originated through the
domestication of several races in many parts of the world,
the peculiarities and valuable properties of each having been
developed by selection, until a more or less perfect type was
obtained.

It is one of the peculiarities induced by domestication that
animals, although descended from different stocks, which in
the wild state would not have mated together, breed freely,
and produce fertile offspring. Such is the case between the
sits scrofa, or European pig, and the specifically distinct stis
indica, or Chinese hog. Also between the buffalo and bison,
and ordinary cattle. It has also been shown to have been
the case between the different species of oxen from which our
European cattle are now usually supposed to be descended.

The crossing of species ot sheep originally distinct has no
doubt still further increased the number of our recognised
breeds.

Lastly, there is the continued breeding of animals by men
who have had a particular object and type of animal in view.
The cattle possessed by the different tribes of Cafires of

6 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

Southern Africa have been observed to differ from one another^
as is shown by the facility with which the natives discrimi-
nate them. In our own country the Booth and Bates
tribes among Shorthorns, the varieties of Devon cattle, and
(although now merged in a common type) the Wilts and
Hants sheep, are evidence that when animals of even the
same race are bred for a long period in different hands, the
original type alters considerably.

We have now indicated the means by which the numerous
breeds, not only of sheep but of other domestic animals, have
been produced, and we turn to the important topic of the

VARIOUS BREEDS OF SHEEP.

Before describing the breeds seriatim, it will be useful to
take a general survey of the fleecy inhabitants of these islands.
Commencing with the far north, we find the hills of the High-
lands and islands of Scotland tenanted by Black-faced sheep,
where these have not given way to the more majestic deni-
zens of deer forests. The Black-faced sheep flourish wherever
heather grows, and their picturesque appearance agrees well
with the land of the mountain and the flood. The lower slopes
of the hills are tenanted by Cheviots, and these two races
share the greater part of Scotland between them. In the
Lowlands we find Cheviots, Border Leicesters, and crosses of
Cheviot and Leicester occupying most of the arable farms.
In the arable portions of Cumberland and Northumberland
a similar description of sheep is kept, the ewe flocks being
generally half or three parts Leicester put to Leicester tups,
the remaining blood being Cheviot. On the hills of Cumber-
land and Westmoreland the hardy little Herdwick is the
favourite ; while on the extensive moors stretching from the
Cheviots to Allen Heads, and onwards through South North-
umberland, Durham, Y^arkshire, and to the Peak district of
Derbyshire, the Black-raced breed again predominates. The
hills of West Yorkshire and East Lancashire are tenanted by

THE EFFECTS OF DOMESTICATION. 7

the Limestone or Crag sheep, while the mossy valleys carry
the damp-endtiring Lonks, with their black and white faces
and superior wool. The poor arable lands of Durham and
North Yorkshire are stocked with " mules," the progeny of
Black-faced ewes and Leicester rams. Throughout East
Yorkshire, Notts, Huntingdon, Rutland, Northampton, South
Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and parts of Lincolnshire, the
Leicester sheep is still the favourite. The Lincoln sheep is
found in the greatest perfection in the southern portions of
their county. There are many also in the northern part of
Cambridgeshire. In the Western Midlands, including Shrop-
shire, Staffordshire, Warv/ickshire, parts of Cheshire, and
Worcestershire, the famous Shropshire sheep has achieved a
prominent position ; while in portions of Herefordshire,
Alonmouth, Gloucestershire, and parts of Oxfordshire and
Somersetshire, the Cotswold sheep reigns. In Oxfordshire,
Berks, Bedford, Bucks, and Herts, the improved Oxford
Down is the characteristic sheep. In Wiltshire and Hamp-
shire, the Hampshire Down predominates. In Sussex, Kent,
and Surrey, we find the natural home of the Southdown,
but in the southern parts of Kent, the rich pastures of Romney
Marsh and the adjoining uplands support a long-woolled race
of their own. In Suffolk and Essex, the Suffolk Down
sheep has recently reasserted its claim to be recognised as
a separate and excellent race. On the extreme south coast
of Hampshire, and in the county of Dorset, the white-faced
Dorsets or " horns " prevail, while in Devon the Devon Long
Wool breed is much esteemed. On the hills and moors of the
same county are to be found the hardy Exmoor and Okehamp-
ton forest breeds. In the Principality many of the already
named races have found a footing on the lowlands, while the
mountains are inhabited by Scotch Black-faces and Welsh
sheep of small size, but boasting exceptionally good mutton.
The above sketch of localities of the various breeds must
not be understood as more than general. In every county are
to be found flocks of Shropshires, Oxfords, Hampshires, Cots-

8 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

wolds, or Southdowns, but the general stocking of farms will
be found to be upon the lines indicated.

DISTRIBUTION OF SHEKP.

Taking the United Kingdom as a whole we find that the
general distribution of sheep is represented at about 600 sheep
per 1,000 acres of agricultural land, associated with 214 cattle
of all ages, 40 horses, and 80 pigs upon the same area.

The relative sheep populations of the various portions of
the United Kingdom are shown as follows : —

England maintains 632 sheep per 1,000 acres.
Scotland ,, 1,380 ,, „ ,,

Wales „ 964 „ „ ,,

Ireland „ 241 ,, „ „

We see, then, that Caledonia is the land for sheep and shep-
herds, and of the delights of arcadian and pastoral life. Next
to her comes " gallant little Wales," while England is evi-
dently more conspicuously divided between sheep, cattle and
corn-growing.

The following are the principal English sheep-breeding
counties according to the most recent agricultural returns : —

Total Number
County, 1 otal area. of Sheep.

Lincoln 1,767,962 ... .,. 1,206,684

Northumberland 1,290,312

Kent 1,004,984

Devonshire 1,655,161

Wilts .^ ... ... 859,303

Dorset ... 627,265

9'4.973
806,566
^' ;?,44l
026,132
426,254

Although Scotland possesses so many sheep, the difference
in fertility between that country and of England is readily
seen upon examining statistics as to the number of sheep
maintained. Thus we find, on glancing at the most recent
agricultural statistics of Great Britain, the following figures
representing the number of sheep in various Scotch
counties: —

THE EFFECTS OF DOMES riCATION.

Total Number

I'otal Area.

of Sheep.

1,258,510

165,023

2,092,458

972,737

2,708,237 ...

616,285

1,656,082

694,647

1.347.033 •••

196,871

County.
Aberdeen
Argyll
Inverness
Perth...
Sutherland

If we contrast Northumberland with Aberdeenshire, Lincoln
with Perth, Kent with Sutherlandshire, we shall at once see
the immense difference in productive power between the
fertile English soil and the barren uplands of the North of
Scotland.

Still, as already shown, Scotland is far ahead of England
as a sheep-breeding country, and this conclusion is not
falsified by the few instances just given in which the moun-
tains of Aberdeen, Perth, and Sutherland are contrasted with
the richer soils of Northumberland, Lincoln, and Kent.

lO SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

CHAPTER II.
LONG AND FINE WOOLLED SHEEP.

All sheep may be spoken of as long, middle, or short-
woolled. The classification has more merit than at first ap-
pears, because with the length of the fleece are associated other
peculiarities which help to form distinct classes. Thus in
this country the short-woolled sheep include the Down breeds,
with their brown faces, high quality of mutton, and active
natures. The long-woolled breeds, on the other hand, are
white-faced, somewhat coarse in flesh, and more indolent in
their habits.

MERINO SHEEP.

Although we properly divide our flocks into long and short
woolled races, we are in England destitute of a truly short or
fine woolled breed. If we want to see short and fine wool
to perfection we must seek it among the Merino flocks of
Southern Europe, or our own colonies of Australia and New
Zealand. The early home of Merino sheep appears to have
been Spain,* from whence they were imported into France,
England, Hungary, and Germany. The moist climate of
Britain was, however, unfavourable for the growth of the

• Professor Low says that the sheep of Spain were introduced at various
periods : first, from Asia by the early Phoenician Colonies ; second, from Africa
by the Carthaginians ; third, from. Italy by the Romans ; and fourth, from
Africa, by the Moors, during nearly eight centuries of occupation. The most
important of these latter races is the Merino, now the most esteemed and
widely diffused of all the fine woolled breeds of Europe.

LONG AND FINE WOOLLED SHEEP. II

finest wools, and hence the Merino has never been success-
fully propagated with us. It was soon found that the dry
climates of Australasia were eminently adapted for the pro-
duction of fine wool, and hence the vast flocks of Australia
and New Zealand are composed of Merino and Merino crosses,
and the wool which reaches us from these colonies is all of
the finest description.

The IMerino is eminently a wool sheep, as distinct from a
mutton sheep. For feeding purposes it is inferior ; and as
the production of the finest wool is best attamed by feeding
on rye straw and a spare diet, it is evident that where fine
wool is the object, heavy feeding is at a discount. Since the
frozen mutton trade has attained its recent proportions, in-
creased attention has been given to the carcases of sheep in
the leading sheep-farming colonies, and the Merino has been
largely crossed with Lincolns, Shropshires, Leicesters, and
Southdowns, with the effect of greatly improving the value of
the animals, although at a sacrifice of the quality of the wool.
The bulk of the wool, however, imported from Australia is
decidedly of the Merino type.

English farmers have but little idea of the importance
attached to the quality of wool by Merino breeders. The
dividing of a flock according to the varying qualities of the
wool is not attempted by the breeder of Austro-Hungary,
but is committed to competent experts, who visit the stations
at the proper time of year (April), and carefully examine and
place the animals in classes. Rams are selected chiefly for
their wool, and the care and amount of discussion over
this product would surprise some of our sheep breeders.

Merino sheep have been divided into Rambouillet, Negretti
and Electoral. Respecting this classification, the " Weiner
Landwirthschaftlicher Zeitung," when reporting upon the
Vienna Exhibition of 1873, said: "We found the names were
often wrongly applied. We could only discern two principles
or ideas — the production of clothing wool and combing wool.
The difference between Electoral and Negretti which existed
fifty years ago is lost."

12 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

The Rambouillet Merino is of French origin. The charac-
ter of the wool is fine, but much longer than the Negretti
type, and the weight yielded per head is much heavier. The
skin of the Rambouillet is also free from those characteristic
wrinkles which are a feature in the Spanish Merino.

The selection of ewes and rams for the proper preservation
of the quality of the wool has been already alluded to. All
extensive flocks are divided into sections differing from each
other in the quality of their fleeces. A large flock is divided
as follows: — (i) Prima, (2) super-prima, (3) elector, (4) super-
elector, (5) super-super-elector, and in some cases a still
higher grade entitled " super-super-super-elector." The term
secunda is also employed to indicate a grade inferior to the
prima, making in all seven degrees of fineness. The skill of
the classifier is shown in his recognition of the following
points : — Strength, or what is usually spoken of as kraft,
indicated by the amount of grease in the wool. The fat
exists in three forms, soft or liquid, middle fat, and broken
stiff fat, and in each case the colour may be yellow or white.
2. The wool should be equally fine over the whole body. A
coarser quality may be expected on the rump and tops of the
shoulders, and a weaker quality under the belly. 3. Curl, or
the minute crinkles or waves in the wool fibre which give
elasticity to the fleece. Both a long hair-like fibre, as at B
(see page 13), and a too abrupt curl in which the waves are
reduplicated or curl back upon themselves, as at C, are to be
avwded. The best form of curl is a uniform crinkle, as at A.
4. Thickness of wool upon the skin. A Merino will carry
40,000 to 48,000 wool fibres upon a square inch of skin.
The wool-bearing surface is also considerably increased in
the Spanish Merinos by the folds of skin on the neck and
over the rump. 5. The closure of the wool at the surface is
very important, as an open fleece lets in dirt and foreign
bodies, whereas a well-closed fleece presents the appearance
of a continuous surface. 6. The wool must grow over the
entire body down to the claws, and wool fibres are often seen

LONG AND FINE WOOLLED SHEEP.

13

growing out of the bottom of the hoofs. The head, down to
the nose and over the ears, must all be completely covered
with wool. 7. The length of the wool varies from one to four
finger breadths, but is longer in the Rambouillet type.
8. The last point is the stature and carcase points of the
sheep. Under this heading the sheep may be described as
of fair size, deriving his distinguishing characters from his
head, horns, fleece, and general contour. The head is very
handsome with bent or Roman profile, and is decorated with
horns in both sexes. The head and short round ears are

well covered with wool. The horns are open and wide
between, well turned, and marked with fine transverse
wrinkles. The nose is often pink, but a darker colour is
preferred. The neck is short, but full, and gains character
from the heavy folds (falken) of skin which adorn both males
and females. The shoulders are very broad over the tops,
but in some examples the withers are too high and pointed.
The body is long, the ribs deep and well sprung, and the
hindquarters are apt to droop. The legs are short and the
hocks incline to be narrow or cat-hammed. There are also

14 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

folds of skin gathered together over the tail, gix-ing the
puckered appearance known as the " rose." The general
appearance of Merino sheep must strike an English sheep-
breeder as quaint. The white face, pink nose, and light-
coloured horns, the skin hanging in folds about the neck and
rump, and the almost black outer surface of the fleece — all
combine to produce a striking effect. The blackness of the
fleece is, however, onty at the surface, for on catching the
animal and opening his wool with the thumb and two first
fingers of each hand, it may be parted down to the skin as a
funnel-like or lily-shaped orifice, showing wool of silk-like
fineness, coloured with orange zones shading into pale yellow,
produced by the fat or yolk of the wool. This very pretty
appearance of the parted fleece effected neatly by an experi-
enced hand is called the "blumen" or flower in Austro-
Hungary. It may also be compared in shape to an old-
fashioned wine-glass, the rim being at the surface of the
fleece.

The greatest care is taken in the management of IMerino
flocks, not only to obtain but to preserve the wool in perfect
condition. The sheep are constantly tended by shepherds,
and are brought into stables every night, or whenever it rains.
It is no uncommon thing to see the shepherd running towards
the sheep sheds followed at a gallop by all his flock on the
approach of a heavy shower. This close attention causes
Merino sheep to feed in mobs, shoulder to shoulder. The
peculiar dark colour of the extremities of the fleece is owing
to dust and dung adhering to the greasy wool, which forms
the almost continuous coating already mentioned.

The following measurements of specimens of IMerino wool
now lying before me, obtained from sheep at the Vienna
Exhibition in 1873, will give a correct idea as to its general
character : —

I. Rambouillet ewe wool, bred by C. H. Kayser, Haubitz,
Grimma, Saxony, 2^ in. long, very dense and firm in fibre,
resembling pale yellow silk.

LONG AND FINE WOOLLED SHEEP. I5

7, Rambouillet ram •wool 2i in. long and of similar appear-
ance to the above.

3. Rambouillet ram wool, 2f in. long, eleven months old,
bred by F. Schwartz, Lappenhagan, Hohenfelde, Pomerania,
Prussia.

4. Rambouillet ram wool, three years old, 2| in. long, bred
by C. H. Kayser, of Haubitz, Grimma, Saxony.

5. Cotswold-merino wool, 3 in. long, less dense and coarser,
exhibited by the Keltschau Sugar Company, Moravia.

6. Prussian Rambouillet wool, 3 in. long and very fine, two
years old, bred by H. Kannenberg, Gerbin Kosternitz, Prussia.

7. Fine Hungarian ^Merino, i to i^ in. long, from a three-
year-old-sheep, bred by Count Alois Karolyi, Stampfen, Him-
gary. This wool is very fine and full of fat.

8. Hungarian Electoral-Xegretti, i to i-i in. long, bred by
the Countess Laura Henckle, of Karlsbad, Sarndorf.

g. Ditto, ditto, from |- to i in. long.

10. Cotswold-Negretti, bred by Count Frees, of Czerna-
hora, 3 to 3^ in. long and very hollow.

Specimens of Australian ^Merino also before me show a less
perfect closure of the fleece, less fat or grease, and a con-
siderably greater length of fibre.

1. An interesting sample of wool taken from a six-tooth
ewe which had missed shearing one year measures nine inches
long \v-ithout stretching, and v.'hen stretched twelve inches.
The fibre is perfect throughout, and, therefore, disproves the
assertion so often made, and stated as a fact by Professor
Low, that sheep in a state of nature cast their fleeces every
year.

2. A sample of hogget wool 6k in. long, and of fine fibre,
resembling spun silk.

3. A sample of four-tooth wether wool 4 in. long, of nice
quality, but wanting in the characteristic solidity of the
Saxony wool.

4. Various samples of AustraHan Merino wool, about 4
in. long, and of fine appearance, but not so dense in the pile
as the Saxony Rambouillet, nor yet so full of fat.

i6

SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

The contrast between these fine clothing wools and our
home wools is most striking. The fibre of a Lincoln, Cots-
wold, or even a Southdown is coarse and thick beside the
Merino. There is in our long wools an absence of curl or
crinkle, the fibre resembling hair rather than real fine wool.
It is loose, lashy and long, whereas the Merino is compact
(solid), springy, and short. Lincoln or Cotswold wool lo
in. long will not stretch, whereas Merino wool of 4 in. will
readily stretch to 5 in., and in one case above cited Merino
wool of two years' growth measured 9 in., and when stretched
12 in. These are the carding wools from which dress cloth is
made, and it is different in its properties from the long wools,
which, as well as our native short wools, are subjected to
combing, and destined for the manufacture of worsted yarns.

BRITISH LONG-WOOLLED SHEEP. I7

CHAPTER in.
BRITISH LONG-WOOLLED SHEEP.

LEICESTERS.

The Long-woolled races of sheep are essentially English
in origin. They are represented by the Lincoln, Kent,
Cotswold, Leicester and Devon Long - wool breeds, but
especially by the three first-named races. The position of
the Leicester breed is particularly interesting, not so much
on account of the length of its wool, which indeed is short
in comparison with that of the other long-woolled sheep, as
becausj of its historical connection with the improvement
of all the other long-woolled varieties of sheep. The
premier place is by common consent awarded to the
Leicester on account of its having been the first breed upon
which the skill of the breeder was applied.

The Leicester sheep appears to have inhabited Leicester-
shire and the neighbouring counties for a long period before
it was subjected to improvement. Markham, whose twelfth
edition of " Cheap and Good Husbandry " bears the date of
1668, writing of the sheep of the Midlands, says, " The sheep
of Worcestershire, which joineth on Warwickshire, and many
parts of Warwickshire, all Leicestershire, Buckinghamshire,
and part of Northamptonshire ; and that part of Nottingham-
shire which is exempt from the forest of Sherwood, beareth
a large-boned sheep, of the best shape, and deepest staple ;
chiefly they be pasture sheep, yet is their wool coarser than
that of Cotsai " (Cotswold).

Professor Low also says : " There is no reason, therefore,

iS SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

to assume from any of the characters presented by the wool
of the new Leicester breed that the parent stock was any
other than the Long-woolled sheep of the Midland Counties."

It was thus the ordinary sheep of his district that Bakewell
used in bringing out his New Leicesters or Dishley breed
apparently without having recourse to crossing, but by a
confident reliance upon selection only. Bakewell's success
was due to a firm faith in the power of animals to transmit
their good qualities to their progeny, and a steadfast ad-
herence to the type which he wished to produce. With him
beauty of form, utility of form, early maturity, and good
fattening properties were the main points to be secured, and
he was apparently careless as to wool. He was a positive,
secretive, and self-reliant man, and left very little record of
his proceedings.

That Bakewell deserves to be considered a genius there
can be no doubt, and few inventors have merited higher
praise than he, or have added more to the greatness and
prosperity of their country. The man who led the way to
the improvement of all our breeds of live stock, and showed
how in a few years the animal form might be modified, and
improved incalculably beyond anything which had previously
existed, surely deserves a national monument, and yet how
little recognition has he received ! The name of Bakewell is
rarely mentioned among those worthies who have made Eng-
land. It is not seen inscribed on the cornices of public halls,
and his bust is missing in the corridors of the national pan-
theon. Novelists, dramatists and painters, soldiers, engineers,
and scientists may have their names recorded on the walls of
fame, but Bakewell, the apostle of the art of improving the
domestic animals of the world, is passed by unnoticed, and
doomed to lie forgotten in his grave without a mark by which
Uiose who participate, as all do, in his grand work may
know to whom they owe so much. It is not out of place to
call attention to this omission, and we cannot but think that
the suggestion should receive attention, seeing that agriculture

LEICESTERS. I9

has now been raised to a position of greater eminence by the
formation of an Agricultural Department of the State. The
master-mind from whom CuUey and Charles Colling derived
their inspiration should not be lost sight of or allowed to be
forgotten, for if the torch and fire of genius are to be claimed
or accredited to any it is to the poineers of a new and great
movement like this. A monument to Bakewell, flanked with
effigies of the horses, cattle, and sheep which he ennobled,
and adorned with a fitting inscription, would be as dignified
in its silent teaching as that of a Stephenson, a Watt, or a
Cartwright ; and no place would be more suitable for its site
than the metropolis of the country which he so well and un-
consciously served. He was no seeker of or candidate for
future fame, but as a farmer he worked without ostentation,
until his influence spread itself over every civilised country oi
the globe.

Robert Bakewell, of Dishley, Loughborough, commenced
the improvement of his county breed of sheep in or about
1755. The merit of his work consisted in his practically
realising the fact that the properties of parents may be trans-
mitted to their offspring until fixity of type is the result ; also
in his innate power of discerning by an animal's external form
and "quality" that it possessed the properties he desired to
perpetuate. He was able to discriminate between size and
quality. He discerned the correlation between the kind of
symmetry which he desired to see and aptitude to fatten —
that is utility of form — and in this he evinced genius.

The result of Bakewell's work was the formation of an im-
proved sheep somewhat less than the original type, but more
symmetrical, thicker, deeper, and possessed of greater fatten-
ing properties as well as earlier maturity. Unfortunately the
wool was neglected. His success as a sheep breeder is best
indicated by the appreciation in which his animals were held.
From a few shillings a head (it is stated that his first rams
offered for letting only made 17s. 6d. each) the price rose to
100 gs., and in 1786 he made 1,000 gs. by the letting of his

20 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

Stock. In 1789 he made 1,200 gs. by the letting of three
rams and 2,000 gs. for seven; and in the same year he made
3,000 gs. in addition, by letting the remainder of the rams to
the Dishley Society, then instituted. These facts must
appear extraordinary to anyone who reflects upon the greater
value of money one hundred years ago than now, and the
much less general appreciation at that time of the advantages
of well-bred stock. Then there were no foreign buyers to
stimulate biddings, nor princes and millionaires competing for
favourite strains.

The Improved Leicester.

The Leicester sheep as bequeathed to us by Bakewell may
be described as a white-faced, hornless race, covered with a
fleece measuring about seven or eight inches in length, of
somewhat lashy wool, but terminated with a short twisted
curl. Describing its points briefly we find the following : — •
Lips and nostrils black, nose slightly narrow and Roman,
but the general form of the face wedge-shaped, and covered
with short white hairs ; forehead covered with wool, although
this is not always the case ; no vestige of horns; ears
thin, long and mobile ; a black speck on face and ears
not uncommon ; a good eye ; neck short, and level with
back, thick and tapering from skull to shoulders and bosom ;
breast deep, wide and prominent ; shoulders somewhat up-
right and wide over the tops ; great thickness from blade to
blade or " through the heart " ; well filled up behind the
shoulders, giving a great girth ; well sprung ribs, wide loins,
level hips, straight and long quarters, tail well set on, good
legs of mutton, round barrel, great depth of carcase, fine
bone, a fine curly fleece free from black hairs, well-covered
back and loins, firm flesh, springy pelt, pink skin. The
general form of the carcase square or rectangular ; legs well
set on, straight hocks, good pasterns, neat feet.

The Leicester is best fattened when from twelve to fifteen

IMPROVED LINCOLN SHEEP. 21

months old, and the carcase then weighs about 80 to 100 lbs.
There is an idea prevalent with some that the day of the
Leicester is gone by. Pure-bred Leicesters are liable to lay
on fat very thickly, and the demand for fat mutton has ceased,
so that in this respect these sheep are somewhat at a disad-
vantage when compared with Downs. The great value of
the breed lies in its excellent effects when used for crossing
purposes, and it is premature to state that the Leicester is
"played out." Good stock, although general, is by no means
universal, and, besides, the Leicester cross produces won-
derful carcases. What, for example, can excel the South-
down or Hampshire Down and Leicester cross ? Again,
w4iat can be better for certain situations than the cross
between Leicesters and Cheviots, or Leicesters and Black-
faces. Going further afield, the Leicester- Merino is an
improvement upon the Merino, as it produces a butcher's
sheep, as well as a mere wool-carrier.

There is scarcely a breed which has not felt the influence
of the Leicester. No race has been so largely employed as a
means of improvement, and Southdowns, Cotswolds, Lin-
colns, Shropshires, Hampshire Downs, and probably every
sort of sheep, directly or indirectly has benefited by it.

Improved Lincoln Sheep.

In general form the Lincoln resembles the Leicester. An
ordinary observer at a show might find it necessary to con-
sult his catalogue to see where the Leicesters ended and the
Lincolns commenced, but the differences are considerable,
notwithstanding. Thus, in size, the Lincoln is greatly
superior, and he may be credited with being the heaviest
sheep of the British Isles, having been known to attain a
weight of 90 lbs. per quarter. The flesh is firmer than
that of the Leicester when tested by laying the hand upon
the back. The wool is extraordinarily long, samples in my
possession having been proved by measurement to be 21

22 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

inches in length, while the weight of a ram's fleece may touch
30 lb. The wool is very bright and lustrous when shorn,
giving the name of lustre wool, a character which disappears
when the sheep are bred away from their native county.
The massing of the wool in flakes or strands upon the animal
is characteristic of the breed, but the fibre is hair-like and
" lashy " if separated and compared with the fibre of Merino
wool. The history of the improved Lincoln sheep is very
interesting. In order to understand it we must go back a
hundred years to the controversy which then enlivened
agricultural literature as to the respective merits of the old
and the new Lincoln.

As already hinted the Leicester was the agent employed in
the new departure and keen were the discussions and many
the displays of temper before the momentous question was
settled in favour of the new type.

As no one connected with agriculture has been more
spoken of lately than ]^.Ir. Chaplin, it is interesting to find
a Mr. Chaplin of those days in hot dispute with Bakewell
in 1788, because the great Leicester breeder had dared to
step in and have a look, unbidden, at Mr. Chaplin's rams.
Mr. Chaplin wrote as follows : " After my refusal on the 21st
inst. to let you see my sheep before they were collected and
sorted at home, I did not expect to hear of your meanly
sneaking into my pastures at Wrangle (most appropriate
name) on the 24th, with two other people, driving my sheep
into the fold and examining them." To which the great
Bakewell rejoined : " We asked a young man if you had any
rams there ; he informed us you had. ' Where are they ? '
' In the close next the house.' * May we see them ? ' ' Yes.'
' Who would show them ? ' 'I will.' From which we sup-
posed he had frequently shown them to others. We then
alighted and went into the close ; he opened the pen gate
and we assisted him in driving them in, about fourteen in
number." We have introduced this short extract from a
rather angry correspondence as a little piece of human nature

IMPROVED LINCOLN SHEEP.

23

not without interest. It is life-like, and so similar to what
happens even now when rival breeders take a sly peep at
each other's proceedings as to be also instructive. Not quite
dignified, perhaps, but truly showing that " one touch of
nature makes the world akin."

The new or improved Lincoln is the product of Leicester
crosses upon the old Lincoln. He is truly a magnificent
creature of true long-v/oolled character, requiring rich pas-
tures and plenty of space. The farmers of Lincolnshire
are justly proud of their breed, and we see that Mr. Rew
speaks of them as " this famous old breed," showing that
the controversy of the closing years of the last century is
forgotten. As a mutton sheep he is inferior to the Down
breeds so far as quality is concerned, but for exportation for
crossing purposes no class of sheep is in greater demand, and
very high prices are paid for good specimens.

LINCOLN RAMS.

24 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MAJ^AGEMENT.

CHAPTER IV.
THE BORDER LEICESTER.

The Border Leicester sheep is full of interest to north-
country farmers. Not only has it achieved an independent
position as a breed, but it has out-rivalled in its distribution,
as well as in its value, the original Dishley stock from whicli
it is descended. It is not too much to say that the Border
Leicester is the mainstay of Border counties' farming. It is
constantly crossed both with Cheviots and Blackfaces for the
purpose of breeding wether lambs, and it is also well main-
tained as pure-bred stock over many large districts, while its
improvement has been, and is, carried on with great enthu-
siasm and judgment.

At the Windsor Show the Border Leicester breeders
appeared in equal force with the Leicester men — seven to
seven — and those who stopped to converse with the shep-
herds and masters of the Scotch contingent must have been
struck with their keen appreciation of points and their love
of the race which they tend. Up to i86g, the year of the
Manchester meeting, all Leicesters, whether belonging to the
Midlands or to beyond the Tweed, competed in the same
class — an arrangement which was found to be unfair, and
since then they have been ranged under different banners.
The great importance of the breed cannot be shown better
than by the fact that at the annual Kelso sales upwards of
2,000 rams are disposed of, a muster which the Midland
breeders would find it difficult to surpass.

History is always interesting, especially when it reveals the

THE BORDER LEICESTnK,

25

habits and the thoughts of earher generations. Once more
we must glance back into the last century, to the times of
Bakewell. At that period the way for improved cattle and
sheep was being prepared by the introduction of drill
husbandry. Bakewell drilled his turnips, and Dawson, who
was in service at Dishley, learnt the new system and carried
it down to Frogden in 1763. The same year George Culley
visited Dishley, his brother Matthew having found his way
there the previous year, and an intimate friendship sprang
up between Bakewell and George. The connection be-
tween the county of Durham and Leicestershire at that
time had most important bearings upon the whole future of
live stock. The brothers Colling were about to commence
the improvement of the Shorthorn race, and it is said that
Charles was a visitor at Dishley, where the Longhorns were
in full force.

The Culleys were settled at Denton, which was within a
short distance of Barmpton and Ketton, and the Culleys and
Collings must often have met at Darlington market, or in the
King's Head. At that time the Teeswater breed was in high
favour as a long-w^oolled sheep, and the Culleys brought
Leicester rams from Dishley, and continued crossing with
the Teeswaters until they established a flock of Leicesters.
In 1767 the Culleys took Fenton, near Wooler, and after-
wards Wark and other farms until they paid rentals up to
;^6,ooo a year. There, they were on intimate terms with the
Greys of Millfield, and I have often heard the late John Grey
of Dilston, who was born about 1784, speak with great ad-
miration of them. The Culleys' stock are looked upon as
the original strain from which the Border Leicesters were
derived. Their rams were hired by breeders both on the
English and Scotch sides, among whom were Messrs.
Robertson of Ladykirk ; Thomson of Bogend ; Thomson of
Chillingham Barns; and many other noted men. It is in-
teresting to find that the excellent sheep still held by Mr.
James Thomson (the laird of Mongoswalls), and grandson of

26 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

the tenant of Bogend, are the direct descendants of the
Bogend flock. I can speak from personal knowledge of the
excellence of this old-established flock, which, being con-
tinued in the same family for upwards of a hundred years,
forms the best link between our time and the period of the
Culleys, in the history of the Border Leicester breed. The
Culleys retired in 1806, and the dispersion of their flock
became, through the flock of Compton of Learmouth, the
progenitors of Lord Polwarth's Mertoun flock, now awarded
the place of highest honour among the entire breed. This
famous stock was, it is said, begun at an even earlier date
by Mr. Scott, the then proprietor of Harden and Mertoun,
by purchases from Culley's noted flock, so that Mr. Scotfs
sheep were spoken of as " not inferior to the sheep of Mr.
Bakewell." Mr. David Archibald, of Awa Moa, Octogon,
New Zealand, who has traced the history of Border Leicester
sheep with commendable pains, says that according to this
account the Mertoun flock was contemporary with the Dish-
ley and Wark flocks. Lord Polwarth, however, claims the
more modest antiquity of 1802 when he states that the
Mertoun flock was started by his grandfather, Mr. Hugh
Scott of Harden, by purchases of ewes from Waddell of
Mousin, Burn of Millfield, and Mr. Robson, and to these he
afterwards added a number of ewes from Mr. Jobson's flock
at Chillingham, Newtoun. The early rams were hired from
the Culleys, to whom as much as 100 gs. was paid for their
use for a season. In 1888 Lord Polwarth sold twenty-eight
shearling rams at the Kelso sale for an average of ;^36 gs. 3d.,
and one for 165 gs., showing the extraordinary estimation in
which pure descent as well as high quality is held, and bearing
out the opinion, which has often been expressed, that there
is no limit to the value of high-bred stock if the correct lines
are adhered to. The average of 812 rams from twenty-one
noted flocks at the same sale was £i\ 7s. lod. each. It may
not be out of place to mention that in the same season 13S
rams of the English Leicester breed made an average of

THE BORDER LEICESTER. 27

^6 17s. each, the highest price given being £\^ los. In
1890 the average for Lord Pohvarth's rams was £^i 19s. 4d.

The differences between the Leicester and the Border
Leicester are to be chiefly seen in the head, which in the
Border Leicester is white, and boldl}' carried, the nose
sHghtly aquiline, the muzzle full, the nostrils wide, and the
ears erect. The head is clean and free from wool, as is
pretty well shown by the fact that they suffer from flies
settling on their polls in summer. The English Leicester,
unless trimmed and shaved for show, usually carries a tuft
of wool on his head, which protects it from flies, and he is
also woolled in the shanks. The English Leicester has a
bluish-white face ; w^hereas the Border Leicester's face is
clear white. In carcase the Border Leicester is the larger
and longer, and the belly is not quite so full in outline, being
carried rather more lightly. As to carcase points, these are
so similar in all sheep that they may in the present case be
omitted, especially as they have been given in detail in des-
cribing Leicester sheep.

The idea which has been expressed that Border Leicesters
were produced by crossing Cheviots and Leicesters is not
accepted by their breeders, and Mr. Archibald, who has been
already quoted, scouts it as untrue. The well-known history
of such flocks as the Mertoun, INIongos walls, Mellendean,
Bonnington, IMersington, and The Rock, are sufficient
guarantee that Dishley was the original home of both
English and Border Leicesters, and that the brothers
Culley brought out the Border Leicesters by repeated
crossings of Dishley rams upon Teeswater ewes. In North-
umberland, which is the native county of the breed,
they found patrons in the Bosanquets, at The Rock, in
the Greys, of Millfield, and, later, in the Messrs. Dinning,
the late Mr. John Atkinson, of Bywell Hall (Peepy), and
Andrew Wood, on the banks of the Tyne.

From Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire, through the countiet
of Durham, Northumberland, and into Lothian, the Border

28 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

Leicester is the important race, and the fertile lands around
and east of Carlisle also are stocked ^Yith the breed. A
favourite cross for producing a hardy and prolific ewe flock is
that of Border Leicester rams mated Avith Cheviot ewes, and
these again put to " Leicester " rams give a strong and kind
progeny, which ma}^ be brought out fat at a year old at from
sixteen to twenty pounds per quarter. Such ewes are well
adapted both for the richer lands which form the valleys,
and the fells which enclose them. They are a frugal race,
requiring but little water, and thriving upon the poorer
pastures of the mountain limestone and the millstone grit.
These sheep fatten easily without hay, and do not require so
much indulgence in the form of cake and corn as some of our
south country Down breeds. Oats and pea straw, with a
pint of home-grown oats, and plenty of white turnips is all
they require in winter, and in summer they have nothing but
grass. The fault of the " bred ewe " or pure Leicester is that
she makes herself too fat upon good land and hence the
Cheviot cross or the Cheviot twice crossed is preferred for the
outlying lands as hardier and better adapted for poorer soils.
Many holders of hill farms who also occupy farms in more
favoured districts keep two flocks, one of Leicesters, which
they breed at home, and a Cheviot or half-bred flock on the
uplands, which they work by judicious crossing. The lambs
are reared on the hill sides, and change hands at St. Boswells,
St. Ninian's, Lauder, Stagshawbank, Brough Hill, and other
great north-country fairs. They are then put on turnips or
finished. In other cases the breeder shifts them from the
higher grounds, and " turnips " them himself, thus securing
the profits of both breeder and grazier. The still higher and
more inhospitable ranges are stocked with the hardy Cheviot
or the still more frugal Black-faced or heath-breed, and thus
all the districts of that varied and picturesque part of the
Ivingdom find suitable sheep stock.

COTSWOLDS. 29

CHAPTER V.
COTSWOLDS.

This breed, contrary to the habit of most long-wooUed
sheep, has made its home on bleak uplands. Visitors to
Cheltenham, or residents in the fertile vales of Evesham,
Gloucester, or Berkeley, may raise their eyes to the rugged
outline of Cotswold, and see the hills covered with snow while
the valley is basking in sunshine. The beautiful scenery of
Warwickshire and Worcestershire is due in a great measure
to the alternation of valleys cut deepl}'- through the rocky
foundations on which these hills rest to the smoother flats of
the lias clay. Leckhampton, Quidhampton, Birdlip, Tetbury,
Cirencester, Stroud and North Leach, Slaughter and Bourton-
on-the- Water fairly indicate the area of this tableland, inter-
sected with deep ravines, which compose the Cotswold
Hills.

Cotswold sheep are among the most ancient of our
recognised breeds. The hills take their designation from
the sheep rather than the sheep from the hills. They derive
their name from cote, a sheep fold, and would, a naked hill.
On these woulds, says the translater of Camden, " they feed
in great numbers flockes of sheep, long-necked and square of
bulk and bone by reason, as is commonly thought, of the
weally and hilly situation of their pasturage, whose wool,
being more fine and soft, is held in passing great account
amongst all nations." Stowe, in his Chronicles, states that
in 1464 King Edward IV. " concluded an amnesty and league
with King Henry of Castill and King John of Aragon, at the

30 SHEEP : breeds and management.

concluding whereof he granted licence for certain Coteswold
sheep to be transported into the country of Spaine, which
have there since mightily increased and multiplied to the
Spanish profit." This and other evidence seems to point to a
fine-woolled breed more nearly resembling Merinos or Leo-
minster sheep than the modern Cotswold, which is evidently
not the sheep alluded to in these old records. Professor Low,
writing at a period now belonging to a past generation, tells
us that the Cotswold sheep of to-day had inhabited the
district " beyond the memory of the living generation," which
would take us back far into the last century. It is probable
that they are an offshoot of the Midland long-woolled sheep
which Markham speaks of as extending into Warwickshire
and Worcestershire. And yet, in the middle of the seven-
teenth century, this authority says : " The sheep upon Cotsal
Hills are of better bone, shape, and burthen, but their staple is
coarser and deeper than the Lempster (Leominster) side."
And, again, speaking of the Leicestershire sheep, he says:
" Yet is their wool coarser than that of Cotsal," showing that
the Cotswold sheep at that time were intermediate in wool
between the Ryeland, which is the Lempster breed, and the
old Midland Leicester. The short pasture of the Cotswolds
would naturally tend to produce a finer wool than the rich
grass land of Leicester and Warwickshire, and hence it is
not difficult to account for the difference in the quality of the
wool. The writer was well acquainted with some of the old
standards of thirty years ago on the Cotswolds, and has heard
them speak of their fathers going regularly into Leicestershire
to buy rams, and there is no doubt that the old type of sheep
was greatly improved by the new Leicester. The breaking
up of the downs and the cultivation of the turnip could not
fail to affect the sheep, and would tend to increase the weight
of the carcase and the length and strength of the wool. The
attention of the Cotswold men was directed to wool of a
certain class, for they have long preferred a bold and open
curl rather than the close spiral of the Leicester. The face

COTSVVOLDS. 31

of the Cotswold indicates a disposition to grey or light brown,
and the same appearance is to be noticed upon the shanks,
which may point back to crossing with the original finc-
woolled race.

All Cotswold sheep men will remember Mr Smith's (Bibury)
grey-faced Cotswolds, and that they were stated by their
owner and breeder to be pure Cotswolds, without any admix-
ture of Down blood. A few speckles of grey was not thought
to be a drawback a few years ago, whatever the present
fashion may be, and hence it is probable that the Cotswold
sheep may have originally had a light grey face.

The Hewers, Lanes, and Games have long been associated
with the improvement of the breed of their district, and at
the dispersion of ]\Ir. Hewer's famous flock at North Leach,
the foundation of more than one prize-taking flock of the
present day was laid. Whatever the origin of these sheep,
it is certain that 'for the last sixty years at least they have
been kept pure, so that the type is now fixed, and no Cots-
wold breeder need fear the imputation that his sheep are of a
mixed origin, except in the sense that all our sheep have at
some period been improved by crossing. The Cotswold
sheep may be described as big and upstanding, and of better
carriage than the Leicester or Lincoln. The late Mr. John
Algernon Clarke expressed his opinion that a Lincoln sheep
should have " no neck," by which he wished to convey the
idea of a short thick neck, quickly blending with shoulders
and bosom. The Cotswold was often described by the late
Professor Coleman, when teaching at the Royal Agricultural
College, as a sheep which could "look over a hurdle," that
is, carried his head high and well poised on a somewhat erect
neck. This is said to be accompanied with a tendency to be
" ewe-necked " and low in the rumps, or " down at both ends."
as I have heard Professor Coleman repeatedly say. He knew
the Cotswold sheep well, and was himself a Cotswold man,
so that his opinion carries weight. That these faults have
been corrected in the best flocks there can be no doubt, but it

32 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

exists in second rate-animals, and is most evident in rough
weather, when the animals are viewed at a disadvantage.

The characteristics of these sheep are as follows : — The
head is wedge-shaped, and the nose is straighter than that of
the Leicester. The face is covered with white hairs, some-
times interspersed with light grey patches or specks. The
lips are black, as is also the skin close to the eye. The ears
are long and flexible, and inclined rather upward. The fore-
head is decorated with a flowing top-knot, which is never
shorn or shortened, even when the sheep are being trimmed
for show. This forelock must be considered as one of the most
characteristic features of the race. The carcase points of all
breeds of sheep are very similar, and much of what has been
advanced with reference to Leicesters is equally applicable
to Cotswolds. As the late secretary of the Farmers' Club
pointed out, character lies in the head, and when the head is
off there is Httle difference between the various long-woolled
breeds. Thus good shoulders, and well let down legs of
mutton, ample loins and well sprung ribs, depth and square-
ness of carcase, good girth and well carried out quarters, are
formulae which well might be repeated over every breed. We
shall therefore assume that, so far as carcase is concerned,
well-made sheep should possess all these points, and content
ourselves with the consideration of those characters which
really mark the race. The skin of the Cotswold is covered
with a fleece of great length and weight, although inferior in
both points to the Lincolns. In "crack" flocks the fleeces
run three to the tod of 28 lbs. or g-^- lbs. each, and many fleeces
have been shorn weighing close upon two to the tod ; but this
must be considered as exceptional.

The wool lies on the surface of the fleece in large round
curls, and the fibre is somewhat coarse and hair-like when
examined separately, and has no wavy wrinkles such as are
seen in Shropshire or Hampshire wool. The sheep stands
straight on his legs, and carries himself nobly.

Cotswold Iambs are somewhat ragged in appearance during

THE KENTISH OR ROMNEY MARSH SHEEP. 33

their first summer, looking dry in the coat and wanting the
bloom which is seen on Down lambs. They are said to be
delicate when young, and require time to mature. But what-
ever their appearance in youth, they grow up grand and hardy,
and it is asserted by experienced farmers of the district that
no breed will so well withstand the climate or thrive so well
on what Camden's translator calls the " weally " nature of the
soil. They ought not to be run too thickly upon the land, nor
enclosed too constantly in hurdles, and if such a policy is
pursued they lose in size. The Cotswold is not adapted for
breeding fat lambs. The mutton is of second quality, like
that of most long-woolled sheep, and is pale and long in the
grain. When long wool commanded a higher price than short
wool, the position of the Cotswold sheep was stronger than at
present, as a Cotswold fleece was easily worth £\. Now the
same fleece is probably not worth more than los. For a
time the demand for Cotswold rams seemed in danger of
falling off, but during the last two or three seasons there has
been a reaction in their favour.

The Kentish or Romney Marsh Sheep.

The flat and bleak district of Romney Marsh would scarcely
at first sight, seem suitable for extensive sheep farming. And
yet there is a general resemblance between it and the exten-
sive fens of East Anglia, which once supported the famous
old Lincoln breed, and now carry its descendants, modified
by Leicester crosses. A similar and parallel change trans-
formed the large and hardy sheep of Romney Marsh into the
compact race which to-day covers the large tract stretching
from Hythe to the River Rother, and for ten miles from
Dungeness to Appledore. Over the westerly district known as
Romney Marsh proper, Walland, Denge, and South Brooks ;
from Hythe in Kent to Guildford Marsh on the north-west,
stretching well into Sussex ; we find the district known as
Romney Marsh. It is a plain of alluvial land nearly on a level

34 sheep: breeds and management.

with the sea, and protected from the tide by sea walls, pro-
bably of very ancient date, as in the time of Henry III. their
regulation and rights were spoken of as ancient and approved.
The soil is usually a deep alluvial clay interspersed with por-
tions of infertile sand or gravel, and the area is traversed by
wide ditches full of water. Romney Marsh boasts a humid
Bnd scarcely salubrious climate, and carries a sparse popula-
tion, most of whom are employed in tending the sheep, which
are maintained in greater numbers than on any equal area in
the kingdom.

I forbear to describe the ancient sheep of Romney Marsh in
the uncomplimentary language usually employed by writers on
live stock with regard to the unimproved races. One thing is
certain, they had friends in the past as well as traducers, and
it appears doubtful taste to slate a dead breed now unable to
return the compliment or stand up for its big head, narrow
chest, " flat sides," or " big belly " — all of which seem to
have been characteristic features of the older races of live
stock. The battle of the races appears to have been a stout
one, although eventually decided in favour of the modified
forms resulting from importations of new Leicester blood.
Whether the old Romney Marsh really appeared as he is
depicted by an artist following the descriptions still extant in
Culley or David Low, is exceedingly doubtful : that is, with
*' broad feet, long, stout limbs, narrow chests, flat sides, and
great bellies."

The apparently fanciful description of a Warwickshire ram,
by Marshall, is certainly grotesque, and seems to be an unfair
contrast between the past and present. " A frame large and
remarkably loose, his bone heavy, his legs long and thick,
terminating in great splaw feet, his chine, as well as his rump,
sharp as a hatchet, his skin rattling on his ribs." Such a
description would scarcely have commended itself to those
who maintained that the old breed had its advantages, and
who considered that the new type was not in all respects
better than the old.

THE KENTISH OR ROMNEY MARSH SHEEP. 35

Writing upon the Romney Marsh sheep, Professor David
Low records in his time that '* it may be doubted if there now
exists a single long-woolled sheep in the county of Kent iu
which the influence of the new Leicester blood does not appear."
And yet, some years later {1855), his successor, the late
Professor Wilson, wrote : " Attempts have been made at
various times to introduce Leicester blood into the flocks, but
they have not been altogether successful — the shape and points
of the animal have been improved, and earlier maturity and
aptitude for fattening obtained, while at the same time the size
of the sheep has been somewhat diminished, and the fleece,
though improved in staple, has been reduced in weight. It has
also been found that if the Leicester blood predominates, or
even exceeds a certain point, the natural hardihood of consti-
tution is changed, and the sheep become too tender for their
exposed pastures." This is careful writing, and no doubt a
correct criticism upon the introduction of Leicester blood.
Even the most recent of the two quotations given now belongs
to a past generation ; we see from it how the memory of the
previous crossings spoken of by Low appeared to be forgotten.
The Romney Marsh sheep is now bred with care on both
sides, and it would scarcely be fair to speak of the breed of
to-day otherwise than as a distinct variety. What Professor
Wilson spoke of in his day as the " pure " breed had white
head and legs, long and broad face, with a tuft of wool on the
forehead ; no horns ; neck long and thin ; breast narrow, with
moderate forequarters ; the body long, with flattish sides and
sharp chine ; loins wide and strong ; the belly large ; thighs
broad and thick ; and legs and feet large, with coarse bone
and muscle. They are also described as very hardy, and as
bearing closer stocking than other breeds.

This description scarcely fits the new breed, which, during
the last thirty years, has undergone great improvement in all
respects. The practice of naming sires and keeping a
pedigree of good sheep is now adopted by many breeders with
good results. Mr. Thomas Brown, of Marham, has introduced

36 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

the same system of recorded pedigrees in his flock of Cots-
wolds, and the same thing is to be noted in the Romney Marsh
flocks of Mr. Neame and of the late Mr. Thomas Finn. Care
in breeding is also evinced at Sharsted Court, where the rams
are kept apart and the ewes brought to them when in season
and mated according to points and peculiarities.

The Romney Marsh or Kentish Long-wooUed sheep of our
day is of large size, and is in this respect scarcely excelled by
any British breed excepting the Lincolns. A pen of three
ewes exhibited by Mr. Henry Rigden, of Lyminge, at a
recent Show of the Smithfield Club, weighed 8 cwt. 2 qrs.
24 lb., which was only excelled by two pens of Lincoln ewes,
which were respectively 9 cwt. i qr. 22 lb. and g cwt. 2 qrs.
14 lb. The breed is white-faced, hornless, and inclined to
be bareheaded. The wool is of long staple and great
weight, and in general appearance the breed resembles the
heavy long-woolled Lincoln race. Fine specimens are to be
seen at our great shows, not only from the true Marsh dis-
trict, but also from Sittingbourne and other localities of good
land, of higher position.

The Devon Longwool.

This breed has been known for centuries in the neighbour-
hood of Bampton or Bathampton, a market town and parish
in the hundred of the same name in Devonshire. The old
town stands in a pleasant vale, and the houses are built of
stone, and are irregularly scattered over a space extending to
about half a mile, near the river Batherm. In BeWs Gazetteer,
published in 1836, we read " Many sheep are fed in the
neighbourhood ; they are of a large size, and of an uncom-
monly fine quality, from the excellence of the pastures."
Twenty years later Professor Wilson wrote, " It is very difficult
to find the pure Bampton unmixed with other blood : a few
only remaining in Devonshire and West Somerset."

The original Bampton Nott was a large-framed, heavy-

THE DEVON LONGWOOL. 37

woolled sheep, white-faced and hornless. It appears to have
been an out-lying branch of the long-woolled sheep of the
country which spread from the Tees to the Severn, following
the flat tracts and undulating ground of the new red sand-
stone north and west of the oolitic formation. It was no doubt
from this breed, extending from the Tees mouth to Warwick-
shire and Worcestershire, that the new Leicester itself was
derived, and, if this surmise is correct, the subsequent im-
provement of the allied long-woolled races by the Leicester
would scarcely be a cross, but rather the introduction of a
selected strain of a similar origin to their own. Whatever
view we may be disposed to adopt, there is no doubt that the
old Bampton breed has been modified by repeated Leicester
and Lincoln crosses.

The Devon South Hams were found from the Vale of
Honiton to the borders of Dartmoor. Originally they had
brown faces and legs, but in other respects resembled the
heavy Romney Marsh breed. These sheep have also been
improved by the introduction of Leicester blood, which has
reduced their size, and has caused the dark colour of the faces
and legs to disappear.

The Devon Longwool are now an established race, and
were well represented at the great meeting of the Royal
Agricultural Society in 1889. These sheep are the present
representatives of the old Bampton breed, which does not
appear as a distinct breed in the schedule of the Royal.
Specimens of this breed exhibited at Islington showed distinct
evidence of their Leicester and Lincoln origin, being stronger
in type both as regards carcase and fleece than the former
type.

Roscommon Sheep.

These sheep have been naturalised in Ireland for a long
period. They are described by Culley in the usual uncom-
plimentary language employed by writers towards unim-
proved races generally. A vast improvement has been

38 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

effected by crossing with the Leicester breed, and the
Roscommon sheep of to-day is an exceedingly well-made
animal, with the characteristic white face and wool of the
Leicester. Anyone who reads the description of the Irish
Long-woolled sheep given in his time by Professor Low, and
compares it with what he may himself see in Ireland, will
come to the conclusion that the breeders of these sheep have
not been idle during recent years. The soil and climate of
Ireland are favourable for the development of the larger and
longer-wooUed sorts of sheep, and in the Roscommon breed
we see a good instance of successful improvement.

The Wensleydale Longwools.

These appear to be the modern form of an old breed once
well-known as Teeswaters. They are closely allied to the
Leicesters, and it is claimed for them that they, as well as the
old Lincolns, were employed by Bakewell in his work of
selection and improvement.

The great similarity in type between the Wensleydale,
Leicester, and west country Devon Longwools is very
striking, and evidently points back to a common origin.
These Longwoolled races of Leicester type appear to have
occupied the country from Yorkshire on the north-east to
Devon and Somerset on the south-west, and to have ex-
tended through Nottingham, Leicester, Warwick, Worces-
tershire, and Gloucestershire, and adjoining counties. They
therefore occupied a broad band in the Midlands and in the
north-eastern and south-western counties, following, indeed,
tlie northern boundary of the chalk formation, south of which
the Down breeds have their home, and north of which the
hardier mountain races of Wales, Derbyshire, Lancashire,
Cheviots, and the Highlands of Scotland are to be found.

Mr. J. Heugh, of Mudd Fields, Bedale, writes to us as
follows: — "The Wensleydale Longwoolled sheep appear to
have had their origin in the valley of the Tees, on the borders

|li!il'!i!iiii!ii!iii:i'iilri':r;!ii«:jip.'^^^^^^^^^

THE VVENSLEYDALE LONGWOOLS. ag

of Yorks and Durham ; as, up to recent years, they were
known by the name of Teeswaters, and, in some districts, are
known by that name to this day. According to some authori-
ties, they took a part in building up the new Leicester or the
Dishley sheep. Speaking of Robert Bakewell, and of the old
breeds he used in his experiments, and in the proportion he
employed them, one writer says : — ' The old Leicester breed,
which might come most readily to his hand, were large, coarse
animals, with an abundant fleece, and a fair disposition to
fatten, and they probably contributed not a little to his results.
But other Long-wooUed breeds, particularly the old Lincoln
and two otlier breeds, respectively Warwickshire and the
valley of the Tees, are also reported to have been more or less
in requisition.' They took the name of Wensleydale Long-
wools about the time the Yorkshire Agricultural Society com-
menced giving prizes for them, being more extensively
cultivated in Wensleydale than in other parts. They are
more symmetrical, with a greater aptitude to fatten than
formerly, the improvement being due to a cross of the
Leicester ; either from the noted Blue Cap, bred by Mr. W.
Sonley, of Lund Court, Kirkby Moorside, or some of his
descendants. The present type has long been fixed, and no
one who has achieved any success as a Wenslej'dale breeder
has deviated from a line of pure breeding. The Wensleydale
is a large, high standing sheep, with a characteristic blue in
the skin of the face and ears, but which sometimes extends to
the whole of the body, though the shade is deeper on the face
and shanks. The dark colour is cultivated, because of the
extensive use of the rams for crossing with the Black-faced
Mountain ewes ; it is found that dark blue rams throw dark
faced lambs — a point much valued. The lambs bred in this
way are called Crosses in Scotland, where they are extensively
bred. In the east of Yorks, and in Lincolnshire, where many
thousands of them are annually bought and fattened, they go
by the name of Mashams. The wool of the Wensleydale is of
a uniform open character. Long silky locks should cover

40

sheep: breeds and management.

nearly the whole surface of the body, including the forehead,
between the eyes, round the ears, and on the belly and scrotum.
The hind legs down to the hoofs, and even the fore legs at
times, have downy wool on them. Hairy wool on thighs is
objectionable. The head is of good size and well carried on
a long and strong neck, giving much greater style than is
usual in most breeds. The nostrils should be wide in the
ram, the back of the head flat, and the ears large and thin,
well set on and well carried. The breed is specially noted for
the absence of patchiness or excess of fat. The quality of
flesh produced, the hardy constitution, and active disposition,
enable it to maintain the position of first favourite in many
districts."

MIDDLE-WOOLLED SHEEP. 4I

CHAPTER VI.
MIDDLE-WOOLLED SHEEP.

In introducing a new class of sheep it is necessary to re-
port progress. We have hitherto dealt with the long-woolled
races of sheep, as illustrated in such breeds as the Lincoln,
the Leicester and the Cotswold. As mentioned earlier in
this Handbook, we have in England no really short-woolled
sheep carrying fine wool. The true short-woolled sheep is
the Merino of Spain, Hungary, Germany and Australasia.
These sheep are not bred for mutton but for wool, whereas
under the cloudy skies of Britain, and the abundant pasturage
which our climate favours, we find sheep of larger frame,
thicker flesh, and longer fleeces. These are the true long-
woolled and middle-woolled sheep, in which undoubtedly we
excel in a marked degree.

By contrast, it is true, the Southdown may be spoken of as
short-woolled ; but, if we take into consideration the still
shorter wool of the Merino, we shall see the propriety of
regarding our " short-woolled " sheep rather as middle-woolled
in character.

The distinction is, however, very marked, as anyone can
see in visiting the various classes of sheep at any of our great
shows. The middle-woolled sheep, as we prefer to speak of
them, were originally found in every county of England, and
were represented by the old Ryeland, old Cotswold, and
other allied breeds, many of which have ceased to exist.
There, however, appears to have always been a class of black
or brown-far.ed sheep indigenous to the chalk districts of

42 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

England. Thus, it we follow the large area occupied by
this great formation, we shall (with the exception of the
Yorkshire and Lincolnshire wolds) find it in Norfolk, and
with it appears the Norfolk Down sheep, short-wooUed and
dark featured. There does not seem to be a county in which
extensive downs of chalk occur where there is not a corres-
ponding breed of brown-faced sheep. Suffolk, for example,
has long boasted a Down breed, which extended into Essex,
so far at least as did the chalk. Cambridgeshire, Bucking-
hamshire, Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Hampshire,
Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, Surrey, Sussex and Kent — each and
all boasted these active and hardy breeds of Down sheep.
From these, the native counties of this particular class, they
extended into others, and now find their home in Shropshire
and the adjoining counties under the name of Shropshire
sheep.

The leading differences between these and the long-woolled
sheep have already been pointed out, but before treating at
length each of the short-woolled breeds, it seems necessary
again to draw attention to the great differences which mark
them as a class.

Reference to Youatt's treatise on sheep, which appeared in
1837, would show the reader the great advance which has
been made in sheep-breeding since his day. Many of the
differences between the breeds of various counties have
disappeared, and many new types have appeared. The Ox-
ford, Shropshire, and improved Hampshire Down were then
unknown in their present forms, and the Southdown and
Leicester were then regarded as paramount. What a change
has been wrought during these fifty years ! An inspection of
the pens of these two breeds at Islington, at one of the recent
shows of fat stock, showed these, once predominating breeds, in
a minority. Not only so, but time had told upon them, either
actually or comparatively. The Leicesters and the South-
downs exhibited symptoms of being over-bred. Their small
frames, fine bone, puny faces, show too clearly the effects

THE OLD RYELAND SHEEP. 43

of close breeding carried out for over a hundred years, and
contrast with the robuster forms and stronger heads of the
more modern pure and crossed breeds.

We shall during the next chapters endeavour to trace the
history, and point out the qualities, of the middle-woolled or
Down races of sheep, and in doing so a brief notice must
be allowed of the finest-woolled sheep which England has
produced — the old Ryeland breed. Whether this breed was
originally derived from the Spanish IMerino or not, we cannot
say ; but certainly no race is more deserving of the name of
a fine-wooUed sheep than this. It differs from most of our
Down races, although there is a certain resemblance between
it and the Dorset Horned race. It was, and is, white-faced
and polled, and its natural habitat appears to have been that
light-land district around Ross in Herefordshire, named the
Ryelands, from its suitability to the growth of rye.

The Old Ryeland Sheep.

The Ryeland sheep is one of those races which, having
been superseded by others for a long course of years, seems
now to have found friends and promoters. Twenty years ago
the Ryeland sheep was spoken of as something that had been,
but was no longer. Like the Longhorn among cattle it had
found a rival, and that rival was the Cotswold. Thus, in
1800, Herefordshire contained 500,000 short-woolled sheep
(Ryelands), furnishing 4,200 packs, the weight of the fleece
being 2 lbs. In 1828 the number of packs of short wool had
diminished to 2,800, but no fewer than 5,550 packs of long
wool were grown in the county (Youatt). " This fact," says
the author just quoted, " spsaks volumes as to the revolution
that is going forward, and plainly points out the farmers'
interest and duty."

The old Ryeland sheep was the nearest approach to a fine-
woolled sheep which we possessed. Its wool was coarser,
certainly, than the Saxony Merino, but it was much finer

44 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

than that of the Southdown. Taking as an indication of
fineness the number of serrations and the diameter of the
wool fibres, we find that these three breeds compare as
follows : —

Number of

Diameter of

serrations per inch

each fibre.

in length.

Inch.

Saxony Merino

— 2,720

... i-840th.

Ryeland (old breed)

... 2,420

... i-750th.

Southdown...

... 2,080

... i-66oth.

The Ryeland of the early years of the century seldom
exceeded 14 or 16 lb. per quarter in the wether, or from 10
to 13 lb. in the ewe. They had white faces and were polled ;
the wool grew close to and sometimes covered the eyes. The
legs were small and clean, the bone light, the carcase round
and compact and peculiarly developed on the loins and
haunches. It was particularly frugal in its fare, and would
endure privation of food better than any other breed. Sir
Joseph Banks, who was well acquainted with their constitu-
tion and habits, used to say that the Ryeland sheep deserved
a niche in the temple of fame. The weight of the fleece
rarely exceeded 2 lbs. A noted ewe bred by Mr. Welles, and
figured in Youatt's fine treatise on sheep, weighed when fat
25 lb. per quarter. The similarity of the old Ryeland breed
to the Merino, and a certain foreign appearance, favour the
idea that it was imported from another clime.

The breed appears to have extended over Herefordshire,
Monmouthshire, Gloucestershire, Shropshire, Staffordshire,
and to have been scattered from the Tyne to the Thames.

The practice of cotting the Ryelands, although now for-
gotten, was very ancient. During the winter and especially
at lambing time, they were shut up at night either in an unoc-
cupied building or in a place erected for the purpose. They
were then fed with hay or barley straw, or pease haulm given
to them in racks, frequently suspended by ropes, and so con-
trived as to be easily raised in proportion as the dung accu-
mulated below ; for neither the owner nor the shepherd

THE NEW RYELAND SHEEP. 45

thought of cleaning out the place while there was room for
the sheep to go in and out.

The reasons generally assigned for this practice of cotting
were that the wool, being preserved from the weather, was
kept sounder and finer ; that the sheep were preserved in
better health ; that they were preserved from liver rot ; that
fewer lambs were lost in yeaning ; that great losses were
always experienced when the sheep were folded in the open
field ; and that much valuable dung was accumulated by the
practice. The system of cotting has now been entirel}^ dis-
continued in Great Britain, but those who have visited the
Merino flocks of Southern Europe will remember the care
which is taken to house the flocks, not only in winter, but in
wet weather — the object being the growth of fine wool. It is
also well known that rye and barley straw produce a finer
wool than can be grown on a fuller diet of roots and cake.
England is now well supplied with the finer descriptions
of wool from her colonies, while the production of mutton
has become a much more important consideration with flock-
masters. The strength of the position of sheep, as a farm
stock, also rests upon the fact that they trample and render
firm our light lands, and at the same time manure them in
an economical manner ^vithout the aid of the dung cart. The
system was, therefore, early doomed, with all its supposed
advantages, some of which still carry a lesson. It seems, for
example, to have been noticed that ewes and lambs were less
subject to mortality during the critical period of lambing, and
this fact may well be taken to heart by sheep breeders.
Without returning to the old system of cotting, it may be
useful to remember that ewes and young lambs require more
shelter and succour than they are usually allowed.

The New Ryeland Sheep.

The Ryeland breed of sheep is now again in the ascendant,
but in a modified form. There is little doubt that the change

46 sheep: breeds and management.

has been effected by crossing with the Leicester, but it is
only fair to existing breeders to say that for the last fifty years
no such cross has been employed. The carcase weight has
been considerably increased, and in place of the 14 lb. or 16
lb. per quarter already mentioned as representing the weight
of wethers, we now find lambs of ten months old arriving at
18 lbs. per quarter, and shearlings of sixteen months old
scaling 20 lb. and 22 lb. per quarter. The wool also, if it
has lost in fineness, has gained in weight, and a well known
flock (the Brook, Col wall) have averaged 8 lb., and made
io|d. per lb. unwashed. These are startling changes when
contrasted with earlier descriptions of the capabilities of the
breed.

And yet the Ryeland sheep preserves something of its
■original qualities. It fattens with great rapidity, and is thus
well adapted for breeding fat lambs. It is still a white-faced,
hornless, short and close-woolled race, distinct from any other
breed. It may be compared to the Shropshire without the
black face and legs, and it is probable that Ryeland blood
-exists in the veins of that now famous breed. There is also
still a certain resemblance to the Merino in the character of
the wool. Mr. Frank Shepherd, who is well known in con-
nection with the breed, and whose father was one of the few
who, through evil and good report, stuck to the Ryeland
when he was at a discount, writes as follows : —

" The Ryeland, as you are doubtless aware, is one of the
•oldest of British breeds of sheep, and some fifty years ago
was the leading breed in this district (Malvern). A desire for
new breeds springing up, it was allowed almost to become
extinct, but by a few good old judges refusing to part with
their stock for other blood the breed has been saved its exis-
tence. I have said ' a few good judges ' ; I believe I might
confine it to one man, for had it not been for my late father
i feel positively certain that the Ryeland in reality to-day
would be unknown.

" To my mind it is one of the best all-round breeds we have,

THE SOUTHDOWN.

47

producing mutton and wool of the finest quality, with great
constitution, invaluable for crossing purposes. It is a well-
known saying in Hereford market that * no sheep will get fat
lambs like a Ryeland ram.' I often hear old breeders lament-
ing over giving up their Ryeland flocks. Within the last ten
years, however, the disposition to breed them up again has
considerably increased the flocks of this county (Hereford-
shire), and, in Brecknockshire especially, Ryelands are fast
on the increase. One thing greatly in their favour is they
seldom suffer from foot-rot. The Ryeland of to-day is a much
heavier sheep than was the case some thirty or forty years
ago, and arrives earlier at maturity — compact in form, straight
back, sides and underline, on short, well-set legs, the last
white, as also the face, thick scrag, and head well covered
with wool. I notice in the Journal of the Royal the judge's re-
port of Ryeland wool at Windsor is anything but reliable. If
readers of the Journal conclude by such report that Ryeland
wool in general is as stated there, they are very much mis-
taken. No better wool is grown on any sheep. I admit the
failure, however, at Windsor. There were only three ex-
hibitors. My own wool ought never to have gone. In the
first place, all my lambs were shorn the previous year, so that
I had no teg wool, and in 1889, as an experiment, my sheep
were unwashed ; both these things would, no doubt, tell con-
siderably against it in competition. I have on several occa-
sions beaten the Shropshires in open competition, and as a
hardy farmers' rent-paying sheep I have no hesitation in
giving the preference to the Ryeland."

The Southdown.

Having had the privilege of knowing the late Mr. Ellman,
and hearing from his own lips the story of the rise and
progress of the Southdown sheep, and of the points and
special merits of the breed, I feel as though brought into
connection with its earliest annals. Upwards of a quarter

4o SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

of a century ago the younger Ellman was a venerable old
gentleman of benign appearance. His memory extended
back to the beginning of the century, and he was able to
narrate all the particulars of his father's work in bringing
out the Southdown race, in the time when George the Third
was young. I heard him speak of the old-fashioned and
unimproved Sussex Down, as of small size and bad shape,
long in neck, low at both ends, light in the shoulders,
narrow at the fore-end, and shaped " like a soda-water
bottle," small in front, and heavier in the middle, large in
the bone, but boasting a big leg of mutton. The fleece
was not so close and firm as now, and the almost proverbial
expression of "four-year-old Southdown mutton" was more
applicable than in our da3's.

Mr. Ellman laid stress upon the great improvement effected
in the neck and forequarters by his father, and held that the
neck should be bold. It should rise high in the crest, and be
muscular and thick. The shoulders, he said, should be wide,
and this width should be maintained by well-sprung ribs,
great girth, grand loins, straight and ample quarters, and
good dock. The leg must be well filled inside and out, and
" as round as a cricket-ball." The fleece must be " board-
like " in its firmness, and show cracks down to the skin, as
the animal turns, presenting a firm and springy appearance.
Arthur Young saw the Glynde flock in 1776, and says, " Mr.
Ellman's flock of sheep, I must observe in this place, is un-
questionably the first in the country, the wool the finest,
and the carcase the best proportioned ; both these valuable
properties are united in the flock at Glynde. He has raised
the merit of the breed by his unremitting attention, and it
now stands unrivalled." The attention of the Farmer King
was early directed to the Glynde flock, and it is not im-
probable that the Royal patronage conferred upon the elder
Ellman was the original cause of the Southdown being taken
up by the reigning family, as well as by many of our nobility.
The Southdown has been spoken of as a "gentleman's"

THE SOUTHDOWN.

sheep on account of its beauty, its adaptability for park life,
and its extraordinary quality of flesh, especially if the sheep
is allowed to attain the age of four years. The mutton is
close grained, dark in colour, tender, juicy, and yields a rich
gravy. The joints are not too big, and the proportion of lean
meat is large. The Southdown has also been spoken of as a
" butcher's sheep," because it lays up a large proportion of
loose or inside fat and suet. It proves, or dies well, and may
be relied upon to scale heavier than appearance warranted
before slaughtering. The Southdown sheep boasts a purer
lineage than most of our improved races. It has been
alleged that a Leicester cross was made, but, according to
Youatt, this cross was a failure, as well as that attempted
with the Merino, so that the Southdown stands out promi-
nently as a breed improved by pure selection, and not from
crossing.

It is one of the indigenous races peculiar to the chalk hills
of the southern counties, and appears to have existed for long
upon that breezy upland which finds its most southern ter-
mination at Beachy Head, and runs inland, as a protecting
rampart, north of Brighton, Worthing, and Arundel. The
true Southdown sheep appears to have been confined to the
Southdowns — a Southdown of the Southdowns — and to have
given way to a larger and looser-formed animal, as the chain
of chalks, on which it browsed, passed into the neighbour-
ing county of Hampshire.

Its character has no doubt been influenced by its surround-
ings. Originally it was horned, but these appendages have
long disappeared except as slugs, or accidental buds. Its
light forequarter appears to have been due to the greater
muscular development of the hind-quarters required in
mounting steep slopes, and its fine short wool to the scanty
and short herbage produced on the chalk. The fine grain of
the mutton was probably induced by slow growth, and the
peculiar nature of the pasturage. Like some other breeds,
the Southdown perceptibly alters when transplanted into
4

50 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

other districts. The frame inclines to increase in size, the
face often becomes darker, and the fleece heavier, and looser.
Breeders of such transplanted flocks find it necessary to
return to Sussex to buy rams, in order to prevent deteriora-
tion, or alteration, of type, and this becomes a source of profit
to those who breed them upon their native soil.

Taking the last thirty years as a period for comparison,
the disposition has evidently been to cultivate a lighter colour
of face than formerly, many of the exhibits at our shows now
being exceedingly light, and scarcely of the colour of the
fallow deer — which was Mr. Ellman's ideal as to the colour
of the head of a Southdown. The head is small, and the
features refined to delicacy, and in some case inclined to be
dish faced. The carcase is faultless, being beautifully drawn,
oval on the top, from set-on of the neck to the tail, thoroughly
filled up behind the shoulders, and square and massive from
chest to twist.

The older Ellman described the head as small and horn-
less ; the face speckled or grey ; the lips thin, and the space
between the eyes and the nose narrow, the forehead well
covered with wool between and around the ears. The head,
according to the younger Ellman, is deer-like, but not too full
at the orbit or eye-cap, as such bony protuberances are found
dangerous in lambing ewes. The ears of the Southdown are,
comparatively, short and rounded, and carried more erect
than in the Hampshire Down. This gives an appearance of
greater narrowness between the ears. The chap, or under
jaw, is fine and fleshless, assisting to produce the deer-like
appearancce already mentioned ; and the eye is full and
placid, giving the same impression. The appearance of the
Southdowns is characteristic and unmistakable. Their fineness,
smallness, and high-bred character contrast with those more
robust races, the Hampshire, Shropshire, and Oxford, and
it is this contrast perhaps which gives the idea of breeding
and fineness which strikes an observer in passing a number of
classes of sheep in review.

THE SOUTHDOWN. 5I

One of the advantages of the breed, which it shares with
other Down races, is its power of resisting the evil effects of
over-stocking. As far back as 17S8, Arthur Young writes : —
" Mr. Ellman, on 500 acres, has 700 ewes, lambs, and
wethers in winter, and 1,450 of all sorts in summer, besides
140 head of cattle." These numbers read even now as
extraordinary, before the days of cake feeding, or impor-
tation of cheap corn from America, and are scarcely to
be rivalled. Cotswold or Leicester breeders would consider
such a stock as inconsistent with keeping up either the
stature or the health of their flocks, and yet such is the
character of the Southdown that they can resist the in
fluences of over-crowding. The number of sheep kept by
Wiltshire and Hampshire sheep farmers in these days are
not much short of those maintained by Mr. Ellman, and
when we take into consideration the greater size of the
Hampshire sheep, the weight per acre must be considerably
greater.

The Southdown race in its own district was long well
maintained by the late Mr. Rigden, of Hove, near Brighton,
and by Mr. Penfold, of Selsey. This flock, which had existed
for a century, was only recently dispersed, with what excellent
result will be fresh in the memory of readers and breeders.
The late Jonas Webb, whose honoured name is still held in
the highest respect, was a fitting successor to the Ellmans,
although farming on the downs of Cambridgeshire, and it was
through him, in a great measure, that the true type was
handed down to our generation. Mr. S. "M. Jonas, of Chris-
hall Grange, Royston, and Mr. Henry Webb, of Streetly Hall,
whose sale was a landmark in the history of the breed,
possessed flocks descended from the older Babraham South-
downs, and both of these last-named gentlemen are relatives
of the more famous Jonas Webb, whose name is worthy of
special notice as a master in the art of breeding. That was a
pretty anecdote, and literally true, of Jonas Webb, when
exhibiting at a great Parisian International Show held under

52 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

the auspices of the late Emperor. Napoleon III. paused to
admire Mr. Webb's Southdowns, and inquired who the sheep
belonged to. " Yours, your Majesty," promptly replied Mr.
Jonas Webb, " if your Majesty will accept of them," The
gift was accepted ; and a splendid present of solid silver
plate came shortly afterwards from the Tuileries to Babraham.

The Southdown has been honoured by the patronage of a
number of Royal personages and nobility, headed by H.R.H.
the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Richmond and Gordon, the
Duke of Hamilton, Lord Walsingham, the Marquis of Bristol,
Viscount Hampden, Sir William Throckmorton, Colonel Sir
Nigel Kingscote, the late Mr. Henry Brassey, Mr. Colman^
M.P., and many other well-known members of Parliament
and county men.

The Southdown has ever been a favourite with the rich,,
but it also deserves the patronage of rent-paying farmers.
Still, the fact remains that weight of carcase and weight of
wool, rather than the highest quality, have been for long more
profitable and more rent-paying investments for the ordinary
farmer, and hence the Southdown is less often seen in farmers'
hands than in those of landlords, but there are large districts
where the Southdown is the breed of the country.

For crossing purposes the Southdown has been particularly
useful, and his blood exists in every improved Down flock.
It is to the admixture of Southdown blood, made long years
ago, that the improved Hampshire Down owes his position.
Through the Hampshire Down the Oxfords get the same
qualities, and the Shropshires were no doubt crossed with the
Southdowns, as we shall see later. As the Leicester lies at
the root of the improved long-woolled races, so the Southdown
is the original, and was the first improved, and first short-
woolled sheep used in the renovation of the dark-faced Down
breeds. They have found their way into every county, and
they have been, and are, exported yearly to keep up and
improve the flocks of foreign countries.

HAMPSHIRE DOWNS.

CHAPTER VII.
THE IMPROVED HAMPSHIRE DOWNS.

The improved Hampshire Down sheep is one of the more
recent additions to the agricultural wealth of this country.
It was only at the first meeting of the Royal at Salisbury in
1857 that Hampshire sheep were awarded classes to them-
selves, and some of the earliest improvers of the race are still
living — notably, Mr. James Rawlence, Mr. William King, of
Old Hayward, now ninety years of age, and his brother, Mr.
Stephen King. No breed has made more rapid progress,
either in absolute improvement or in the wide appreciation
in which it is now held, than this. I trust my readers
will excuse me if I dwell on this particular race of sheep
at somewhat great length. I do this from no wish to
give it special prominence, but because I have examined
into its early history, and find that there is a good deal of
material which has not yet seen the light. David Low
lived before the birth of the Hampshire Down, and William
Youatt wrote before the breed had been constituted. The
late Professor Wilson wrote on sheep before the Hampshire
Downs became prominent, and Mr. Rowlandson only gives
them a brief notice. I therefore feel it not only due to
the early improvers of the breed, but to the breed itself, to
place on record a detailed account of its history, and trust
that some of the information I am able to give will prove
interesting to breeders.

54 sheep : breeds and management.

The old Hampshire and Wiltshire Rams

have long been merged in the present improved breed. The
Hampshires originally were horned, tall, light, and narrow in
the carcase, and usually with white faces and shanks. The
Wiltshire sheep were originally known as "crooks," so called
from the shape of the horn, which turned back behind the ear,
and bent over the cheeks. They were the largest breed of
fine woolled sheep in this country (British Farmers^ Magazine,
1830). A Wiltshire lamb which weighed 24 lb. per quarter,
and contained 14 lb. of loose fat, is described in the .Comwer-
cial and Agricultural Magazine for April, 1800. ** These sheep,"
says Youatt, " not only prevailed upon the Wiltshire Downs,
and were much, and deservedly, valued there, but were found
in considerable numbers in North Devon, Somersetshire,
Buckinghamshire, and Berkshire. They were a peculiar
breed, differing in the shape of horn, and in other points,
from the sheep of any other part of the kingdom, and were
probably indigenous to the Wiltshire Downs. If they were
rather slow in feeding, they were excellent folding sheep, and
enabled more corn to be grown in Wiltshire, in proportion to
its size, than in any other county in England. . . These
Wiltshires have now (1837) passed quite away." They were
crossed " again and again " with the Southdowns, until every
trace of the old breed disappeared, and a useful variety of
the Southdowns remained — only distinguished from the true
Sussex sheep by somewhat larger size, lighter colour, and a
lighter and finer fleece. The last flock of the old Wiltshire
horned breed disappeared about 1819 (Rawlence).

According to Mr. E. P. Squarey, " the Hampshire breed
originated in a cross between the old Wiltshire horned sheep,
as well as the Berkshire Knot, with the Southdown. From
1815 to 1835 the Downs of North Hants and those of South
Wilts were very different. The Wiltshire Down was larger,
perhaps less handsome, and not so uniform with respect to
colour as those of Hampshire, and a ewe with a speckled
face and ears was not always drafted."

HAMPSHIRE DOWNS. 55

About 1829, Mr. John Twynam, as he himself afterwards
related to a farmers' club, used Cotswold rams. His idea
was to blend together the best breeds then in existence, and
by using an improved Cotswold sheep upon Hampshire ewes,
he considered that he obtained an animal which united
the qualities of the old Wiltshire, the Southdown, the Cots-
wold, and, indirectly, the Leicester. Mr. Twynam thus ex-
pressed himself: — "You must have observed an immense
improvement in the character of the Hampshire sheep
generally (185 — ), within the last fifteen years. I have had
my attention called to this fact frequently since I have ceased
to be a breeder. How has this altered character been ob-
tained ? Can we recognise none of the Cotswold fleece, or
his more symmetrical proportions ? And, when I tell you
that in the years 1835-36 and subsequent years, I sold very
many half-ored lambs, and not only into Hampshire Down
flocks generally, but into those of six or eight of our first ram
breeders, whose names are to be seen at this day upon my
books ; when as you must be aware these breeders are in the
constant annual habit of selling one to another in this and
adjoining counties ; I trust I may, without presumption, lay
some little claim to having supplied a portion of the material
from which our present flockmasters have worked up a better
and more valuable fabric."

In 1835 the sheep of both counties, and also of parts of
Berkshire were, to speak generally, modified Southdowns,
retaining some of the features of the older breeds — especially
those of size and quahty of wool ; but had not arrived at the
distinction of being a recognised breed. They were ex-
hibited at the first show of the Royal Agricultural Society of
Oxford in 1840 as West Country Downs, a name they long
retained, and were at that time something like the present
sheep, but smaller, looser, narrower at the fore- end, and
lighter in colour.

It has been noticed that the crossing with Southdowns had
been going on for many years before the formation of a breed

56 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

was accomplished. Just as Shorthorns existed before the
days of the brothers CoUing, and Leicester sheep before the
days of Bakewell, so Hampshire sheep had taken their
general form before the days of Mr. Humphrey, of Oak Ash.
Not only so, but Mr. Humphrey had contemporaries and
customers from the first. Mr. James Rawlence (of Bul-
bridge), Mr. Stephen King, Mr. William King, Mr. Moore
(of Littlecott), Mr. Edward Waters (of Stratford-sub-Castle),
Mr. Frank Budd (near Whitchurch), Mr. Saunders (of
Watercombe), Mr. Canning (of Chisledon), Mr. Ferris (of
Manningford, Upavon), Mr. Bennett (of Chilniark), were
all engaged in breeding these sheep. Mr. Humphrey is,
however, by common consent looked upon as the man who
lifted the sheep into its present position. Thus Mr. Squarey
writes : — " To Mr. Humphrey, of Oak Ash, is due in a great
manner the present character and position of the Hampshire
Down sheep. This agriculturist effected its improvement by
careful crossing with the largest and best fleshed of the
Babraham Southdown flock. This means, applied with
wonderful ability, and at a great cost, at length resulted in
the present perfect animal." This justifies me in giving Mr.
Humphrey a first place, while Mr. James Rawlence, the
oldest living breeder (with the exception of Mr. William
King, now retired), must be looked upon as his most worthy
and best-known successor.

Mr, Humphrey, in a communication to Mr. W. C.
Spooner, in 1859, gives a short account of the manner in
wliich his flock of ewes was got together : — " About twenty-
five years since, in forming my flock, I purchased the best
Hampshire or West Country Down ewes I could meet with.
Some of them I obtained from the late Mr. G, Budd, Mr.
William Pain, Mr. Digweed, and other eminent breeders,
giving 40s. when ordinary ewes were making 33s., and using
the best rams I could get of the same kind until the Oxford
Show of the Royal Agricultural Society. On examining
the different breeds exhibited there, I found the Cotswolds

HAMPSHIRE DOWNS. 57

were beautiful in form and of great size ; and, on making
inquiries as to how they were brought to such perfection, I
was informed tliat a Leicester ram was coupled to some of
the largest Cotswold ewes, and the most robust of the
produce was selected for use. The thought then struck me
that my best plan would be to obtain a first-rate Sussex
Down sheep to put to my larger Hampshire Down ewes,
both being the Short-woolled breed. . . . With this object
I wrote to Mr. Jonas Webb to send me one of his best sheep,
and he sent me a shearling by his favourite sheep Babraham.
I went down the next two years, and selected for myself; but
the stock did not suit my taste so well as the one he sent me,
and I did not use them. I then commissioned him to send
me the sheep which obtained the first prize at Liverpool,
and from these two sheep, the first and the last, by marking
the lambs of each tribe as they fell, then coupling them
together at the third and fourth generation, my present flock
was made."

Mr. Humphrey found his first difficulty in loss of size, and
to obviate it drafted out his finest and smallest bred ewes,
replacing them with the largest Hampshire Down ewes he
could find that suited his fancy, and on these he continued to
use the most masculine and robust of his own bred rams.
This policy entirely succeeded, and, as he himself said,
*' beyond what I could have expected."

Oak Ash is eight miles from Wantage, Berks, and was
named from an ash tree which grew up within the hollow
trunk of an ancient oak, but which was removed and re-
planted where it now stands. It is an estate of 600 acres all
under tillage, and without water meadow. It is nearly all
good, and rather strong land, and has been known to grow
one load of marketable wheat per acre over the whole w^heat
area. The house is well placed and commodious. Mr. Hum-
phrey, at the time under our notice, was the proprietor of
this and other lands, and remained there until his death. He
unquestionably possessed in a high degree the peculiar genius

58 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

required in a first improver of stock. It is a faculty which
must be implanted by nature, and comes to few. He is
described as a fine-looking man, a capital public speaker, a
keen man with the gun, and an excellent shot. He was a kind
master and good neighbour.

The following is a statement made to me recently by Abra-
ham Hopkins, who lived as shepherd with Mr. Humphrey
from 1842 to 1868, and, therefore, from the date at which the
Babraham Southdowns- were first used down to Mr. Hum-
phrey's death: — "When Mr. Webb's sheep came master
would stand and look at him for two or three hours ; or when
a good lamb fell from a favourite ewe, he would stand and
look at it, and move it about, for an hour or more.

" He took first prize with a West Country Down ewe at
Oxford in 1840. It was not, however, till 1842 that he hired
his first sheep from Mr. Jonas Webb, and he had, in all,
three sheep from Babraham, for which he paid 60 gs. each
for the hire. He had them at intervals of about two years,
and these were all the rams he ever bought or hired from Mr.
Jonas Webb or anyone else — one of them was named Thick-
thorn — but, with these exceptions, he used his own rams all
the time. The ewes were drawn to these rams with the
greatest possible care.

" He only once bought ewes. They were bought in a lot of
100, and of these Mr. Humphrey had twenty-five, Mr.
Rawlence twenty-five, and a neighbour fifty. The ewes were
picked one by one, and Mr. Humphrey had the first pick.
The ewes were just outside the house," and Abraham Hopkins
says " he had noticed the best beforehand, and when he was told
to go in and pick one he went for her first. She was a per-
fect sheep, and she bred John Bull, which beat All England,
and he was the father of Comet, which took first prize as a
shearling at Chester, and also at Warwick as a four-tooth.
Kettledrum was another son of John Bull, and took first prize
as a shearhng at Leeds, and first at Battersea in 1862.

*' Besides these ewes, no others were bought, unless it

HAMPSHIRE DOWNS. 59

might be one or two which struck Mr. Humphrey as desirable.
One of such bought ewes bred Jack Tar by a ram from John
Bull's strain. Such fresh blood was used with great caution
and never directly. Thus Jack Tar was given a few ewes,
and their ewe lambs were saved as dams for rams. It was,
therefore, only after being well mixed with the blood of the
flock that new blood was allowed to permeate it.

" Every lamb was marked as it fell, and those which
showed any breachiness or coarseness were notched at the top
of the ear ; and no matter how well these lambs turned out,
they were castrated and went to the butcher. Every lamb in
fact, which was not let for breeding was fattened off, and no
ewes were ever sold. Only good ewes were kept for breeding,
and all the rest were sold to butchers. The ewes which were
thought good enough for the flock were bred from until they
were worn out. One favourite was kept till she was fourteen
years old, and her last lamb was Oliver Twist. This ewe had
no udder for the last four years of her life, and Oliver Twist
was given to another ewe. This ram was first in his class at
Leeds, and at Battersea.

" In using sires Mr. Humphrey was very particular.
Lambs were used cautiously, by giving each of the best about
twenty ewes. If the stock proved satisfactory the ram was
used again as a shearling, and in subsequent years, but if not
he was sent to the butcher. He ahvays kept back his best
lambs from the annual hiring for his own use, and was not a
buyer at other people's ram sales, neither did he ever intro-
duce strange blood straight into his flock."

Mr. Humphrey died in 1868, and his flock was then dis-
persed, Mr. Canning had some ewe lambs, so had Mr.
Parker and Mr. Budd. Mr. James Rawlence gave 60 gs. for
a ram lamb, Mr. Wilham King paid 50 gs. for one, Mr.
Ferris 47 gs. for one, Mr. Child 40 gs. for one.

Mr. Rawlence never missed a year having a lamb or two,
and Mr, E. Waters the same.

Mr. James Rawlence has already been mentioned as an

6o SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

early breeder of Hampshire Downs. It is worthy of note that
while Mr. Humphrey commenced upon a foundation of West
Country Down ewes, which had, as already explained,
originated in Southdown crosses made during many previous
years, Mr. Rawlence's original fiock was " of the Sussex
breed." He commenced by drafting all the small and delicate
ewes, and crossing the larger and stronger ones with Hamp-
shire Down rams. Mr. Rawlence frequently used Mr.
Humphrey's rams, and thus obtained a fresh mixture of the
Hampshire Down and Babraham Southdown blood, which
was introduced with great skill and caution. The flock was
further refreshed by purchases of Hampshire Down ewes, to
which he put his own rams and used their produce. Mr.
Humphrey's rams were used on some of the best of his ewes,
and they again furnished sires for his flock. This process of
infusing new blood gradually, and of rigorous selection, at
length resulted in a flock of the highest possible merit, and
Mr. Rawlence, in consequence, is regarded by many as the
father of the breed. No one has done more to fuse the various
elements into one compact and typical breed of sheep, and the
Bulbridge flock became at length the foundation of many
others. Mr. Spooner, in 1859, speaks of Mr. Humphrey's
flock as distinct from any others, and applies to them the
expression sui generis, from which we infer that one more step
was necessary before the Hampshire Down could be regarded
as a uniform and homogeneous race. In the accomplishment
of this object Mr. Rawlence took the leading part, and we may
look on the Bulbridge flock as fairly representing the Hamp-
shire Down as we see him at the present time. Among other
breeders of the district which may be considered as the
particular native home as the Hampshire Down, I would
especially mention the late Mr. James Read, of Homington ;
Mr. Alfred Morrison, of Fonthill, who early brought his ample
means and skill to bear upon the improvement of these sheep ;
Mr. Dibbin, of Bishopstone ; the late Mr. Newton, of Dog-
dean ; Mr. Parsons, of Micheldever ; and Mr. R. Coles, of

HAMPSHIRE DOWNS. 6l

Middleton Farm, Warminster. Other early breeders have
already been mentioned, and others are, no doubt, equally
worthy of notice.

The Improved Hampshire Down sheep is the heaviest of all
the Down breeds, and is only excelled in weight by the
Lincoln, and occasionally by the Cotswold, among the long-
woolled races. Its extreme earliness of maturity is well
known ; and although it has recently been contested that the
Cotswold may be brought up to as great a weight, or even
greater, by careful feeding from birth, the entire habit of the
Hampshire sheep is more in favour of early maturity than any
other largely-distributed breed. The fact that Hampshire
ram lambs are habitually sold for service at seven and eight
months old illustrates this fact. The rapid growth of the
lambs is most striking to witness, and one pound increase per
day is a record which could be surpassed any year in par-
ticular cases. The late Mr. Coleman, of the Field, pointed out
that the Cotswold did not appear to advantage as a lamb, but
with the Hampshire it is just the reverse, as he appears at the
greatest perfection in July or August, when about seven to
eight months old. Those who wish to see what these lambs
can do would find a visit to Salisbury Fair in July in-
teresting.

The Hampshire Down has been accused of carrying an
ugly head, but this defect, however common in years gone
by, is now remedied. The ram lamb can scarcely be too
dark in feature for the tastes of buyers, but this must be
accompanied with white wool. A dark tinge around the poll
will consign a sheep to a low price at once, but dark features
and a fair fleece might elevate the same sheep into the region
of keen competition. The ears must be free from any mottled
appearance, and should in summer be like a bat's wing. The
shanks also should be of rich dark brown colour, and free
from mottled appearance. Some distinguished breeders
Have held a position in spite of a certain lightness of tint, but
no light-faceb sheep finds favour around Salisbury, which is
the capital of the breed.

62 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

The nose in the ram should be thick and bold, and the ewe
should carry a bold head of more feminine character. The
character and ampleness of this feature are seen at all ages,
and distinguish the breed from Southdowns in a marked
degree. The lips are black, as are also the nostrils, and the
eye is of rich yellow-brown and large or full. The ears are
long, and in the best types fall slightly outwards, giving the
idea of great width of poll. They are thin and mobile, and
are set forward when the animal is in an attitude of attention,
giving an idea of intelligence and liveliness. The ear of the
Hampshire is undoubtedly a character, and differs from the
shorter and rounder ear of the Southdown or of the Shrop-
shire. The head is well covered with wool both between the
ears and on the cheek. The neck is of fair length, enabling
the sheep to stand with head erect, instead of being carried
horizontally as in the Leicester or the Southdown. It is thick
and muscular, and is considered to be a point of special
excellence and importance. The shoulder tops are wide, and
the girth behind the shoulders and of the entire fore-end must
be well marked to secure any attention either in the prize or
sale ring. The remaining carcase points are common to all
breeds, and it seems unnecessary in every case to insist upon
the importance of well-sprung ribs, wide loins, straight quar-
ters, good legs, square and massive form, &c. These go
without saying, and are as important in the eyes of Hamp-
shire Down breeders as in those of any other sheep masters.
The fleece is composed of exceedingly fine fibres, and is thick
on the skin, which is pink in colour. The slightly Roman
character of the face and the fine wool have no doubt partly
been derived from the old Wiltshire horned sheep, which
lies back in the pedigree. The quality of the flesh and the
colour have come through the Southdown, but the colour has
been deepened by selection. The length of ear has probably
been derived from an alliance with the Cotswold, made, as
already pointed out, by Mr. Twynam, and in this feature
there is a point of resemblance between this race and the

HAMPSHIRE DOWNS. 63

Oxford Downs. Let anyone who wishes clearly to see the
peculiarities of the Hampshire study them in contrast to the
other breeds named in these particulars, and he will have no
difficulty in fixing in his mind the peculiar characters of the
Hampshire.

Knowing the susceptibilities of breeders, it may be well here
to state that such reference to characters derived from a mixed
ancestry is no slur upon the breed as it at present exists.
The Hampshire Down has been too long established as a
breed, and too long bred entirely inter se, to be now charged
with being of mixed origin. Every race of sheep already
mentioned has been crossed, with the exception of the South-
down and possibly of the Leicester. It, indeed, seems to be
necessary, if robustness of type is to be maintained, to make
as a first step such crosses as were effected by Mr. Humphrey,
Mr. Rawlence, and, as has been asserted, was made by Mr.
Twynam with the Cotswold. One of the great arts of
breeding appears to be judicious crossing, followed by con-
tinuous breeding and weeding.

The Hampshire Downs are well inured to life between
hurdles. So accustomed are they to this method that when
turned out they usually move about in mobs, often grazing in
a semi-circle, the foremost being in the centre of the curve.
The number of sheep which are maintained upon Wiltshire
and Hampshire farms is extraordinary. We have, for example,
on the College Farm at Downton, lambed down 550 ewes on
600 acres in a recent season, as well as having maintained
200 tegs. The summer stock, when the lambing season
proved to be very favourable, has consisted of about 1,250 to
1,300 sheep and lambs, besides a dairy of thirty cows and
young stock in proportion.

This almost rivals the stock which Arthur Young mentions
as occupying Mr. Ellman's farm at Glynde a hundred years
ago, but the greater weight of the Hampshire Down sheep
must be taken into account. Such a stock can, of course,
only be maintained upon the acreage named in seaso:.is when

64 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

food is abundant, and must in less fortunate circumstances be
provided with hired keep off the farm.

The constant use of hurdles points to an artificial system of
feeding, and there is no doubt that sheep-farming upon the
Hampshire and Wiltshire hills is a much more complicated
business than the same pursuit upon the hills of Scotland
or Wales, or even of Yorkshire and Northumberland. The
character of the land and of the climate of these southern
counties favours a system of double cropping with fodder crops
followed with roots, and this, when assisted with large im-
portation of cake and corn, and the ability of the Hampshire
sheep to stand close folding, is the secret of the large number
of sheep maintained.

The latest development in the history of the Hampshire
Down is the establishing of a society for the promotion of the
breed and the regulation of a flock-book. A preliminary meet-
ing, held during the Smithfield Club Show in 1889 in London,
was largely attended by breeders from many counties, and the
feeling seemed to be unanimously in favour of the formation
of such a society. It was felt that this step was chiefly neces-
sary in the interests of the foreign trade, and that the Hamp-
shire men ought not to be behind other breeders in this matter.
The large size of the flocks is the chief difficulty in recording
pedigrees. What may be easy when 150 to 250 ewes are kept
might prove troublesome on farms carrying from 500 to 1,000
ewes.

For crossing purposes the Hampshire is exceedingly useful.
It was by the alliance of a Cotswold ram to Hampshire Down
ewes, and also, I believe, by adopting the reverse course, that
the foundation of the Oxford Down was laid by the late Mr.
Druce, of Eynsham.

The simple cross between Cotswold and Hampshire is fre-
quently made for producing wethers, and the result is an
increase in quality of mutton and of lean flesh, as well as of
wool. Every year large numbers of rams find their way into
Lincolnshire and the midlands for crossing with long-wooiled

HAMPSHIRE DOWNS.

65

ewes. They form an excellent cross with Leicesters, Lincolns,
and Cotswolds, and are often put to these ewes during their
last year of breeding, for producing fat lambs or wethers.

The Hampshire breed is able to withstand severe climates.
Mr. John Craster, of Craster Tower, Northumberland, has for
several years past kept a flock of pure-bred Hampshires, and
esteems them highly. His estate borders the sea on the bleak
east coast of the most northerly part of England ; and as these
sheep are able to thrive and give satisfaction in such a climate
they may be credited with a hardihood equal to that of any
other English race of sheep.

t'.U}^y^6y..ASi:^m'':^.. . '".fe%.

^ .

HAMPSHIRK DOWN PRIZE SHEEI.

66 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

CHAPTER VIII.

OTHER MIDDLE WOOLLED SHEEP.

The Oxfordshire Down.

As an offshoot of the Hampshire Down and Cotswold races,
the Oxfordshire Down may well follow the description of the
first-named parent. Recent as the Hampshire Down must
be considered to be, the Oxfordshire followed at a still later
date. Up to 1859 the classification of sheep at the Royal
included only Leicesters, Southdowns, Longwools (not
Leicesters), and Shortwools (not Southdowns). In i860 the
Shropshire sheep were awarded separate classes at Canter-
bury. At the same show attention was particularly directed
to the excellence of the Hampshire and Oxford classes, but
it was not till the Battersea meeting in 1862 that prizes were
for the first time given to the Oxfords as a separate class.
At the general meeting of the Society, held in December,
1 86 1, it was announced that it had been determined to add
to the prize sheet classes for Lincolns, Cotswolds, Hampshire
Downs, Dorset, Oxfordshire Doivns, Romney Marsh, Mountain,
and Irish Long-woolled sheep. Accordingly, at the great
meeting in Battersea Park which was held simultaneously
with the second great International Exhibition held in London
in 1862, the Royal Agricultural Society recognised the fact
that Long-woolled sheep (not Leicesters) and Short-woolled
sheep (not Southdowns) did not constitute exactly a fair
classification of the breeds of sheep of Great Britain.

The progress of sheep breeding within the last forty years
has been indeed extraordinary. That within the memory of

THE OXFORL-SHIRE DOWN. 67

middle-aged men such a classification as the above should
have been thought satisfactory is in itself remarkable. A
sorry show indeed would it be, and hard upon the unfortu-
nate judges, were the massive Lincoln, the Cotswold, and the
Romney Marsh once more mixed up together as Long-
woolled sheep (not Leicesters) ; or Oxfords, Shropshires, and
Hampshire Downs contested with each other for prizes.
Happily this is no longer the case, and a disposition has been
shown to recognise any well-established and distinct breed.

The Oxford Down is more clearly a half-bred or crossed
race than any of the preceding. It dates its origin to 1833 or
1834, and was produced by a cross between the Cotswold
ram and Hampshire Down ewe, effected by Mr. Samuel
Druce, of Eynsham, Oxon. It is curious to note that Mr.
Druce speaks of them as a cross between the Cotswold and
Southdown in a letter to Mr. Pusey, but this is evidently
only an indication of the want of clearness at that time
in distinguishing between Southdowns and west country or
Hampshire Down sheep. In a later communication to Mr.
W. C. Spooner, Mr. Druce is more precise when he says :
" The foundation of this sheep was begun about the year
1833, by using a well-made, neat Cotswold ram with Hamp-
shire Down ewes." In 1833 ^^^ Hampshire sheep itself was
scarcely what it is now, for that was seven years before the
time when Mr. Humphrey thought of going to Babraham to
purchase Southdowns for the improvement of his Hampshire
flock. The Hampshire Down parent of the Oxfords we may
picture as a somewhat loosely-made, big-headed, sour sheep,
such as the Hampshire sheep were in the early days before
they had tacked on the affix " Improved," and when Mr.
Clare Read tells us they were "swarming at Illesley Fair"
— not, however, exactly in the form in which we see them
to-day. The stream was tapped higher up, so that probably
neither the Hampshire nor Cotswold parent of the Oxford-
shire Down were exactly as these breeds now appear. Mr.
Druce, in 1853, called his Oxfords " half-breds," and ]Mr.

68 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

Clare Sewell Read, apparently in search of a name in 1854,
suggested the appellation of " Down-Cotswolds." In 1859
they seem to have become fairly recognised as Oxfordshire
Downs, and appeared under this designation at Battersea, as
already noted. There appears to have been a good deal of
intermingling of blood before Oxfordshire Down breeders
settled into a line of their own. Mr. Druce early found that
" good qualities can be better secured by employing the cross-
bred animals on both sides than by using the first cross."
Mr. C. S. Read tells us that "the (flock) owner formerly
divided his flock into three parts, putting a half-bred ram to-
the ewes that were about right — a Cotswold to the small ones,
and a Down to the coarser sheep." Gradually the breed
emerged from this tentative condition, and probably, at least
from the date at which Mr. Read wrote (1854), the breed has
been kept distinct from either parent strain, and has been
bred exclusively inter sc.

As might have been expected, the flocks of various breeders
indicated in their fleece and faces a preponderance either of
the Long or the Short Woolled parentage, and to a certain
extent this difference still exists, although it is disappearing
fast. The speckled face which used at one time to distinguish
the Oxfordshire sheep has given way to a uniform brown,
although a splash of lighter grey is sometimes to be discerned.
The finely cut profile and thinner nose, and the long fore-
lock, together with the long and thin ear, are evidently
vestiges of the Cotswold parent. So also is the looser coat
that is to be seen on the Oxfordshire Downs. The dark face
and the comparatively close fleece are derived from the Down,
and the degree of character and uniformity which has been
attained must be put down to careful selection for a period
of about forty years. They were called " the glory of the
county — the most profitable sheep to the producer, the
butcher, and the consumer," in 1854, ^"^ after a whole
generation of men have passed away they still hold their
position.

THE OXFORDSHIRE DOWN. 69

It is scarcely a matter of wonder that the Oxfordshire
breeders should have seen the necessity of founding a flock-
book and society for the promotion of the breed. In the
case of a comparatively recent race, points require to be
established, and bad types must be discouraged, so as to
form a fixed character as speedily as possible. This first
point of importance has, we believe, been achieved through
many generations of careful breeding, and the Oxfordshire
Down is in all respects a distinct and thoroughly constituted
race ; and has added much to the agricultural wealth of this
country.

It is curious to contrast the results which were thought
satisfactory in the early days of Oxfordshire sheep, when Mr.
Samuel Druce and Mr. Philip Pusey were in correspondence
about them. The carcase weight of tegs, at from thirteen to
fifteen months old, was judged to be in the case of these
improved sheep 76 lbs., and that of Hampshires is put down
at 68 lbs. I have less personal knowledge of Oxfordshire
Downs than of Hampshire Downs, but suppose they have
also greatly advanced since this estimate was recorded. I
should say that cull lambs of the Hampshire breed from a
good flock should weigh 85 lbs. to 95 lbs. at fourteen months
old, and that good representative tegs should have accom-
plished 80 lbs. carcase weight at ten months without forcing.
Wether lambs are generally to be seen at Britford Fair on
August 12th, selling at 60s. ; and I, in 1883, sold 100 on
that day at 73s. each. I have no doubt a similar result
could be obtained with Oxfordshire Down sheep, although
the Hampshire is especially quick in maturing. Much has
been said as to the diminution of sheep stock in this country,
but it should be remembered that a vast improvement and
advance have been made in the matter of rapid growth. What
used to take thirteen to fifteen months is now done in eight
or ten, and hence, although the flocks of the country are less
numerous, they are heavier per head, and the amount of
mutton delivered to the butcher is probably not less than it
used to be.

70 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

There is a good demand for Oxfordshire sheep for America
and the British Colonies. The breed is also extending in this
countrj', and its classes are usually very numerously filled at
the great agricultural meetings. As the remark has been
made by a practical man that Oxfordshire and Shropshire
sheep are so alike that when classed together at earlier meet-
ings of the Royal, " many considered them one kind of sheep,"
I will point out the characteristic difference which close in-
spection will rcA'eal. The Oxfordshire head is longer, and the
profile is bolder and slightly more Roman and fine ; the
Oxfordshire ear is long and thin, whereas the Shropshire has
a shorter and rounder ear. The Oxford carries himself a little
more gaily and sprightly, and his wool is rather longer and
looser than that of the Shropshire, The wool on the head of
the Oxford is longer, and more of the flowing nature of a fore-
lock. That of the Shropshire sheep is closer, fitting like a
continuous cap or helmet.

Shropshire Sheep.

Midland farmers are justified in the pride with which they
regard Shropshire sheep. These sheep are humorously said
by their admirers to be so thrifty that in looking for grass
they turn the stones over which lie scattered on the surface of
clover fields. This statement is not intended to be received as
a fact, but as one of those hyperbolic expressions which far-
mers love to employ. I once heard a gentleman descanting on
the merits of Shropshire sheep over two hurdles in the show-
yard of the Royal Agricultural Society. He was standing on
a lower bar of the hurdle, and was thus raised a little above his
audience. He said, " It is a farmer's sheep, a rent-paying
sheep, a tenant's sheep. It is a money-making, wool-produc-
ing, mutton-carrying sheep. It's a bank, a save-all, a frugal
living and quick fattening, hardy sheep." This was Mr.
Preece, of Shrewsbury, and he was full of his subject and in
entire sympathy with his hearers. We wish to give every

SHROPSHIRE SHEEP. 7I

breed its due, and as far as possible to enter into the feelings
of the various breeders. We entirely concur in every word
Mr. Preece uttered, and regard the Shropshire as one of those
valuable additions to the flocks of the country which have come
forward during the last thirty or forty years. The Shropshire
sheep was indeed the first breed which broke through that
singular classification of " Short-wooUed sheep which are not
Southdowns," which used to be considered satisfactory in the
earlier shows. In i860, or perhaps earlier, they were awarded
a class, and, two years later, the same privilege was extended
to Oxfordshire and Hampshire Downs. They now form a
principal feature at all the " Royal " meetings, and their
breeders seem less afraid of the show-ring than those of any
other class of sheep. As an example of this I will take
Windsor, when there were of

Leicesters

... 41

entries

Border Leicesters ...

... 31

Cotswolds

... 60

Lincolns

... 58

Oxfordshires ...

... 82

Shropshires ...

... 212

Southdowns ...

... 123

Hampshires ...

... 78

As a rule the Shropshire breed heads the list in point of
numbers at the Shows of the R.A.S.E. The breed has found
enthusiastic supporters in and around its native county, and
its dominion extends over Shropshire, Staffordshire, Worces-
tershire, Herefordshire, and into North Gloucestershire, while
there are also flourishing flocks in Scotland and Ireland. It
appears to have had a mixed origin, and the fusion of the
various elements into the compact form of a modern Shrop-
shire sheep has been a work of much ability and time. They
were formerly spoken of as Shropshire Downs, but lately the
term Down has been dropped ; first, because Shropshire boasts
no "downs" in the sense in which the term is used in Wilt-
shire, Hampshire, and other chalk districts : secondly, because
the breed is scarcely of Down character.

72 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

It is difficult to imagine that the massive carcases, carrying
a " leg at every corner," and covering so much ground, were
derived in the first place from a diminutive breed described in
1792 as the Morfe Common sheep. These sheep were then
considered to be a native race, black or brown or spotted
faced, and carrying horns, the wethers weighing from 1 1 lbs. to
14 lbs. per quarter, and the ewes 9 lbs. to 1 1 lbs. after being fed
with clover and turnips. The fleeces weighed 2 lbs. This appears
to have been the parent form, and the work of improvement
consisted in crossing with the Leicesters, Cotswolds, and the
Southdown. These various crosses produced in the first
instance a somewhat uncertain type, but as early as 1853 we
find them commended in the following language in the report
of the Gloucester meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society :
— " The new class of Shropshire Downs was very successful,
and it is to be hoped that the Society will recognise them as a
distinct breed." They were at that time described as without
horns, "with faces and legs of a grey or spotted colour; the
neck thick, with excellent scrag ; the head well shaped, rather
small than large, with ears well set on ; breast broad and
deep ; back straight, with good carcase ; hind-quarters hardly
so wide as the Southdown, and the legs clean with strong
bone. They are very hardy, thrive well on moderate keep,
and are readily prepared for market, tegs weighing on an
average 80 lbs. to 100 lbs. each. The fleece is longer and more
glossy than the other Shortwools, and weighs on an average
7 lbs." Thus the Shropshire sheep, as contrasted with the
maternal ancestor which grazed upon the Longmynd Hills,
had during sixty years doubled its carcase weight, and in-
creased the weight of its fleece threefold ! Writing in 1858,
Professor Tanner says : " Only a few years since any mention
of the Shropshire Down sheep raised an enquiry, even among
intellectual agriculturists, as to their character, and few, com-
paratively speaking, knew anything of them." The Stafford-
shire breeders, forty or fifty years ago, traced the descent of
their Shropshires from the native Cannock Chase breed — a
dark faced, long legged, slowly maturing sheep.

SHROPSHIRE SHEEP. 73

The Shropshire sheep seems to have been the result of a
gradual evolution, brought about in the first place by cross-
ing, but later by careful selection. Even recently it was
considered difficult to breed them truly, but, by dint of care
and perseverance, the speckled character of face has given
way to a rich uniform brown, accompanied sometimes with
a little grey or " mealy " colour about the muzzle. The head
is well covered with a close-fitting cap, or helmet, of wool,
extending well over the entire space between and in front of
the ears, which are somewhat rounded and short. The neck
is carried horizontally, and is very thick and rather short.
The shoulders are neatly stowed, and the girth is very great.

We are not able to name any breeder who, like Bakewell,
Ellman, or Humphrey, actually accomplished the bringing-
out of the Shropshire sheep, as these men brought out the
Leicester, the Southdown, or the Hampshire Down. The
work appears to have been shared by many, and the pro-
gress seems to have been gradual. Looking back an entire
generation, we must, however, give full credit to the great
advances made by the late Mr. Henry Smith, of Sutton
Maddock, near Shifnal, who was a successful breeder and
prize-taker ; the Messrs. Crane ; Mr. Green, of Marlow ; ]Mr.
Horton, of Harnage Grange, Shrewsbury ; ]\Ir. Farmer, of
Bridgnorth, whose ewes made as high as £i^ each when his
stock was dispersed in 1857, v^-hile none of them made less
than ^8. Mr. George Adney, of Harley, near Shrewsbury,
also had a splendid flock, as had Mr. S. Meire, of Berrington,
and Mr. G. ^L Kettle, of Dallicott. These flocks, and others,
must be looked upon as the foundation of the present breed,
and their blood flows in the excellent flocks of the present
day. The number of famous breeders of Shropshires is in-
deed extraordinary, and, to their credit be it said, by far
the greater number are tenant-farmers.

The Shropshire sheep is known in almost every county
of England, and is esteemed for crossing purposes, and
especially for raising fat lambs and tegs. It is well-known

74 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

in Scotland, and is popular in Ireland. Its greatest rivals
are the two races most recently described in these pages,
the Oxfordshire and Hampshire Downs. The Oxfordshire
and Shropshire sheep are so much alike that it is not always
easy to distinguish them from each other ; but the chief
points of difference are to be seen in the shorter ear and the
greater closeness of wool on the head of the Shropshire sheep.
This latter is no doubt partly due to the methods of trainings
but there appears in the Oxfordshire sheep to be a resem-
blance in the matter of fore-lock with the flowing top knot
of the Cotswolds, The fleece of the Shropshire is also finer
and more down-like in character, while the Oxfordshire
Down fleece is often gathered into strands or locks after the
manner of the Long-wooUed breeds.

Shropshire breeders have long kept individual pedigrees
of their sheep, and most of the good sires are named. Thus
we see sire Jupiter 3,560, dam by Touchstone 1,775. There
is a regular Flock-book kept and every sire can be traced.

The Shropshire Sheep Society has been longer in existence
than any other, and no pedigrees of sheep are more carefully
recorded. It is the first breed we have met with in which the
sires are distinguished by a Flock-book number. We have
little doubt that a good deal of the success which Shropshire
sheep breeders have met with in the foreign and colonial
trades is due to the careful manner in which the pedigrees are
worked out.

We are passing through an important epoch in sheep
breeding. Never was there a greater interest shown in this
branch of pastoral life, as indicated by the formation of
society after society for the promotion of various breeds.
The Shropshire breeders were followed by the Suffolk Down
and the Oxfordshire Down men, and the breeders of Wen-
sleydale Longwools, and still more recently we have seen the
Hampshire flockmasters combine in an association founded
upon similar lines. Even the long-established and aristocratic
Southdown, despite its blue blood and indisputable lineage,

THE SUFFOLK DOWN. 75

has yielded to the spirit of the times, and a society and a
club have been formed. There are also societies for Lincolns,
Cheviots, Cotswolds, Dorset Horns, and Improved Leicesters.

The Suffolk Down.

This excellent breed is one of the few survivors of the old
county breeds of Down sheep which inhabited the Chalk
^ills of Southern England, and extended from Norfolk and
Suffolk through Essex, Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hants, Bucks,
Berks, Wilts, Dorset and other counties possessing chalk
downs. Of these Down breeds we can only name three
which are of importance, namely, the Southdown, Hampshire
Down and Suffolk Down, and these last have been greatly
improved by the Southdown. The original Suffolk sheep
existed in famous flocks during Arthur Young's time in
peculiar form in the neighbourhood of Bury St. Edmunds.
Mr. Edward Prentice, the able Secretary of the Suffolk Sheep
Society, has contributed an excellent account of the " genesis "
of the breed, and a scale of points is also to be found in the
sixth volume of the Flock Book. The late Mr. George Dobito,
of Lydgate, was one of the earliest and most enthusiastic sup-
porters of the breed, and the establishment of the Suffolk
sheep as a distinct breed was mainly due to his efforts.
While the breeders of Suffolk sheep willingly allow the im-
provement effected by the use of Southdown sires, and, it
may be. Southdown dams, they maintain that existing flocks
date back to 1810, and have been bred with " rigid adherence
to purity of blood." The Suffolk sheep may be described
as follows, adhering to the points laid down as necessary by
the Suffolk Sheep Society : — Head hornless ; face black and
long, and muzzle reasonably fine, especially in ewes (a small
quantity of clear white wool on the forehead not objected to) ;
ears a medium length, black and of fine texture ; eyes bright
and full ; neck moderately long and well set ; shoulder broad
and oblique ; chest deep and wide ; back and loin long, level,
and well covered ; tail broad and well set up ; ribs long and

76 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

well sprung, with a full flank ; legs and feet straight and
black, with fine and flat bone ; woolled to knees and hocks,
clean below ; fore legs set well apart ; hind legs well filled
with mutton ; belly well covered with wool ; fleece moderately
short, close fine fibre without tendency to mat or felt together,
and not shading off into dark wool or hair ; the skin is fine,
soft and pink.

In examining Suffolk sheep the observer is struck with the*
blackness of the face and the general absence of wool upon
the head or between the ears, which is so characteristic of
Hampshire Down sheep. This is the principal characteristic
difference in appearance between the two breeds. The diffe-
rence between the modern Suffolk and the hardy and small
horned Norfolk and Suffolk sheep, of which they are the lineal
descendants, is another instance of the wonderful progress
which has been made during the present century in the
improvement of our live stock.

The Dorset Horn.

The horned sheep of Dorsetshire form a singularly well-
marked race. In all the other Down sheep we find short
wool associated with brown faces and legs, but in the Dorset
we see a survival of a white-faced, horned, and short-woolled
race, which has been for a very long period associated with
the chalk hills of the county. Description of the old Wilt-
shire croocks in some respects favour the idea that the
present Dorset sheep are similar to those extinct Wiltshires,
which disappeared early in the present century, owing to the
westward progress of the Southdowns. The Dorset breeders
appear to have settled upon the process of selection rather
than of crossing. They possess a sheep with special charac-
teristics, and they wisely stick to ihem. Crossing was no
doubt attempted, both with Devonshire Knots and the
Leicesters ; but William Youatt informs us that the attempt
was not successful, and the breed has been handed down as
truly representative of the old stock.

THE DORSET HORN. 77

The peculiarity which stamps the Dorset sheep is the
extreme eariiness of the time in which they bring forth
their young. They take the ram in April and lamb in
September, thus producing lambs fit for the table in De-
cember, when lamb is a luxury, and therefore commands
a highly remunerative price. Fifty years ago the Dorset
sheep was described by Youatt as entirely white, the face
long and broad, with a tuft of wool on the forehead, the
shoulders low but broad, the back straight, the chest deep,
the loins broad, the legs rather beyond a moderate length,
and the bone small. The ram carries a pair of finely-turned
horns, and the ewe carries a crooked horn, but without con-
volutions or spiral turnings. They are described as hardy
and good folders, yielding well-flavoured mutton, and as
averaging when three years old from i6 to 20 lbs. per quarter
•of marketable carcase.

The marked improvement which has been effected since
Youatt wrote is shown by the fact that at ten to sixteen
months old wethers are now brought out at the same weights
mentioned by him as fairly representing that of a three-year-
old sheep. I am indebted to Mr. Thomas Chick, of Stratton,
Dorchester, for some interesting facts relating to the Dorsets
of the present day, in a letter dated February 15th, 1890, in
which he informs me that Mr, John Kidner's first-prize
wethers at the last Smithfield Show weighed above 5 cwt. 3
qrs. live weight, or a little under 2 cwt. each, and Mr. Samuel
Kidner's second-prize pen scaled somewhat more. The fleece
is also now much heavier. Fifty years ago it was computed
as averaging 3I lbs., whereas now a breeding flock of ewes
will cUp 5 lbs. to 6 lbs. of wool ; two-tooth ewes, 6 lbs. to 7
lbs. ; and Chilver lambs nearly 3 lbs. each. Rams will clip
from 8 lbs. to 12 lbs. each ; all these weights being taken after
usual pool washing.

Mr. Chick kindly replies as follows to several enquiries
which I made, omitting particulars with respect to the weights
of carcase already given : —

78 sheep: breeds and management.

1. What was the appearance of the early, unimproved type?
They were small and light in their fore-quarters, with black

noses, and horns curving upwards and backwards, but were
always remarkable as good mothers.

2. Who improved them ?

The breeders in West Dorset were the first to improve the
race ; one of the earliest was the late Richard Seymour, of
Bradpole, who had, perhaps, the best flock of Dorsets from
1830 to 1840. Others followed his example, amongst them
the late Matthew PauU, of Burstock and Compton Paunce-
foot ; John Pope and John Pitfield, of Symondsbury ; the two
Davys, of Horn Park and Netherbury; William Way, of
Bradpole ; Thomas Chick, of Eggardon and Stratton. These
all helped much in their day in bringing the breed up to its
present standard. This work has been continued by their
sons and successors, and others who have taken up the breed.
Notably in the latter class may be named Messrs. Henry
Mayo, of Coker's Frome, Herbert Farthing, John Kidner,
Samuel Kidner, and W. T. Culverwell, in the county of
Somerset, who deserve great credit for bringing the breed
more prominently before the public.

3. Were they crossed with any other sheep ?

The improvement was effected entirely by selection, not by
crossing with any other breed of sheep.

4. What are their points of excellence?

In a general way, the usual good points in all sheep. Their
horns should not rise from (? above) the head, but droop
slightly as they grow outwards from the head, and curl round
neither too wide from, nor too close to the face. They should
always have a nice lock of close wool on their foreheads.

5. What are their properties ?

Their excellence as mothers and breeders of early lambs,
and general prolific qualities. They will take the ram at
almost all seasons, and bring two and three lambs at a birth,
when well fed. Their mutton is of good quaHty, and their
wool reaHses about the same price as that of the Southdown
and Hampshire.

THE DORSET HORN. jg

6. Who are the principal breeders ?

There are so many now who may be considered principal
breeders, who have large flocks of really good sheep, about
the same standard, that selecting a few names would be unfair
to the others.

7. Do the wethers fatten kindly ?

They do, but the larger number are sold fat as lambs.

8. What weight per quarter do wethers make at ten or
sixteen months?

This depends upon the food and treatment. In an ordinary
way, perhaps, from 16 lbs. to 20 lbs. per quarter.

9. When do the ewes lamb down ?

Generally from November 20th to December 20th in each
year.

11. What is about the value of lambs at Christmas or any
time when generally sold ?

Lambs are generally sold fat in March and April, weighing
from 40 lbs. to 44 lbs. dressed carcase on an average ; price
per lb. according to the market.

12. What soils suit them ?

Their natural home being the county of Dorset, the soils of
which are the Kimmeridge clay, in Purbeck, the chalk near
Dorchester, and in West Dorset the oolite, it appears that any
of these soils will suit them. Dorset Horns have been kept m
Purbeck for generations, and extend all through the south of
Dorset into Somerset, where many large flocks are kept round
Chard, Ilminster, and Taunton, as well as in the neighbour-
hood of Bridgwater. Breeding flocks are now kept in other
counties, especially in the Isle of Weight. Ireland also has
taken some of the breed during the past three or four years.
Canada and the United States are also buyers of Dorset Horn
sheep. A few good specimens were sent to Mr. Wm. Rolph,
of Ontario ; and Mr. E. F. Rowditch, of iNIass., imported some
choice sheep in 1887 and 1888. The largest consignment was
in i88g, when Mr. T. S. Cooper, of Pa., U.S.A., imported
153 Dorset Horns, including all the first prize-winners of the

8o SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

year. As the wonderful reproductive powers of this breed
become better known they will, withqut doubt, extend their
borders, not only in England, but wherever sheep for mutton
and lamb are kept. I would add that within my recollection
about half-a-dozen flocks of Dorset Horn sheep only were
kept, and at the present time they are as numerous as Downs,
if not more so. This is in the neighbourhood of Dorchester.*

• I am much indebted to Mr. Chick for so fully answering my questions,
thus giving readers the main facts as to the properties of Dorset sheep up to
the present time. There is one point upon which his information does not
bear out the statements of writers on this breed, as to the time at which house
lamb is available for the market. March or April seems somewhat late, as we
are told that Christmas lamb is chiefly obtained from Dorset ewes lambing
down in September. Youatt tells us that many farmers carried out the prac-
tice of house-feeding on a large scale. A building is usually set apart for the
purpose, divided into coops for lambs, according to their age. Every evening
the ewes are turned into their respective divisions of the lamb house, and each
mother speedily recognises her offspring. They remain together until the
following morning, when they are separated, and the ewes driven back to the
pasture. About a couple of hours after the mothers have been taken away the
ewes whose lambs have been sold are driven in and held until the lambs have
emptied their udders of- milk, when they are driven to a separate enclosure.
At twelve o'clock the mothers are again brought, and remain with their lambs
an hour or two. At four o'clock the foster-mothers are again brought, and after
an hour's compulsory sojourn are again removed. At eight o'clock the mothers
return for the night. The greatest attention is paid to the cleanliness of the
place, and the lambs are supplied with good wheat straw for them to nibble,
and pieces of chalk to lick. Such was the practice in 1837. Those breeders
who lay themselves out for this special trade still manage to have lambs in
their flocks in October and Nove.nber, and these are ready for sale at Christ-
mas.

MOUNTAIN OR FOREST BREEDS.

CHAPTER IX.

MOUNTAIN OR FOREST BREEDS.

The breeds of sheep yet to notice are denizens of mountains,
moors and fells. They roam over the free expanse, and add
life to the scene. They are collectors of revenue, and that
from the most unpromising situations, and in fact constitute
the best means by which the mountain pastures can be con-
verted into wealth. Whether on the sterile uplands of the
Scotch Highlands, the more southern Lammermuirs, the
border hills of Cheviot, the wild moors of Northumberland,
Cumberland, Lancashire, Durham, or Yorkshire, the peak
district of Derbyshii'e, or the picturesque localities of Exmoor
and Dartmoor, these breeds of sheep are to be found. They
are unconfined by hurdles or sheep-nets, and innocent of those
artificial systems of feeding and forcing which are so im-
portant in the management of lowland flocks. What would
be the fate of a pampered Lincoln, Romney INIarsh, or even
of an Oxfordshire or Hampshire Down, if turned out upon
the higher slopes of Ben Lomond or the hills of Ochtertyre ?
How would they stand the storms of Cheviot or of the braes
of Ballochmyle ? Truly, each breed of sheep or of cattle is
adapted for its own particular surroundings, and bold is the
man who would advocate one particular race as suitable for
all localities. We shall commence our study of the mountain
breeds with the Black-faces of the Scotch Highlands, and
afterwards notice the hardy race of the Cheviots, the Herd-
6

32 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

wicks of Westmoreland, the Lonks and Crag sheep of the
Yorkshire and Lancashire moors, and finally describe the forest
and mountain breeds of Wales and Devonshire. The subject
is truly pastoral, and to appreciate it thoroughly the reader
should call to mind the grand beauty of the scenes in which
these sheep form no unimportant part of the picture. So
thought the immortal Burns, who ever and anon in praising
the beauties of his country sang of " yowes " and " hog-

gies " :—

The lee-lang nicht we watched the fauld,

Me and my faithfu' doggie ;
We heard nought but the roaring linn,

Among the braes sae scroggie.

Or, again, in his famous song: —

Ca' the yowes to the knowes,
Ca' them where the heather grows,
Ca' them where the burnie rowes,
Ma bonnie dearie.

The Black-Faced Sheep.

Although best known in connection with the Highlands of
Scotland, it is doubtful whether this race is of English or
Scotch origin. We know with some certainty that they first
obtained a footing in Perthshire and Dumbarton about 120
years ago, and it seems probable that they travelled north-
wards from Yorkshire or Northumberland across the border,
and then gradually displaced an older white breed celebrated
for the fineness of its wool.

David Low says : — " This breed may be supposed to have
found its way into Scotland by the mountains of the Nortli of
England." Youatt says that " it is a common belief in Scot-
land (1837) that the Black-faced sheep are of foreign origin."
There are many traditions as to the advent of the breed.
The Spanish Armada has had the credit of bringing them.
Dr. Walker is also quoted by Youatt as mentioning a tradi-
tion " that this breed was first planted on a farm in Ettrick
Forest by one of the Scottish kings. The flock contained

i|H' .A xV- V ^

f
f

V

THE BLACK-FACED SHEEP. 83

5,000 sheep, kept for the use of the Royal household, and
from that stock the whole of the Black-faced sheep are
descended." This is, in some respects, a circumstantial
account; but it lacks evidence of authenticity, as the name of
the monarch and the authority for the tradition are wanting.
Mr. David Archibald, in his valuable paper upon " The
Black-faced Breed of Sheep," contributed to the Highland
and Agricultural Society's Transactions (vol. xvi., 1884), indeed
fixes this tradition as relating to James IV. of Scotland, and
this he does on the authority of Hogg, the Ettrick shepherd.
Another hypothesis, which at one time was currently re^
ceived, was that the Black-faced sheep originated in a crosii
between goats and sheep. Many other views have been
expressed of a contradictory character, and after carefully
reviewing them all Mr. Archibald has come to the conclusion
" that the origin of the breed is uncertain," and we must,
therefore, take its existence as a fact, and leave the vexed
question as to whether England or Scotland, or some other
country, was the original home of the Black-faces as one which
cannot now be answered. It is, indeed, a matter of regre/
that the origin of a sheep which only appears to have bee*
established in the Highlands of Scotland for the comparativel)
short period of 120 years should be a subject of speculation
and uncertainty, but such seems to be the case. That they
forced their way through a considerable amount of opposition
is evident, for in 1790 Dr. James Anderson wrote that " the
coarse-woolled sheep (the Black-faces) have been debasing
the breed (meaning the old breed then extant) under the
name of improving it." Such complaints are not new to
anyone who has studied the introduction of all the new and
improved races, as has been already shown. We may, how-
ever, rest assured that the Black-faced breed possessed pro-
perties which fitted it for the exposed situations of Scotland,
and it maintains its position better at the present time than
it did only a few years ago. There appears to be no trace of
the white and une-wooUed sheep, with hairy tails, which at

84 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

one time occupied the ground now held by the Black-faced
breed, and there does not seem to be any evidence that they
were modified by crossing with the new race, as was the case
with the old Wiltshire sheep when the Southdowns arose into
eminence.

Descending from the regions of speculation and tradition,
we find that Perthshire and Dumbartonshire were the first
definite homes of the Black-faced breed. Argyleshire was
either at the same or at a slightly later period colonised by
the breed, and from these centres it spread rapidly. These
sheep found an improver in the person of David Dun, of
Kirkton, who has been spoken of as the Scotch Bakewell. In
the Statistical Account of 1795, he is described as having the
best stock of Black-faced ewes that are to be met with in
Scotland. *' They are," it is stated, "completely muir ewes,
and yet they weigh 48 lbs. (22| oz. to the pound)," or nearly
17 lbs. per quarter.

The principal breeders eighty years ago are stated by Mr.
Archibald to have been Welsh (of Earlshaugh), Weir (of
Priesthill), Gillespie (of Douglas Mill), Robertson (of Broom-
lea), Kersie (of Glenbuck), and Foyer (of Knowehead), the
grandfather of the present tenants. All these men were
living about fifty years since. At a later date the breed was
still further improved or maintained by Mr. Foyer (of Knowe-
head), Mr. Watson (of Nesbit), Mr. Watson (of Mitchell
Hill,) Mr. Craig (of Craigdarroch), Mr. Dryfe (of Barr), Mr.
Murray (of Eastside), Mr. Miligan (of Kirkhope), Mr. Sandi-
lands (of Cummerhead), and Mr. M'Kersie (of Glenbuck).

It is always interesting to compare the results obtained in
the past with those of the present. I therefore take an ex-
tract from Youatt, representing what was thought fifty years
ago to represent fairly the capabilities of the Black-faced
breed. Youatt says :— " They have mostly horns, more or
less spirally formed, but the females are frequently without
horns. The faces and legs are black, or, at least, mottled.
They are covered with wool about the forehead and lower

THE BLACK-FACED SHEEP. 85

jaw, and the wool generally is somewhat open and long, and
coarse and shaggy." To this I would add that the face is
rather black and white than black, and that this interchange
of colour ought to be distinct and not blurred. This is what
the Highlander calls the " panting," which should be clear or
well defined. In less improved specimens of the sheep the
spine is liable to be traced by a line of hair (kemps) rather
than true wool. "The weight," says Youatt, "of one of
these sheep when fattened is from i6 to 20 lbs. per quarter,
and the weight of the wool laid or unwashed is about 5 lbs.,
and that of a washed fleece 3 lbs. . . . The weight of one
of these Black-faced sheep is about 16 lbs. per quarter."
Turning to Mr. Archibald's article, written in 1884, or fifty
years later:—" The staple of the wool has been increased
in length from 4 or 5 to 8 or 10 inches, and it has been known
occasionally to be 15 in. long. The weight of the carcase of
eild ewes on good farms commonly averages from 15 lbs. to
16 lbs. per quarter, while in the best flocks they are sometimes
equal to 20 lbs."

The points which are now looked for in a perfect animal are
a thick, broad face, nostrils full, horns low set at the crown
and turned backwards rather than forwards, and with a divi-
sion or clear space between them. The colour of the face
should be black and white, with the black predominating,
moderately clear and bright. The carcase points need not be
enumerated. A slight tuft of wool on the forehead in young
sheep is generally thought to be an indication of good wool.

The management of Black-faced sheep is simple. The
events of turning out the rams, yeaning, castrating, and
weaning are all marked ; but the chief point in management
appears to be the selection of the grazing grounds. The
flocks require the closest attention in winter. As another
authority, WTiting in 1884, said, " For successful sheep-farming,
a careful shepherd is the all-important functionary." His best
qualification is to direct the sheep according to the nature of
the soil and climate and the situation of the farm, in such a

86 sheep: breeds and management.

manner as to obtain the greatest quantity of safe and nutritious
food at all seasons of the year." It is a common practice to
take turnips in the lowlands during the winter. This system
of turniping is found to encourage the growth and muscular
development of young stock. Ewes in lamb are also some-
times allowed a supply of turnips, but, if they can be brought
through without it, there is less danger of mortality at the
lambing season. One of the special dangers to this breed, if
placed on too nutritious diet, is the growth of the horns of the
male lambs before birth, which often causes the loss of both
ewes and offspring. Lambing is general in April, and the
lambs are allowed to remain with their mothers till the middle
of July.

Of late years the Black-faced breed has, to use Mr.
Archibald's expression, had a sharp tussle with the Cheviots ;
but recent severe winters have been the means of confirming
hill farmers in favour of the hardier race.

The distinct character of this race of sheep gives peculiar
interest to the question of origin. It is assumed, as we have
said, as the most probable view that the race was indigenous
to England rather than to Scotland, and that it had crossed
the Border by mountain sheep walks passing between and
connecting Cumberland and Northumberland with Scotland.
The vast extent of the moors of the north requires to be stated.
Commencing in the Peak district of Derbyshire, they extend
by way of Glossop, Ashton, Dewsbury, west of Bradford and
Harrogate, to Whernside, and the Westmoreland mountains,
through the moors around Stanhope-in-Weardale, across to
Hexhamshire, Longtown, and Otterburn, to Cheviot; or
around the eastern boundary of the Solway, into Dumfries,
forming what is known geographically as the Pennine Chain.
The Black-faced breed of sheep has been naturahsed for ages
upon their wide extents of moor and fell, and are to be seen
in great numbers around Rothbury, in Northumberland.
There could, therefore, be no difficulty in their passing freely
from county to county until they reached first the Lowlands,

THE BLACK-FACED SHEEP.

which they appear to have done at an early period, and finally
the Highlands of Scotland, beyond the Grampians, about one
hundred and twenty years ago. Interest in such matters is
comparatively recent, but the silence, or the speculations, of
early writers as to the origin of these sheep are in themselves
evidences of the antiquity of the breed. We sometimes find
it difficult to clearly separate the long-woolled races of
England, as no one can look at Devon long-wools, Wensley-
dale, Leicester, Lincoln, or Romney Marsh sheep without
feeling that they have many points in common. Similarly
the Down breeds have many points of common resemblance,
and may be marked off as forming a second definite group.
The Black-faces and Lonks form a third perfectly distinct
type. The Cheviot sheep form another class, while the Herd-
wicks comprise a fifth group, having little in common with
any yet named or described. How, within the four seas which
bound our land, so many distinct types originated, or became
naturalised, it is now impossible to say, but one of two
theories may be reasonably adopted. First, that they have
had distinct origin, from several wild species. Secondly, that
they have been specialised by peculiarities of soil, of climate
and of food, as well as by the fancy or the requirements of
breeders, as in the case of the various descriptions of pigeons,
and many other domesticated creatures. Both views may in
fact be held ; for we may reasonably believe that there have
been some four or five original types of sheep which, by cross-
ing and cultivation, have at length yielded the many breeds
which we now possess. There is also the possibility of im-
portation, by accident or by intention, of sheep which have
become naturalised among us. Presents of animals have
always been favourite tokens of respect among kings, and it is
possible that our Black-faced breed was obtained in this way.
This consideration gives colour to the statement which as-
cribes the introduction of the Black-faces into Ettrick forest
to James IV. ; but no one has ventured upon explaining how
he became possessed of them.

88 sheep: breeds and management

CHAPTER X.
MOUNTAIN OR FOREST BREEDS (continued).

The Cheviot Breed.

The great Cheviot hill forms a striking object in Northum-
berland. It rises south of Flodden and Wooler, and overlooks
the fertile lands which slope southward and eastward from
its base. Cheviot is composed of trap rock, and is evidently
of volcanic origin. The soil is of better quality than that of
the mountain limestones and grits which form the basis of
the heath country, on which the Black-faced sheep find their
home, Cheviot is clothed with sweet, short herbage to the
summit. It is early and late covered with snow, and its
great altitude exposes it to severe storms during many
months of the year. Here is the home of the Cheviot sheep,
which have been bred there from time immemorial. The
contrast between them and the heath sheep is complete.
They are white-faced and hornless in both sexes. The body
is long in comparison, which has given rise to the expression
long and short sheep in speaking of the two rival races. The
wool is fine and short, instead of coarse and lashy as in the
heath sheep. They are, like most mountain breeds, disposed
to be light in the forequarter. The fact of a well-defined
breed occupying a limited area such as Cheviot, and bearing
no special resemblance to any other breed of sheep, is a

THE CHEVIOT BREED. 8g

curious fact, and one upon which little light can be thrown.
The most probable explanation is that the Cheviot breed is
a survival of breeds of sheep once prevalent in different parts
of Scotland, more or less resembling each other, and the
Cheviot sheep of the present day. While these races have
disappeared, the Cheviot has held his own, and not only so
but has been improved and extended into many other
localities, both north and south of his native hills. Towards
the close of the last century, and up to comparatively recent
times, the Cheviot breed was slowly displacing the Black-
faces, but, as already mentioned, a reaction in favour of the
hardier sheep has set in, owing to a series of severe winters.

Mr. David Archibald tells us that little attempt at im-
proving Cheviot sheep was possible until the end of the
border feuds and forays which disturbed the peace of the
border land in the days of Johnnie Armstrong and other
blackmailers and freebooters. It was not until about fifty
years after the Act of Union, in 1707, that Mr. Robson, of
Belford, worked out the improvement of the Cheviot sheep.
In Douglas's " Survey of Roxburghshire," published in 1796,
and in the "Farmers' Magazine" for 1803, some interesting
particulars as to the early improvement of Cheviot sheep are
given. In the first of these publications it is narrated that,
*' Mr. John Edmistoun, late of Mindrum, Mr. James Robson,
then at Philhope, and Mr. Charles Kerr, then at Ricaltoun,
went to Lincolnshire about the year 1756, and bought four-
teen tups, with which they crossed their sheep with great
success." The statements made in the "Farmers' Magazine"
are equally clear. Giving " an account of the Northumber-
land breed of sheep, and the progressive improvements
thereupon made," a contributor, signing himself, " A North-
umberland Farmer," incidentally mentions Mr. Robson's
selection of these rams, proving that there was a current
opinion in the district to this effect. These Lincoln tups
so improved Mr. Robson's stock as to give his sheep a
decided superiority over those of his neighbours, and for

go SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

many years, after making this cross, " he sold more tups
than one-half of the hill farmers put together."

This then appears to have been the origin of the modern
Cheviot. Sir John Sinclair described them in 1792 as a fine-
woolled breed, and appears to have named them. In a foot-
note to Mr. Archibald's article on Cheviot sheep, it is stated
that on the estabhshment of the British Wool Society in 1791
by the late Sir John Sinclair and other noblemen and gentle-
men, several delegates Vv^ere appointed to visit the principal
sheep districts of England and Scotland to examine the
different breeds, and report upon their merits. During these
investigations a breed was discovered on the borders of Eng-
land and Scotland which Sir John considered well suited for
being bred and reared in Highland districts. They were
White-faced, and from their length were called "the Long
sheep," in contradistinction to the Short or Black-faced
breed. "To these sheep Sir John gave the name of the Cheviot
breed.'' From 1800 to i860 the Cheviot sheep were more and
more on the ascendant, and the Black-faces disappeared from
nearly all the best farms in the south of Scotland, except in
the mountainous districts of Ayrshire and Lanarkshire, and
even in these regions their grazings were encroached upon.
Since i860, as already mentioned, the tide has again turned in
favour of the hardy Black-faced sheep. On the lower and
grassy slopes of the mountains the Cheviot sheep maintains
his position ; but on the higher and less accessible tracts,
where heather takes the place of grass, the Black-faced breed
is best. The points of a good Cheviot sheep are in many
respects similar to those of other good breeds. Omitting those
carcase points which may be supposed to be secured by all
breeders, the coat should be good in quality, thick, and free
from "kemp" hair, and fill the hand well. The head, while
not too heavy, should be bold and broad, well set off by a
bright dark eye, and erect ears of moderate length, covered
with clean, hard, white hair. The nose is Roman in type, the
skin around the mouth black ; and both sexes are hornless. I

HERDWICK SHEEP. 9I

will not enlarge upon the necessity of well-sprung ribs, broad
loins, good legs of mutton, &c., but leave my readers to picture
a hardy, up-standing, white-faced, hornless, and fine-wooUed
sheep, capable of standing the severe winters of Cheviot, but,
nevertheless, one degree less hardy and less independent than
his rival, which, it appears, is once more, as in the history of
some nations, driving out his former conquerors. Upon this
point, however, it would be interesting to hear what the pro-
moters of Cheviot sheep have to say.

Herdwick Sheep.

Visitors to the English Lake country, even of the agricul-
tural sort, do not make sheep their first study, being more
likely to praise the mutton than the animals which yield it.
Dotted over the high grounds of Skiddaw, Langdale Pikes, and
Coniston Old Man, tenanting the beautiful grassy parks
around Grasmere and Ambleside, Kendal and Windermere,
may be seen a rather small but picturesque sheep. If the
visitor is fortunate enough to see this beautiful district in the
merry month of May, when the first blush of beauty has not
been worn from the delicate lacelike foliage, he may also notice
the little black-headed and black-legged lambs of the Herd-
wick breed keeping close to their well-woolled mothers. This
race has kindled a wonderful enthusiasm in its favour amongf
the dalesmen of its beautiful locality. The story goes that
" forty small sheep managed to save themselves from the
wreck of one of those Spanish galleons," which, after Admiral
Francis Drake and Hawkins had broken that famous line,
were driven by tempest along the rugged coasts of the West of
England down into the cruel rocks of the Scottish coast to
certain destruction. On the sandy Cumberland shore at
Drigg these forty sheep saved themselves and " were claimed
as jetsam and flotsam by the lord of the manor." Thus
Spain became once more connected with the history of the
sheep stock of our country. The episode is interesting and

02 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

Stirring, and, if true,* the Herdwick sheep may be looked
upon as the most lasting memorial of one of the greatest
events in English history— the destruction of the famous
Armada in 1588. For 300 years they have held their own,
and are likely to do so as being perfectly suited to their habitat.
I cannot do better than quote the excellent description of
the Herdwick as given by Mr. James Bowstead, than whom
no one knows the race better. " The essential points of a
Herdwick maybe briefly summed up as follows: — A heavy
fleece of fairly strong wool disposed to be hairy on the top of
the shoulder, growing well down to the knees and hocks, pole
and belly well covered, a broad bushy tail, and a well-defined
topping head broad, nose arched or Roman, nostrils and mouth
wide, teeth broad and short, jaws deep, showing strength of
constitution and determination, eye prominent and lively, and,
in the male, defiant, ears white, fine, erect, and always moving,
as has been said, like a butterfly's wing. . . . The colour
or markings of the face and legs is very important. There
should be no spots or speckles, nor any token of brown, as
these are considered sure tokens of a cross. When the lambs
are born their legs and heads should be perfectly black, with
the exception of a little white on the tips of the ears, and per-
haps a few white hairs round the feet. These white hairs
gradually increase, so that at six months old one-third or half
the ear will be hoar-frosted, and there will be distinct bands
of the same round the feet, shading off to the black of the leg,
and by this time also about an inch of the muzzle will have
become frosted too. This change of colour goes on until some,
at the age of three years, are perfectly white, whilst others
remain a kind of steel grey. . . . Horns in the rams are

* Like many other traditions this may, however, be open to doubt, as it
is also stated on authority that the Herdwick sheep were originally derived
from a ship stranded early in the last century, which was lost on the Cumber-
land coast. The sheep were saved and driven up the country, and purchased
by some farmers who lived at Wardale Head in the neighbourhood of Kes-
wick.— J. W.

HERDWICK SHEEP. 93

desirable, but not essential, and undoubtedly add much to the
appearance, but otherwise are not much valued. When present
they should rise out well at the back of the head, be smooth,
and well curled. White hoofs are much preferred," This
careful description shows that in the Herdwick we have a
distinct breed, readily distinguished, full of character, and not
to be confused with any other. I quote one more sentence
from Mr. Bowstead which, like those already given, indicates
the real love of a Cumberland man for the breed of his dis-
trict, and a disposition to clothe them with a romantic interest.
"There are many yeomen in the dales of Cumberland and
Westmoreland whose flocks have been handed down from
father to son for generations without a blot or stain on their
pedigrees, and he would be a degenerate son who would
dare to try a cross." Bravo ! In such hands the traditions
of a breed may safely rest, and its qualities run small risk
of deterioration or alteration.

At the Chester meeting of the " Royal " in 1893 many good
specimens of this breed were exhibited. The second prize
ram was nearly black in fleece. The swarthiness of the wool
did not seem to constitute an objection in the eyes of the
judges, and most of the rams carried dark wool on the
shoulders and mane.

The Herdwicks possess properties which adapt them for
a mountain Hfe. They are said to select as a resting place
those parts of the pasture in which they are not liable to
be overblown by snow and entombed in wreaths. Also to
scrape away the snow to a considerable depth with their feet
in order to find the short and scant grass beneath.

The management of Herdwick sheep partakes of the
general simplicity of sheep farming in mountainous districts.
The animals are very independent, and able in a great
measure to take care of themselves. The monotony of their
lives (and of that of their shepherds) is broken by such lead-
ing events as lambing, castrating, washing, clipping, dipping,
and selling at the fairs at Cockermouth, Penrith, and Kendal,

94

sheep: breeds and management.

and many find their way from these fairs into various parts
of the country. While most EngHsh farmers are looking
upon the lambing time as a thing of the past, the Cumberland
and Westmoreland dalesmen are just about to welcome the
little strangers. The rams are turned out from about Novem-
ber 20th to Christmas, so that lambing may be expected
from April 17th to May 22nd.

The Lonk.

It is in vain that we search for notices of " the Lonk "
breed in any of the older standard works on sheep. Youatt
does not name the breed in his memorable treatise, which
extends over 600 pages, exclusively devoted to sheep. Under
the heading Lancashire, he tells us that "the prevailing breed
(1837), is what is here called the Woodland horned sheep, a
variety of the heath or mountain sheep. . . They are found
pure or with almost every variety of cross ; but the principal
crosses, and which are decided improvements, are, according
to the nature of the country with the Leicester or the South-
down, and by means of which both the carcase and the wool
are increased in weight and value." It is also noticeable that
in describing the farming of Lancashire in 1849, Mr. William
James Garnett (Prize Report, vol. x.,R.A.S.J.) states decidedly
that " there is no breed of sheep peculiar to the county." In
Morton's " Cyclopaedia " no mention is made of this breed.
David Low seems to have been ignorant of its existence.
While, as already said, the old writers do not name the Lonk,
Youatt evidently had him in his mind when he penned the fol-
lowing passage : " In the West Riding of Yorkshire and on the
borders of Lancashire, a breed of short-woolled sheep has
existed from time immemorial. They are horned, with mottled
faces and legs; some of them, however, are white faced. They
are called the Penistone sheep, from the town situated between
Sheffield and Huddersfield to which they are usually driven
for sale. There is the same or a kindred race in Craven. It

THE LONK. Q5

has been crosiied more towards the south of the Riding with
the Cheviot and the Leicester, and has been improved by
both. Towards the north it has been oftener crossed with the
Heath sheep, and then the legs and faces are black, or grey or
spotted." This appears to fit with a remark found below,
that " the Penistone breed is a shorter and thicker description
of Lonk."

About thirty years ago a notice of these sheep, by the late
H. H. Dixon, known as " The Druid," appeared in volume ii.
2nd series, of the Royal Agricultural Society's Journal, from
which we make the following extract : — " The hill ranges of
Yorkshire and Lancashire are believed to be the earliest home
of the Lonks. We find them extending north from Clitheroe
over the forest of Bowland towards Lancaster, east of Colne
and Skipton as far as Keighley and Ben Rhydding, and south
along the ' back-bone of England ' by Pendle Hill, Burnley,
Todmorden and Bacup, almost to Blackstone Edge. The
Penistone breed, a shorter and thicker description of Lonk,
there hold the hills. Saddleworth has also a large and plain
sheep of its own with white face and legs, and coarse bone.
The Saddleworth is a slower feeder than the common Lonk.
Derbyshire also has Lonks on most of its hills and peaks, and
its flock masters often go over to ' report progress ' at the
Craven show."

The Lonks are a distinct breed, and are most valued on low
lying, damp and mossy land. They are like the Heath sheep,
black and white faced, horned in both sexes, carrying a
superior fleece of fine, moderately long wool, which is closer in
texture and more springy and elastic than the wool of the
Scotch Black faces. The bieed is peculiar for resisting the
effects of a damp soil. The Lonk is a larger, thicker made,
and better woolled sheep than the Scotch Black-faced, and
was well represented at the show of the Royal at Chester in
1893.

g6 sheep : breeds and management.

The Limestone or Crag Sheep.

In connection with the last-named sheep, there is another
breed which is stated to divide the rough and undulating
moorlands which constitute so large a proportion of East
Lancashire and West Yorkshire. Both of these breeds were
well represented at the Manchester meeting of the Royal
Agricultural Society. Like the Lonks, they do not appear in
any older descriptions of British sheep, but their existence is
indicated rather than asserted. Youatt tells us that ' towards
the borders of Westmoreland the Limestone breed of sheep
are found. They are natives of that part of the country, and
singularly confined to it. It is a horned breed, with white
faces and legs, depasturing on a rocky limestone land."

Here we have the nearest approach to a description of the
present Crag or Limestone sheep which we can find. I had
the opportunity of examining specimens bred by Mr. Rowland
Parker, of Moors End, Pourton, Westmoreland, at the Man-
chester Exhibition of the Royal Agricultural Society so long
ago as 1869, and was able to describe them from life in the
following words : " Both sexes horned, face and legs white,
wool firm, intermediate in length, and inclining to the character
of short rather than of long wool. Mr. Parker's flock clip on
an average ylbs. each sheep. Mr. Parker rears and feeds
up his wether lambs entirely on the ' inland ' ground, and
raises them to from 18 to 22lbs. per quarter at twenty months
old. The ewe lambs are kept in the ' inland ' until they are
one year old, and then go to the ' common ' or high
ground from May to October. They are again brought down
to the inland in October and put to the ram. Mr. Parker
speaks to the prolific character of the females. Out of fifty-
four ewes thirteen produced three lambs each, while the entire
fifty-four brought up ninety-six to weaning time." The Crag
sheep are well adapted for the dry and high lying moors of the
mountain limestone, and are able to subsist almost without
water.

TllL DAUTMOOK AND KXMOOR SHEEP.

The Dartmoor Sheep.

97

The Dartmoor sheep of to-day are a large, long-woolled
variety rivaUing in size the Cotswold, Lincoln or Romney
Marsh breeds. They are the result of crossing the original
Dartmoor sheep with Leicesters and Lincolns and do not give
the idea of a forest or mountain race. They must be very
different indeed from the "wild Dartmoor sheep" or "ugly
old Dartmoors" of which Youatt speaks. At the Plymouth
meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society there was a fine
show of Dartmoor sheep which appeared about as like to the
old-fashioned Dartmoor breed as a London alderman might
be to an ancient Briton. Allowing for the influences of show-
yard training, we can only now regard the Dartmoor as one
of the heavy long-woolled, hornless and white-faced races of
sheep, with such an amount of the old nature as suffices to
enure him to the severe winters of his native home.

The Exmoor Sheep.

As in the case of the Dartmoor breed of sheep, time has
wrought great changes during the last fifty years. Then the
sheep of both Dartmoor and Exmoor appear to have been
similar to the Dorset Horns, although some were polled.
They were small in the head and neck, small in bone every-
where ; the carcase was narrow and flat-sided, and they weighed
when fat from g to 12 lbs. per quarter. They were the material
from which the celebrated Okehampton mutton was derived,
and they carried a fleece of rather short middle-wool weighing
from 3 to 4 lbs. of coarse and inferior quality. Even then
the Leicesters were working wonders with the Devonshire
aboriginal sheep, and the result is seen in the remarkable
improvement and complete change in size and appearance
which has taken place. If space permitted we could give
instances of the wild nature and roaming habits of the original
Exmoors, but sufficient has been said to show that they were
a genuine forest or moorland breed before they were crossed
7

^8 sheep: breeds and management.

with the civilising Leicester. The modern Exmoor is much
less than the Dartmoor, and is horned in both sexes, white-faced
and covered with wool of the same character as that of the
Leicester sheep. The close affinity with the Dorset men-
tioned by Youatt is no longer apparent, although activity and
hardihood are still retained, together with a superior quality
of mutton.

WELSH SHEEP.

Mr. W. Little, of Aberamon, near Aberdare, says of Welsh
sheep: — "Most of the writers on British sheep dispose of
those of Wales in a single sentence or thereabouts, as scarcely
worthy of notice." This is scarcely fair, as Youatt devotes
twelve closely-written pages to the sheep of Wales, taking
each county seriatim. He, in fact, bestows more attention
upon this subject than any other old writer.

As might be expected, the sheep of the Principality are
divided into those adapted for the mountains and those more
suitable for the valleys. It is on the high and picturesque
parts of both North and South Wales that the native races
are still found. The richer and lower lands are stocked with
Cotswold, Shropshire, Oxford Down, Leicester, or with cross-
bred sheep, in which all these breeds have been used.

Glamorganshire Sheep
It is impossible to give more than a general sketch of the
sheep of South Wales. As a representative county we take
Glamorganshire, bounded on the south by the Bristol
Channel, and on the east, north and west by the counties
of Monmouth, Brecknock and Caermarthen. Mr. Little, in
writing upon the sheep of this district, informs us that the
mountain land of Glamorganshire, though not rising to a
great elevation, is bare, bleak and unsheltered. Its average
value may be put down at 3s. to 3s. 6d. per acre per annum,
whilst the enclosed patches around the homesteads may be
valued at 7s. 6d. to los. per annum. The sheep are small,

RADNOR SHEEP. gg

with few good points in shape and symmetry. They have
white faces and legs, and, as a rule, are without horns, and
they grow a short close wool, not wholly devoid of kemps
or hairs. Some of them have brown or tawny legs and
faces, and these are considered good points, denoting hardiness
of constitution. The average weight of the mountain ewe,
when fat, at four or five years old, is 28 lbs., or 7 lbs. per
quarter, whilst the wether at four years old does well if he
comes up to 40 lbs., or 10 lbs. per quarter. They are justly
celebrated for the quality and flavour of their mutton, which
attains perfection at four years old. Attempts at improve-
ments are generally in the direction of crossing the native
breed with Cheviot, Scotch Black-faced, and other rams, but
unless the produce is much better kept during the winter
than is usually the case, the cross-bred stock prove a com-
parative failure. It is found that the hill sheep of the district
are most safely and surely improved by importations from
Cardiganshire and North Wales.

Radnor Sheep.
In the county of Radnor, on the hills of Brecknock and in
the western parts of Montgomery, and parts of Alerioneth,
remains a breed of the native dark-faced sheep of Wales, a
hardy, active race, developed by good management and selec-
tion into animals of larger size than the ordinary mountain
sheep, and carrying heavier fleeces. They have been im-
proved by the introduction of a cross of Shropshire and of
Leicester blood. The old breed was very small, and a great
point with breeders was a very large tail, heavily woolled,
and a quantity of coarse wool or hair about the breast. The
best kind of Radnor sheep have black faces, but many are
of a tan, grimy, or grey colour, and some, of unquestionable
purity of strain, have faces partly white. The rams are
horned, and the ewes should be hornless. They are short-
legged, light in the fore-quarter, and, though slow feeders,
yield mutton of excellent flavour. At three or four years old

lOO sheep: breeds and management.

the wethers weigh 14 or 15 lbs. per quarter. The wool is of
fine quality and weighs 4 or 5 lbs. the fleece. The ewes are
prolific, and good nurses, and large numbers of them are
sold into adjoining English counties to breed fat lambs by
crossing with Shropshire, Leicester and Cotswold rams. The
principal fairs are Kington, Knighton and Builth.

Sheep of North Wales.

That indefatigable writer, the late Mr. John Algernon
Clarke, informs us that there is no material difference between
the mountain sheep of the northern and southern counties of
the Principality. The best strains of Radnor sheep have
already been described as black-faced, although this character
is by no means universal among them. Mr. Morgan Evans
thus describes the ordinary mountain sheep : " They are
principally white-faced, but some have rusty brown faces,
some speckled, and others grey. The males are horned, and
the ewes generally hornless, though they sometimes have
very short horns, and are occasionally found with horns equal
in size to those of the rams. The poll is generally clean, but
sometimes a tuft is found on the forehead of the ram. The
head is small and carried well up, the neck is long and the
poll high. The shoulders are low, the chest is narrow, the
girth small, and the ribs flat. The rump is high, and the
tail long. The average weight of ewes is about 7 lbs. per
quarter. The wethers weigh at three years old g to 10 lbs.
per quarter, and the mutton is famous for its delicacy. The
average clip of wool is about 5 lbs. per fleece of fine quality,
but in some districts it is mixed with long hairs (Kemps)
about the neck and back,"'

These little sheep seem to be naturally adapted for the
barren and high-lying tracts which they inhabit, and no
successful effort appears to have been made to improve
them. In 1865 Mr. H. H. Dixon reviewed the various
attempts. The result of a cross with the Scotch Black

CLUN FOREST SHEEP. lOl

faces was an increase both in wool and weight of carcase
but it was not persisted in, as the wool became coarse,
and the mutton rather yellow. The Cheviot cross increased
the weight of both fleece and carcase, but produced a sheep
too heavy for the mountain grazings. It was also found that
the mutton tended to become light in colour. No pure Welsh
leg of mutton should exceed 44 lbs. weight, and larger ones
are doubtful in their origin. In 1885 we find the same pre-
judice and the same verdict. Mr. Little, who has been
previously quoted as an authority on Glamorganshire sheep,
wrote at that date as follows : " I have myself been trying to
improve the native mountain sheep for the last twelve years,
but I am compelled to confess with very varying success.
Many north country men have made persistent efforts to
substitute Cheviots or Cheviot crosses for the Welsh sheep,
but have been compelled to abandon them, after buying their
experience somewhat dearly. Cheviot crosses have succeeded
better on the more grassy hills of Brecknockshire, which rest
on the old red sandstone, but they rarely succeed on hills
lying on the coal measures."

There was a fair show of these sheep at the Royal Show at
Chester, 1S93. The rams were all handsomely horned. The
ewes were hornless, and bare on the head. The noses were
black and the faces and shanks were white. The faces were
generally slightly rusty, or shaded with light yellow spots on
ears, face, and also on the legs. One of the first prize ewes
was pecuHar for a rusty or light yellow face. The weights of
these sheep appeared to be from 12 to 14 lbs. per quarter in
the case of shearling ewes, and up to 16 lbs. per quarter in
the case of two-shear and older ewes. These were unusually
fine specimens selected for competition from the best flocks.

Clun Forest Sheep.
The Clun Forest sheep was originally a white polled variety,
from 12 to 14 lbs. the quarter, carrying a fleece of from 2^ to
3 lbs. Radnor Forest and Clun Forest form the boundary

102 sheep: breeds and management.

between Montgomery and Shropshire. This tract has for
many years past been mostly under cultivation, and the im-
provement of its sheep has progressed with the development
of its agriculture. The hardy Clun Forest ewes have been
mated with Shropshire and Ryeland rams, and the result has
been an improved type of sheep, which still bear the old
name. Like all composite breeds not boasting a long lineage,
the breed has scarcely yet advanced to a fixed or undeviating
type. The colour of the face varies from fawn-coloured
broken with white, to black or mottled. Both wool and meat
are of excellent quality, and the race also is possessed of the
valuable property of early maturity, far in advance of most
farm breeds. Much, no doubt, remains to be done, but that
the material exists cannot be denied.

m-:^

APPARENT DIFFERENCES IN BREEDS. !03

CHAPTER XI.

APPARENT DIFFERENCES IN BREEDS.

The minute differences between breeds of sheep receive
but little attention. If we glance over a description of a
race given by a breeder, we usually find an account which
might do equally well for almost any other kind of sheep.
We are probably told that the breed is remarkable for pro-
ducing high-class wool and mutton, that it is singularly well
covered on the back, well developed in the leg and shoulder,
up-standing, hardy, and rent-paying. We may wonder why
these points should be particularly mentioned, since they
are not peculiar to any one breed, but are claimed for all.
And yet the answer to this objection would doubtless be
that they are the most important points, and that, if not
present, the sheep would scarcely deserve a detailed notice.
So recently as at the Plymouth meeting of the Royal in
1890, I asked one of the best judges and breeders of a well-
known breed of sheep to tell me what were the actual points
of difference between his breed and another which bore a
striking outward resemblance to it. His reply was very
characteristic. He said, " Nothing is easier— the difference
is this. These sheep [his] possess all the excellences of the
other breed, and a good many more besides." This is all the
information I could get, but it is evident that if a promoter
of the other breed had been asked the same question he
might reasonably enough have given a similar answer.

LEICESTERS AND LINCOLNS. I05

If the heads are closely observed it will be seen that the
Shropshire sheep has a rounder profile, and is more com-
pletely clothed with wool towards his nose and mouth. His
legs are also woolled down to his feet in great profusion —
the general appearance of the head suggesting the Merino.
The ears are still more characteristic, for they are short,
thin, and rounded, and often light coloured at the tips. The
Oxford ear is longer and thicker, and shows the origin of the
breed from Hampshire and Cotswold parentage. The face
of the Oxford is more wedge-shaped, the muzzle and lips are
thicker, and the nostrils are more expanded. The face of
the Oxford is more varied in colour, from rich brown to the
same with splashes of light grey. The ear is the most strik-
ing point of difference, and the contrast between the large
and bold ear of the Oxford and the rounded, short ear of
the Shropshire is very marked. Many Shropshire sheep at
Plymouth exhibited folds of skin about the throat and neck
which forcibly reminded the observer of the Merino type.
Loose skin about the throat such as many of those sheep
carried would be considered objectionable by judges of
Oxford or of Hampshire Downs, A Hampshire sheep thus
furnished would at once be dubbed as " throaty," and would
not command a high price in a ram sale. This feature was,
however, apparently accepted as correct by the judges of
Shropshires.

Leicesters and Lincolns.

The chief differences between Leicesters and Lincolns are
seen in the larger and bolder heads of the latter, which are
much more robust in type. The modern Leicester is also
smaller in carcase and finer in bone than the Lincoln, which
is paramount in point of size and weight of all our breeds of
sheep. The Lincoln wool is displayed in large and bold
masses, and is denser, stronger, and very much longer and
heavier than that of the Leicester. The face of the Lincoln

io6 sheep: breeds and management.

is more uniformly white, whereas dark or black spots are
often to be seen on the ears and faces of the Leicester.

SOUTHDOWNS AND HAMPSHIRE DoWNS.

These two breeds are easily distinguished. In the South-
down is seen absolute perfection of form. We shall never
see him surpassed in this particular by any breed. The
plum-like outline, short and carefully-trimmed coat, and small
amount of waste or offal are distinguishing characters. In
size they are much less than the Hampshire Down, and, as is
often the case with small animals, their symmetry is beautiful.
The colour has become progressively lighter during the last
thirty years, and in some of the specimens (not, however,
decorated) the face might also be described as white, or very
light grey. The head is dish-faced or flat in profile, and the
ears are short and round, and often light in tint. The colour
of the face of most of the prize-takers was a light fawn.

The Hampshire Down is much larger and bolder in form,
and falls little behind the Southdown in fulness and symmetry.
The old faults of neck, shoulder and rump have long disap-
peared under careful breeding, and for width of carcase and
utility of form they will give way to no breed. Still, the
Southdown must be considered as superior in its exquisitely
rounded contour of form. The head of the Hampshire is al-
most black, and well covered between the ears, which are long,
and fall away from the head, giving great width to the pole.
This lopping of the ear may be carried too far, but must be
considered as characteristic. The short ears of the South-
down are more erect, and are set rather more within the
outline of the head. The nose of the Hampshire is thick
and bold in the ram, and more rounded than in the South-
down. The Hampshire is cleaner under the throat than the
Shropshire, as already mentioned. It is next to the Lincoln
in actual weight. The chief point of excellence in the Hamp-
shire Down is its extreme earliness of maturity. No breed

COTSWOLDS AND LEICESTERS. IO7

can touch it in this particular. It is as a lamb that he is
seen at perfection, whereas, with all respect to a recent result,
Cotswold lambs cannot compare with them in this respect.

LiNCOLNS AND WeST-CoUNTRY LoXGWOOLS.

The West-Country Longwools appear to have been based
upon the original Devon Long-wooUed sheep, improved by
Leicester and Lincoln crosses. We were not able to see any
particular distinction between this breed and Lincolns, except
the artificial red colour, which did not add to their attractions.
They are a useful breed of sheep, and well adapted for the
West of England, and possibly for other localities also.

Dartmoor and Exmoor Sheep.

These two breeds are very distinct from each other. In
the Dartmoor we have a large long-woolled, or, at least,
heavy-fleeced sheep, rivalling in size the large, long-woolled
races such as Cotswolds, Lincolns, or Romney Marsh. It is
hornless and white-faced. The Exmoor is horned in both
sexes, white-faced, covered well with dense wool of rather
long staple, and massed together after the style of the
Leicester.

It is much smaller than the Dartmoor sheep, and has more
of the character of a mountaineer.

The Somerset and Dorset Horns
constitute another very distinct breed, by no means resem-
bling the last two. The white face, pink nose, horns and
short wool, as well as the lighter form, closely mark out the
Dorset horn as a definite race.

COTSWOLDS and LeICESTERS.

These two races are easily distinguished. The Cotswold
fleece is usually seen in bold, open curls, contrasting with the

io8

sheep: breeds and management.

closely turned spiral curl of the Leicester wool or the dense
massive wool of the Lincoln, The Cotswold also boasts a
rather long and erectly-carried head, and long top-knot,
whereas both Leicester and Lincoln have short and horizontal
necks, and a tuft of wool rather than a flowing top-knot.
The features of the Cotswold are finer in outline, narrower,
and whiter.

THE EWE I'l.OCK. lOQ

CHAPTER XII.

THE MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP.
The Ewe Flock.

The flock is always composed of ewes of various ages.
Much has been said of late years upon the advantage of
breeding from ewe lambs, but I cannot approve the suggestion.
Nature will not be hurried with impunity, and for an animal
to undergo the trials of maternity when it is not itself arrived
at half its proper size is repugnant to her laws. If ample
frames are to be perpetuated, the females should be fairly
mature before they are placed in the breeding flock, and this
is best accomplished by allowing them to bring their first lamb
at two years old. This opinion may be challenged, but upon
what ground but that of greed can the alternative be defended ?
Let anyone apply the rule to the case of other animals, and he
will see that to begin breeding from females at too early an
age is inconsistent with common sense. The case of sheep is
peculiar in this respect, that there is no choice between
lambing at one year and at two years old.

With other animals a compromise may be effected in terms
of half-years, quarters, or months, and the different practices
of breeders are thus only slightly divergent ; but a whole
year, or at least nine or ten months, is a long period in the life
of a young ewe. I am, therefore, of opinion that as we must
choose between half a year and a year and a half before
mating our young ewes, we had better err on the side of

no sheep: breeds and management.

leisure, and I think ewes thus treated will last longer. It
should also be remembered that a few years ago ewes were
often kept from breeding lamb until they were three years old,
with very good result. We have now universally adopted
two years as the best period, but the age is not hkely to be
further lowered with advantage.

The case of ram lambs stands upon a different footing
altogether. They have not to undergo the protracted trials
which, with the female, extend through the period of gesta-
tion and nursing, and, besides, ram lambs may be lightly
worked if it is thought desirable, whereas there is no mitiga-
tion for the female. The best answer to these criticisms
would probably be from the experience of those who think
otherwise, but I should even then doubt whether a better
result in the long run would not be obtained by those gentle-
men who are thus working at a high pressure, if they adopted
a less rapid course of action.

Our flock will then consist of one-fourth part, or rather
more, of two-tooth ewes ; one-fourth, or rather less, of four-
tooth ewes ; one-fourth of six-tooth ewes : and one-fourth of
full-mouthed and over-year ewes. In a flock of 600 ewes the
relative numbers would be about as follows : —

, 160 two-tooth ewes.

155 four-tooth ewes.
145 six-tooth ewes.
140 full-mouthed and older ewes.

600

This proportion allows for losses, and maintains a young
flock at a maximum value.

Even by adopting this course it will be found that the
two-tooth section requires the greatest amount of care both
before and after lambing. They need better keep during
pregnancy, and more liberal treatment after yeaning. This is
done without much difficulty, as the extra indulgence consists
either in giving a small allowance of cake or corn, or some-
what better hay and better fodder — or it may be cut hay —

THE EWE FLOCK. Ill

while the older ewes are eating long hay, or hay and straw
chaflf.

The lambing period extends from January ist to about the
end of March. The well-being of a young lamb depends to a
greater degree upon its food than upon the mildness of the
weather, and these young creatures, if well supplied with milk
and other foods, will stand any ordinary degree of cold and
driving rain or sleet. Sheltered behind their mothers, or
crouching beside a sheep trough, or behind a fence of thatched
hurdles these young creatures will look bright and cheerful
even in the severest weather — but we are anticipating.

Success in the lambing pen depends upon the previous
treatment of the flock, and it is necessary to briefly sketch
out the proper course to be pursued. The most trying months
for early-lambing flocks are November and December. It is
during these months that the change of food from grass and
green food to turnips takes place. It is then that heavy falls of
rain render the folds slippery and sodden. It is then that the
farmer may delay too long the cutting of his hayricks. It is
then that mistakes are made, and as these mistakes do not
always tell disastrously, they are perpetuated. If a ewe flock
is to be kept healthy it should as far as possible be kept on
grass land. Those who enjoy the privilege of the gracing
of a park have a capital opportunity ; while those who must
maintain their flocks entirely upon arable land are more
liable to mischances. In any case, the rules for success are :
— A small allowance of turnips and a full allowance of dry
food. A firm and dry lair is of scarcely less importance, and
I believe that, taking one year with another, the flockmaster
who insures these conditions will experience what is called
" luck " during lambing. Swedish turnips are not good for
in-lamb ewes, i.e., white and yellow turnips are to be pre-
preferred. Second growth rape ought to be avoided, and
mangel leaves are not good for a breeding flock. Mr. Robert
Russell many years ago gave his opinion against ewes being
allowed to run on stubbles, as he thought they found poisonous

112 sheep: breeds and management.

weeds there which injured them, I think this conckision is
scarcely borne out by the practice of others, and that the dry
footing, and exercise obtained in such back-runs are good for
ewes. It is not, as a rule, necessary to " cake" ewes before
lambing, but as soon as yeaning takes place, or shortly after-
wards, we can scarcely treat them too liberally.

Winter Management of Ewes.

Lambing-time no doubt brings the heaviest mortahty, but
the evil is contracted earlier. Months before, v/hen the trials
of lambing are scarcely thought of, and even before the ram is
turned out, the seeds of mortality are sown. Why is the
death-rate so abnormally high among ewes ? Why do we
lose a score of ewes to every cow that succumbs to the trials
of calving ? This is not only a matter of comparative numbers.
It is true that we keep many more sheep than cows, but the
hard fact remains that 3 per cent, of our ewes die, and a loss
of 5 per cent, is regarded by many sheep farmers with calm-
ness, if not complacency.

Such a loss among cow stock would be considered ruinous,
and would be looked upon as a symptom of grave mismanage-
ment. On the other hand, there are flocks in which the
mortality is reduced within much narrower limits. How far
we can always trust the rosy accounts which we hear after
yeaning has passed, may be a matter open to doubt. Sheep
farmers are not entirely free from a laudable wish to put their
best foot foremost, and we may well discount some of these
glowing reports of no " losses."

The word '* loss " has a somewhat elastic meaning, as no
sheep is absolutely lost if a part of its value has been recover-
able. We, however, know flocks in which either from con-
stitutional vigour, the nature of the soil, or management, very
little loss is experienced, and we are inclined to think that this
immunity arises from the observance of certain simple rules.
Making every allowance, it is no doubt true that the amount

WINTER MANAGEMENT OF EWES.

^13

of preventable mortality among breeding ewes is very serious
and our object is to enquire how far improved management
can lower it.

In the case of ewes we find most deaths occur during and
immediately after lambing, and that fatal cases are confined to
about three months out of the twelve. Still, as already said,
the evil is often done months before death occurs, and con-
sequently continuous care is needed. We have known a heavy
mortality among two-tooth ewes in January, which had been
shorn as lambs eighteen months previously. They showed
symptoms of having contracted a chill, as the flesh under the
skin was red Avith congested blood, and we attributed the
unhealthy condition of the animals to the removal of the wool,
and exposure to cold and rain. Much damage may be done
to a ewe flock by turning the animals out on cold nights im-
mediately after shearing, and a yard with thatched hurdles or a
well-sheltered paddock will be found serviceable at this period.
Better still is it to put off shearing until the weather is warm,
and the loss of the fleece can be borne without risk.

One day's starvation will tell injuriously upon ewes. They
should not be allowed to become ravenously hungry or to be
mistimed in feeding, as such mismanagement may easily result
in losses at lambing time. Over driving and dogging have
often been mentioned as injurious to ewes, as they no doubt
are, and careful shepherds know how the injury remains after
the cause has ceased to be apparent. A fruitful cause of loss
among ewes is exposure to untoward conditions in November.
The ewes are then getting heavy in lamb. They have been
maintained on wholesome food and on a sound footing through
summer and early autumn. During- October they have
scarcely felt the effects of the changing season, but in
November the nights become cold, and frosty rimes cover the
grass. Hoar frosts are proverbially followed by rain, and the
flock is exposed to those steady downpours which are charac-
teristic of the month.

The ewes show symptoms of having had a " rough " time,
8

1X4. sheep: breeds and management.

and stand with their ears hanging and their backs up. The
footing is rendered insecure and sUppery, and this becomes a
source of danger, especially upon sloping ground. If the
ewes are upon turnips the food becomes dirty, and the whole
appearance of both sheep and sheep-fold is one of desolation.
The shepherd sees the danger and probably warns his master,
and there is a rush to the hayricks in order to counteract the
mischief. In many cases, however, the evil is already done,
and the effect is seen either in slipping, or, subsequently, in
the birth of dead lambs, and the loss of ewes in lambing.

These evils are easily preventable by the exercise of a little
forethought. The cropping of a farm can be so contrived as
to preserve a piece of old seeds or stubble as a back run.
Ewes can be folded upon grass or stubble, and have their
roots carted to them in limited quantity. Orders can be
given to remove the flock from sideling ground of sticky
character during wet weather, and to place them upon a dry,
level field. Attention to these important matters of general
management are most important, but are readily overlooked,
simply because changes of weather often find the farmer
unprepared, and the mischief is done before he has time to
turn round and face it.

Flockmasters who have a range of unbroken downs or the
run of a park, are placed at an advantage in comparison with
those who are restricted to the limits of an ordinary farm.
We know of few pleasanter sights than to see a flock spread
over a wide extent of grass land or lying down on the dry and
elastic turf. Such ewes are likelj^ to have luck in lambing.
Old seeds and old pieces of sainfoin may in a measure make
up for these advantages, and it is often Avith the object of
securing a healthy position in bad weather that such pieces
are retained. The contrast between such a lair and a close
fold upon turnips with the animals knee deep in mire is
enough to reveal the reasons for good and bad " luck."

LongwooUed sheep require more room and greater freedom
than the Down breeds. These last may be run more thickly

WINTER IIANAGEMENT OF EWES. 115

Upon the ground, and are less impatient of folding. In all
cases the above considerations will make it evident that light
soils of rather low average fertility are on the whole more
suitable for carrying ewes than stronger and better soils. It
is not merely a question of quality but of room, as the
invariable tendency of good land is towards heavy stocking,
and for this purpose dry sheep are more suitable than a
breeding flock.

The feeding of ewes during November and up to lambing-
time is a matter of first-class importance. Hay should be
given in small quantities before October ends. It is the best
safeguard against gorging with roots. The appetite must be
satisfied, and if its edge is removed by a little sound hay or
hay chafi", the ewes wall partake of their roots moderately and
quietly. There is no need to give cake or any other concen-
trated or expensive food until after yeaning. An outrun over
down or dry pasture, a feed of hay, and a few roots are all
that is needed. If asked as to quantity, we should say that
if half a pound of hay per head is given from say October
20th, and increase up to lib. per head per day by December
1st, it should suffice.

Supposing the ewes to have a good run over down or old
seeds, i2lb. to 151b. of roots per head would be enough, or
about a cartload (i2cwt.) to every 100 ewes daily. In mild
weather ewes will not eat inferior hay, but when the tempera-
ture falls below freezing they are less fastidious. Again in
the spring ewes begin to be dainty as to the quality of their
hay.

Two-tooth ewes require better food than old stock ewes,
and are usually kept in a separate lot. A rather better quality
of hay and a better choice of ground will be all that is
requisite, and cake and corn are no more necessary at th'if
time of year for the two-tooths than for the main flock.

Ewe tegs may be allowed a small allowance of concentrated
food in order to maintain growth and size.

Ewes thus kept will cost about 4d. to 6d. per week, accord-

ii6 sheep: breeds and management.

ing to the allowance of hay. When kept entirely upon " what
they can pull," together with a few turnips, the first figure will
represent the cost, and i lb. of hay may be reckoned to cost
2d. per week at 53s. 4d. per ton feeding value.

Ewes should be maintained in good healthy store condition
up to lambing-time, and it is only after parturition is over, and
the ewe and lamb are ready to go out of the pen, that the quality
of the food need be improved. It is then that we should advise
an increasing allowance of cake, oats, and malt culms for the
ewes, and peas and malt for the lambs ; for nothing pays better
for pushing quickly forward with plenty of good food than a
nicely-bred lot of lambs.

The rules already given for the management of ewes in lamb
are extremely simple, and yet are constantly being broken.
They are as follows : — (i) a firm and dry lair ; (2) plenty of dry
fodder ; (3) care, gentleness, and regularity.

With such simple rules to guide him it might well be asked
why any person should transgress them ? To this question we
reply that the peculiarities of the season, and the requirements
of the farm are constantly bringing pressure upon the farmer.
He is from these causes subjected to a sort of temptation.

For example, a heavy root crop is in itself an inducement to
both farmer and shepherd to feed the ewes liberally. In a
sense they mitst be consumed, must be got rid of, and hence
the known principle of giving roots in sparing quantities is
neglected. Again, hay may be scarce, and the farmer, in his
endeavours to make it last, delays cutting into his ricks. He
knows by experience that, when once cut into, a rick soon goes,
and he therefore delays making a commencement. In the
meanwhile, the ewe flock suffers. Farmers know the heavy
expense of chaff-cutting and of purchasing food, and the vast
importance of keeping a check upon outgoings ; and hence
they may go beyond the limits of legitimate economy, and
sufler later by a stroke of ill-luck at or before lambing time.
Another example, showing how damage is done, in the face of
knowledge, may be stated as follows :— The farmer is naturally

WINl'l'R MANAGEMENT OF EWES. II7

anxious to get in his last sowings of wheat, and as he rehes to
a great extent upon his ewe flock to clear the ground of the
root crop, he runs the risk, and pushes on the ewes, so as to
make room for the ploughs. The probable consequence is a
loss among the ewes and lambs later on. Even good farmers
often do what they ought not to have done, and leave undone
what they ought to have done — and this, not so much from
want of knowledge, as because of the exigencies of the entire
farm. A certain sacrifice, sometimes of keep, sometimes of
corn, in the interest of the entire business, becomes necessary,
and mischief is the result.

This mutual dependence of the various departments upon
each other, and the wish to avoid expense, constitute dis-
turbing elements, and prevent us from always doing the
e\idently best thing for our sheep. We cannot entirely avoid
these disturbing elements, but a proper balancing of stock to
area, and the exercise of forethought, will do much to mitigate
them. It is not so much want of knowledge of rules as a right
and ripe judgment that is wanted, and these qualities are best
summed up in the word experience.

We hear a great deal as to the expense of ram-breeding, and
one of the chief expenses consists in the sacrificing of the
other interests of the farm to the sheep.

It is the " single eye " which leads to success, but when
corn, and horned stock, and work have all to wait upon the
flock, and everyone has to stand aside for the shepherd, our
success as sheep-breeders is balanced by less success as corn-
growers or cattle-graziers. This point requires to be brought
out, because it is the duty of the master to see that the whole
machinery of the farm is kept moving, and that all the wheels
are oiled. This is the difficulty, and the reason of certain
courses being at times followed which the master-mind knows
full well are not the best for some particular section.

Another fact should also be stated in this connection. Sea-
sons are so various that good luck sometimes follows bad
treatment of a flock ; and bad luck occasionally follows the

ii8 sheep: breeds and management.

best management. Such instances, which every frequenter of
markets hears of, tend to make flock-masters run risks simply
because no rule is to be always trusted, and mistakes do not
invariably cause mischief. Ewes ought to be kept in medium
condition. For eight or even nine months in the year they do
not require cake or corn, and the time to spend money upon
them is when they are nursing.

Improving a Flock.

Whenever a permanent and improving ewe flock is main-
tained, the principle of selection and of weeding must always
be steadily kept in view. The draft ewes should comprise not
only the older but the faulty sheep. Whatever the type —
whether Leicester or Southdown, Cotswold or Hampshire —
the shepherd's crook, like the pruning hook, must ever be at
work, drawing out the weak and defective. However good
the flock, the draft will contain some inferior specimens ; and
the theaves, or two-tooths, ought to put the fresh head to the
flock. The annual progress of a flock is effected by the with-
drawal of the weaker members and the importation of
the newest and the best, and to this improvement there is
practically no limit.

The master who perseveres in his work may see his flock
steadily improve in value to a point of excellence and of actual
money value of which he at one time scarcely dreamed. We
will hardly say, in the language of a late statesman, " beyond
the dreams of avarice," but certainly he would be a rash man
who dared to fix the possible limits of value to which a flock
of carefully-bred and long-established sheep might not reach.
Rome was not built in a day, and a sheep flock of command-
ing merit will probably have survived the original founder
many a year before the public compete for members of it as
though they were buying pictures.

The determining reasons for drafting ewes are, in the first
instance, age and such defects as broken mouths, rupture, bad

SELECTING RAMS. II9

udders, &c. The careful breeder will, however, look further.
He takes the opportunity to weed out even younger ewes of
defective feature, fleece, and form. He will not tolerate a
weak neck, a mean head, a watery or loose fleece, flat ribs,
drooping quarters, and shabby legs of mutton. So far as he
can he weeds out such animals, and in a word he " raises his
standard," and goes up another notch. It is here that genius
shows itself, and it is at this point that the merits of each
animal are discussed with the shepherd, who is as alive to
the importance of selection as his master.

Similarly the young ewes about to enter the flock are can-
vassed over with the result already mentioned, that the flock
loses its tail, and gets on a better head. This is the very
essence of improvement, and the higher the flock rises in public
estimation the more difficult is the achievement of further ex-
cellence.

It must, however, be remembered — ^and who is likely to
forget ? — that the male, as well as the female element, is of
first importance. We are, therefore, in the next place con-
fronted with the difficult task of

Selecting Rams.

Every year we hear of high prices given for rams, and it
is not uncommon to read of loo guineas being paid for the
hire of a sheep for a few weeks. Such sums would appear
small to an Australian flock-master, who would probably be
able to cite cases in which hundreds of guineas had been given
for a sheep. The prices paid are the best indication of the
estimate placed by breeders upon first-rate sires. Here is
the other arm of the service : a good and improving flock of
ewes mated with rams likely to still further correct their
weaknesses and produce ewe lambs which will again add to
the reputation of the flock.

Rams must be bought with the strictest eye to personal
merit. Success does not depend upon giving long prices,

I20 SIir.KP': BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

but in securing good sheep. In mating we may follow the
p.dvice of the Quaker with reference to matrimony : " Don't
marry for money, but go where money is." So in buying
rams, do not select merely on the ground of high price, but
go to the best flocks, and be prepared to back your opinion.
No doubt mistakes are made, but, on the other hand, the
best will always command bidders among rival breeders, and
the price will run up— there is no help for it. A breeder
will always find it expedient to be a buyer, but he should
also keep back some of his own sheep for service. Uni-
formity is a point which should not be disregarded, and this
is scarcely to be achieved without consolidating the parti-
cular characters of a flock by breeding from and with itself.
Besides, by keeping back a few of the best lambs of a good
flock probably better sires are secured than could be obtained
elsewhere, except at extreme prices, and hence the very best
lamb or lambs should be retained, or let for a limited time,
as in all respects likely to improve and amalgamate the
elements of the flock.

Most flocks have a character of their own. It is the im-
press of the mind of the breeder reduced to palpable form
through his selective powers. The breeder carries his type
of sheep about with him in his mind's eye, and nothing quite
pleases him which does not come up to this image. His hean
ideal must have a Avell-covered head, a good " scrag," a wide
shoulder. He will not forgive light fore- quarters, defective
wool or colour, and hence this man's flock will probably
reflect his fancy more than his aversions. On the same
principle, if he is a judge at a show he will recommend no
sheep for a prize unless it is up to his particular standard,
and hence exhibitors look out if they have an inkling that he
is coming, and draw and alter their exhibits accordingly.
There is also the influence of soil, which no doubt affects
sheep, making them looser or tighter in the coat, larger or
smaller in frame, or lighter or darker in feature. These two
chief factors, the master's ideal and the situation, both act

SELECTING RAMS< 121

Upon a flock and give it a character of its own. It is desir-
able that if the character is good it should be extended and
rendered uniform throughout, and it is this approach to
absolute uniformity which is the great ambition of a high-
class breeder. No one who has not worked in a flock, and
with shepherds, can imagine the numerous types of sheep.
Every feature is noted, even such matters as the colour of
the eye, the bend of the nose, the set of the ear. With fond
affection and keen interest the shepherd shows you a pair of
lambs which match each other, just as an accomplished horse-
dealer will, after immense trouble, secure a " pair " of horses
— not two horses which will run together, but a real match-
ing pair. How absolutely true was the great Lord Althorpe's
remark, that no man is fit to be a sheep breeder who cannot
sit for an hour upon a hurdle looking at one sheep.

I lay further stress upon this point because outsiders have
no idea of the ability, the time and the patience which are
necessary to make a judge of sheep. I am often struck with
the points noticed by first-class judges. They are not seen
by beginners till pointed out. Some of my readers may have
indulged in a social pastime which consists in placing some
fairly conspicuous article on a well-furnished chimney-piece
or table, such as a thimble or ring. One of the party who has
been banished from the room while the placing of the said
article is being effected, is then admitted and asked to find it,
and it is truly amazing to see him pass and repass it appa-
rently with his eyes upon it, and yet totally oblivious to the
fact. He becomes frantic in his efforts to discover it, and at
last it suddenly strikes him, and he seizes it amid the laughter
and keen enjoyment of the company. So it is with points of
sheep. The fault is glaring enough when pointed out, but
till it is pointed out the unskilled man overlooks it again and
again. He is at a loss to know why 60 gs., 80 gs., or even
100 gs. are being bid for one sheep, while the next is knocked
down at 6 gs., 8 gs., or 10 gs. If he happens to be sitting next
a judge of sheep, and confides to him his difficulty, his mind

122 sheep: breeds and management.

is set at rest by a quietly-spoken word drawing his attention
to the head, the neck, the hocks, the pasterns, the mouth, the
ears, &c. ; and when once mentioned there falls from his eyes
as it were scales, and he sees — and not only sees, but wonders
why he had not seen for himself. This is one of the reasons
why it is necessary to study sheep in the fold and the pen,
and not only by means of books and newspapers.

After rams have been bought and the flock has been weeded,
we next come to the

Drawing Ewes to the Various Rams.

In an ordinary flock rams may be turned in among three or
four hundred ewes, but in high-bred flocks the ewes must be
drawn into little lots or even individually put to sheep likel}- to
suit them. Practically, small parties of ewes, each accom-
panied with a ram, will be found sufficiently minute as a system.
The principle of selection is simple, but the judgment required
is very considerable. Strong ewes will be best mated with a
ram of finer quality, and fine ewes may be put with a stronger
description of sheep. Light colour may be corrected with a
darker shade and vice versa. Weak fore-ends, weak necks,
want of width over the ribs or loins may be met with
exuberance in these particulars in the male, and thus the
flock may advance still one step further in its development
and approach to perfection.

Best Condition for Ewes.

Ewes ought to be brought into good condition before
tupping by means of suitable food. A short lambing season
is secured by a quick seasoning of the ewes, and this is
promoted by liberal and stimulating feeding both before and
at the time that the rams are out. Early turnips, good rape
or kale, and in some cases about one quarter pound of cake
help to bring ewes on, and such good and therefore expen-

DIPPING. 123

sive feeding may be discontinued as soon as the ewes have
conceived. An old notion among shepherds is that a heavy
fall of lambs is best secured when the ewes are " fresh " at
the time they go to ram, and afterwards are put on poor dry
keep. Fat ewes (if not overfed) are always likely to produce
early and abundantly. Our own system is after the ewes
have been served to put them together in one large lot,
placing one ram with them to take those which " turn."
That the number of twins depends in a great measure upon
management is certain, as some breeders always secure a
much larger crop of lambs than others, and the main secret
is no doubt that the ewes should be in good condition while
with the ram.

Dipping.

Ewes should be dipped before they become heavy in lamb.
July is a favourite month for the purpose, but it may also be
done in September or October. The dipping of ewes has a
twofold object — the destruction of sheep ticks and the pro-
motion of a clean and healthy condition of the skin. Pre-
pared dips are usually sold in packets ready for use, and in
these days few concoctions are made at home for any of the
old purposes of the farm. It is the tendency of the age in
both domestic and outdoor occupations — the home-made
recipes give way to the purchased article. So it is with sheep
dips. The mixing up of white arsenic, pearl ashes, sulphur
and soft soap is relinquished in favour of a purchased dip with
directions for use printed on the wrapper, the material to be
at once mixed with a prescribed amount of water. The best
time for dipping is about one month after shearing, if for no
better reason than that less of the material is taken up than
when the wool becomes longer. This applies more to Long-
wooUed sheep than to the Down breeds, which may be con-
veniently dipped after harvest.

124 sheep: breeds and management.

Draeting Ewes.

This is one of the most important events of the year in the
history of a large breeding flock. Shearing ought to come
first, and a few days should elapse to allow the ewes to
get over their somewhat shabby appearance after they es-
cape from the hands of the shearer. Ewes look somewhat
wretched when first shorn. Less pains is taken with them
than with market sheep, and they are the proper material
for youngsters to try their 'prentice hands upon. A fortnight
later the marks of the shears have disappeared, and the ewes
are less likely to be seen with their backs up and their necks
craned, as we have often noticed them on a cold day late in
May. It is then that the master and his trusty shepherd
may look the flock over with a view to removing old and
faulty ewes.

Age.

It is wise policy to keep a young flock. It is thus main-
tained at a maximum value, and the draft commands the
highest price, and will sell either for breeding or fattening.
The usual draft is, as a rule, young, for three crops of lambs
only leaves the ewe four and a half years old, which is far
within the allotted span of a sheep's life. In a previous chap-
ter, when writing upon the late Mr. Humphrey's system of
improving the Hampshire Down breed, I mentioned that this
noted breeder never sold any draft ewes except to the butcher,
and that he had been known to breed from a ewe until she
Avas fourteen years old ! It was at this advanced period of
life that she bred Oliver Twist, the champion sheep of his
year. Such a fact may well be laid to heart by breeders who
consider one or two years over age as about as far as they
like to go in keeping on ewes. A good ewe ought certainly to
be kept as long as she will breed, and seven or eight years is
not too old for this purpose. We should probably all be the
better of remembering this fact, and not allow splendid ewes

THE UDDER. I25

to go out of the flock at the comparatively early age of five or
six years.

MOUTHIXG.

One of the first preliminaries is to " mouth " the flock by
running them through a narrow passage between hurdles, and
examining each ewe as she passes. Broken-mouthed ewes
should not be kept unless for special reasons, but as long as a
sheep has a good set of teeth she may be depended upon. A
full-mouthed sheep is four years old. She is a two-tooth at
fourteen months ; a four-tooth at two years old ; a six-tooth at
three, and a full-mouthed sheep at four. At the usual time of
drafting she will, therefore, have the full set of eight incisor
teeth. At five years old her teeth may be a little wide, and at
six she may have lost her corners, or the central and middle
teeth may show signs of wear, and when this is the case it is
time that she went along.

The Udder.

Just as it is important that a breeding ewe should be able
to break her turnips and eat her hay, so is it of equal import-
ance that she should properly support her lambs, and hence a
healthy and perfect udder is of first-rate importance. Ewes
should be turned in order to see that they are sound in the
bag as well as on the tooth, and the inspection wnll probably
decide the question as to whether she is to be maintained
another season or to be sold off as a cull.

The udder is variously affected. Sometimes a teat is
corded, that is, the canal through which the milk flows is
obliterated and one or both halves of the bag is rendered use-
less. In other cases the bag is found to be ruined by inflam-
mation and suppuration, and to be unfit for its natural
function. The ewes so affected are not fit to stand among a
hundred good cull ewes, and should be fattened off for the
butcher.

126 sheep : breeds and management.

Points.

So far the ewes speak for themselves. Old, broken-
mouthed, or, we may add, ruptured ewes must go, and a
faulty udder is in most cases an unpardonable defect. It is
less easy to still further cull the flock of its less desirable
members. Great judgment is required in culling out the weak
members, but the opportunity must be taken, and no doubt
rigorous weeding is one of the secrets of improving a flock.

A weak, bare, or badly coloured head, speckled ears, when
a uniform colour is the type, pink or badly coloured lips and
nostrils, and spots where no spots should be, a rusty, sour,
ugly head, in any breed, should be got rid of. It is no great
matter if we cull beyond our usual draft, as there are plenty
of opportunities in early autumn to replace, by buying a few
good ewes.

Nothing looks better than good heads, and, strange as it
may seem, a sheep's head, which is only worth gd. at the
butcher's, is worth a lot of money when carried on a good ram
or ewe.

Next to the head and ears we look for good necks. Ewe-
necked sheep never look well, and a good scrag is a strong
point. Let us, therefore, as far as possible weed out long or
hollow-necked ewes. A muscular neck indicates strength of
constitution and good muscular development, and I have
never known a sheep breeder who did not strongly object to a
shabby neck. Mr. Ellman, the father of the Southdown
breed, insisted on the importance of this point. Mr. James
Rawlence, of Bulbridge, one of the oldest of our noted
breeders, would not keep a weak-necked ewe, and no man
who values his flock would buy a ram with this fault. The
neck ought to be muscular, arched, tapering and neat.

Shoulders are as important as neck, and should be con-
sidered as follows : First, they must blend with the neck.
They must be well laid back so as to produce thick " crops "
■and a great girth. Secondly, they must be wide over the tops.

roiNTs. 127

Thirdly, they must be thick through the heart, from blade to
blade. Nothing can be more effective than a good fore-end.
If you try to think of it, imagine the sheep to be grazing with
her head towards you, and you will then notice the grand
effect of good shoulders. Deep floor to the chest and a
prominent breast coming well forward between the forelegs
completes this part of our picture. Next let us look at the
ribs and back, the loins, the quarters, the let-down of the legs
of mutton, and lastly at the general ampleness of form. There
is no mistaking a good sheep, and when looking through a
flock for drafting, every mean, under-sized, bad charactered,
or defective ewe, must go. A good flock cannot be got up
in a year, but each year tells. It is the object to take off the
tail and put on a new and improved head to the flock every
year, and thus to build up to the ideal which every good
breeder carries in his mind's eye. This is drafting, or
weeding, and no successful breeding can go on without it.

128 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

CHAPTER XIII.
THE LAMBING TIME.

As lambing time approaches, the flock-master begins to
prepare for this important season. We know, as a fact, that
lambs are often lost for want of care. Shelter for the ewes
must be provided, and this leads us to the consideration of
the lambing pen. There are two descriptions of enclosures
for Jambing ewes. One is the old-fashioned permanent pen,
for which the rick-yard has often been employed. The advan-
tages of this system are that the flock is near home, and
that the rick-yard is a protected enclosure which, when well
littered down and fenced \\ath thatched hurdles, forms a very
suitable place for the purpose. We have seen special walled
enclosures, furnished with accommodation for the shepherd,
and shedding for the ewes. The shedding is most con-
veniently divided into coops by means of hurdles, and in
such a shed ewes will lamb safely and comfortably.

On large sheep farms this system is objectionable on
account of the distance between the flock and their food. It
is, therefore, the custom to make a pen near to where the
ewes and lambs are to turn out after lambing. The position
of the pen should have been fixed during the previous
summer, and also the situation of certain hay and corn ricks
determined. As threshing proceeds, the corn ricks yield
straw ricks, which are made long, and placed so as to secure
the greatest amount of shelter from the wind. A gentle
slope towards the south is the best site, and in close

THE LAMBING TIME. I29

proximity to a field of swedes, or of late turnips. The en-
closure consists of a double row of hurdles, stuffed between
wdth straw, and kept firm by means of a few posts and rails.
About two feet from the outside wall, and on the inside, are
driven six feet posts carrying a head rail or plate, and, rest-
ing on this plate, and upon the outside hurdles, with a
sufficient run or slope, thatched hurdles are fixeti ; thus
forming a continuous narrow shed, which is again divided
by hurdles into coops or cells. These coops are best open to
the south and east, and backed to the north and west ; and
in such a position ewes and lambs lie warm even in the
severest weather. Outside these cells, and inside the en-
closure, the space is divided by hurdles into four or five
good-sized yards, and a straw rick ought to occupy a central
position with reference to the entire space. The shepherd's
portable house is drawn up at a convenient distance, and
with such a fold we may look forward to lambing with a
feeling of confidence and security.

The forward ewes should be brought into the pen every
night and lie upon straw. A good-sized heap of swedes
should also have been provided, and hay racks or cribs
should be placed around, so that the animals may receive a
foddering when they come into shelter at about four o'clock
in the afternoon. During the height of the yeaning, the
shepherd remains night and day with his fiock, and provided
with a good lantern he makes periodical visits, carefully
looking at every ewe. As soon as a lamb is born, it and its
dam should be removed into one of the coops or cells, as
already mentioned, there to remain for three or four days,
until the lamb is able to follow its mother without difficulty,
and until the two thoroughly know each other. When this
is judged to be accomplished, the cell is vacated for other
occupants, and the ewe and her lamb or lambs are transferred
to one of the larger divisions of the pen.

As lambing proceeds, the various lots of ewes are classified
and separated, as follows : —
9

130 sheep: breeds and management.

1. A yard of ewes heavy in lamb.

2. ,, „ with single ewe lambs.

3. „ „ with single ram lambs.

4. „ „ with twins.

5. ,, ,, and very young lambs.

The older lambs, with their dams, are, when from four to
seven days old, allowed to go out upon the turnips, and it
is interesting to watch these young creatures learning to fend
for themselves, and imitating their mothers in their eating,
choosing the softer parts of the turnips, nibbling at the rape
or turnip greens, or sorting out the choicer portions of the
hay.

Lambs ought to be provided with a corner for themselves
at an early age. A few hurdles should be placed around so
as to include some small troughs in which is placed a mixture
of split peas, bruised oats, and finely-ground cake. Admit-
tance is given to this enclosure by means of lamb hurdles,
which, while allowing of the ingress of the lambs, is a bar to
the larger-sized ewes.

The lambing pen having been constructed, and all arrange-
ments made for the arrival of the lambs, we shall now give
our attention to the important subject of parturition.

Sheep, although able to withstand the vicissitudes of our
changeable climate, and to resist the injurious effects of a
damp bed and night air^ are nevertheless easily " upset."
They are, so to speak, as hardy as the hares which play
around them as long as they are well ; but, for all that, no
domestic animal gives way more suddenly and more hope-
lessly when attacked by disease.

A flock of ewes resting upon frozen ground, placidly chew-
ing the cud, while the snow wreaths are forming around
them, give the idea of extreme hardihood, and when the
frost and snow are exchanged for mud and driving rain, the
beholder may well feel astonished at the quiet indifference of
these creatures to the most rapid changes of meteorological
surroundings. Sheep are, however, liable to many diseases

THE LAMBING TIME. I3I

and sundry kinds of death, and when once a flock goes wrong
the individuals composing it exhibit a weakness of constitu-
tion which the above picture would little lead a tyro to
expect. All is well as long as the flock is kept healthy, but
the mortality is terrible when the conditions of health have
been outraged. These strokes of " bad luck " are familiar to
most farmers, but may be avoided by strict observance of the
laws of health.

The cause may be remote in point of time, but, when the
blow falls, it usually falls heavily. At such times the entire
flock has been known to succumb, or it may be that the loss
is measured by scores of lives.

Constant forethought and observance of the rules of good
management are the best safeguards, and when due precau-
tions are always taken, the rate of mortality can be kept
within bounds. A competent shepherd thinks carefully over
every change of food or situation, and often, by a timely word
of caution or practical suggestion, saves his master from loss ;
and, on the other hand, a careless or inexperienced man may
in a few hours do incalculable mischief. Good general man-
agement, careful feeding, and judicious changes are better
means of keeping a flock in health than any amount of tinker-
ing or doctoring. A flock well treated during the months
preceding the lambing season approach that critical period in
robust health, with well kept fleeces, bright eyes, and clean
faces. Their dung falls in the form of glossy black pellets,
and there is no indication of scour or dirt about the tail. The
animals, are, in fact, clean both before and behind, and all
between looks thriving and lusty. When ewes come up to
the lambing pen in the condition we have endeavoured to
describe, we may hope for what is called good luck in lambing,
and as we have no wish to describe a badly-managed flock,
we shall assume that due regard having been paid to the
previous management, our flock approaches the great event of
the year in a healthy state.

Parturition is a thoroughly natural event. It is not strictly

132 sheep: breeds and management.

speaking an illness, but an act of exuberance. It is accom-
panied by evident uneasiness, and in some cases with great
pain, but when once over the ewe seems to forget her troubles
immediately, and promptly undertakes the cares of maternity.
In normal cases— which, by the way, are by far the most
numerous — the ewe should be carefully watched and attended
to, but assistance ought not to be given. Patience should be
exercised, and a somewhat long period of labour often ends in
an easy birth. A watchful eye in such cases is all that is
needed, and attention to the newly-born lamb. Its mouth must
be cleared, and the first gasp for breath must not be stifled by
the water and mucus which often envelop the mouth and
nostrils. Exposure to intense cold or bitter weather might
at this stage prove fatal, and hence the shepherd transfers his
charges to a comfortable pen, and is content when he sees the
youngster fairly struggled on to its long spindly legs, and
groping about in its quest for the source of its first meal.
This, then, is our answer to the question so often asked,
" Should assistance be given to a ewe during lambing ? " No
interference, no inter-uterine examination, no forcing on the
pains by pulling at the legs of the fcetus, but only carefully
watching the course of events.

There are, however, times in which the shepherd needs to
put forth his obstetric skill. This is necessary in all abnormal
cases. Before a shepherd interferes in the process he should
at all times think whether or not artificial help is needed, and
if he comes to the conclusion that the ewe wants help he will
give it, in the manner about to be described.

The ewe is laid gently upon her side, and the hand is care-
fully introdued into the vagina. If the fcetus is to be found
coming forward in the natural position — i.e., with his head
resting upon his two fore-legs — immediate assistance is not
required, and the ewe had better be released and allowed a
little more time.

Examination may, however, reveal the fact that the lamb is
presented in such a manner that assistance must be given.

THE LAMBING TIME. 133

The false or abnormal positions may be thus enumerated.
They all have one common character — namely, variation from
the normal position above indicated. These variations are
either precisely defined in the list now to be given of false
presentations, or are modified by some slight complication or
peculiarity. They are, then, as follows : —

First. — One fore-leg only presented with the head lying
upon it. In this case it is difficult for a ewe to lamb without
help. The operator will endeavour to get hold of the missing
limb, and, bringing it forward into its proper position, deliver
the ewe. The best manner of doing this we shall consider
after passing in review the principal abnormal presentations.

Second. — Both fore-legs lying back, the head alone being
presented. In this position the ewe must have assistance, as
birth without it is impossible. The head must be pushed
back, the legs brought forward, and the lamb extracted.

Third. — The head slipped down between, or on one side of
the fore-legs. This must be set right by bringing the head
into its natural position above the fore-legs, and extracting
the lamb.

Fourth. — A broadside presentation, in which case the broad
side of the lamb is found within the uterus, and of course no
progress can be made until the hand and forearm of the
operator are introduced, and the fcetus is turned and brought
into position.

Fifth. — The fosttis on its back, in which case a similar mani-
pulation must be employed as in the last case.

Sixth. — A breech presentation. If the hocks are doubled,
the breech of the lamb must be pushed forward and the hind-
feet brought up. The lamb is then pulled away backwards
without turning.

Seventh. — The fostus too large, or the passage too small.
This is a troublesome case, sometimes involving the loss of
the lamb and occasionally of the ewe. Shepherds sometimes
are obliged to carefully introduce a knife and cut off the
shoulders and remove the foetus piecemeal. More commonly

134 sheep: breeds and management.

by patience and by exerting a good deal of strength the lam
is safely born.

Eighth. — Monstrosities are not uncommon, most seasons
providing examples of lambs with five legs, headless lambs,
fusion of two lambs into one, &c. These cases are puzzling,
and require special treatment, and when such malformations
are presented there need be no hesitation in employing the
knife for their removal.

Having given all the possible unnatural presentations likely
to be met with, I shall next explain how assistance ought to
be rendered to a ewe in distress. In all cases great care and
gentleness are requisite, and all roughness or hurry should be
avoided. The hand should be anointed with fresh lard or oil,
and the finger nails must be short. The hand must be com-
pressed into as narrow a space as possible and gently intro-
duced. In giving assistance the operator should draw the
lamb in accordance with the natural pains of the ewe, and
wait for her to pain. Assistance given at that moment is
useful ; but if force is used during the intervals between the
labour pains, the muscles of the uterus are excited, and the
result is the early exhaustion of the mother. Again, in using
force the fccUis should be drawn downwards towards the hocks
of the ewe, and the operator need not be afraid of using his
strength when the foetus is once brought into a proper position.

Casualties may always be expected in a large flock, but it is
only reasonable to expect that a shepherd understands his
business, and that he will be able to cope with the various
cases above cited.

After hard labour the parts should be soothed by suitable
applications. Decoction of poppy heads, turpentine, weak
solution of carbolic acid, and oils have all been used, no doubt
with good effect, as a means of preventing inflammation.

Too often, after ewes have had a severe time, and much
manual assistance has been necessary, " heaving," or after-
pains, accompanied with inflammation of the uterus, set in on
the second or third day and end in a painful death. When a

MORTALITY AMONG EWES. I35

case of "heaving" occurs, the shepherd should not handle
other ewes without careful disinfection, as, like milk-fever, the
malady is propagated by contagion.

Mortality among Ewes.

The mortality among ewes after lambing is, it must be
allowed, high, no one thinking that 5 per cent, of deaths is a
matter for serious complaint. Three deaths to the hundr d
would, in most sheep districts, be considered as fairly good
luck, and a few deaths in a flock are almost inevitable. These
proportions are unquestionably high in comparison with the
proportion of losses among dairy cows, but it is doubtful if
they are to be reckoned as among our preventable losses.
Sheep are exposed to such acute changes of temperature and
of weather that the entire system of field management would
need to be revised in order to prevent " chills " from producing
their usual effects. In flocks which are proverbially " lucky "
at lambing time — and there are such flocks in most localities —
the immunity appears to be due to careful general manage-
ment throughout the year, and to a dry sound soil, rather than
to special skill on the part of the shepherd as to doctoring.
Seasons evidently affect mortality in a manner which cannot
be avoided, and in well-managed flocks, where the losses are
heavy, it is generally found that others are suffering in a
similar manner. On the other hand, there is, it would seem,
an element of capriciousness, bad luck sometimes following
good management, and bad luck suddenly giving place to a
better state of things, as though the cloud of evil fortune had
passed over. In sheep farming a bad beginning often is
followed by a good ending, and just as we have begun to fear
that things were going wrong altogether, the sun has seemed
to shine out upon us again. Without doubt these views are
unscientific, because there is always a cause, which it is our
duty to investigate. But, if unscientific, they are, we believe,
consistent with fact ; and until we know more of the treatment

136

SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

of sheep in disease they are not likely to be falsified. It is also
right to take into account that sheep must of necessity be
treated collectively rather than individually. The best treat-
ment for 500 ewes may be known, but the peculiarities of the
digestive system, or nervous system of each sheep cannot be
ascertained as it may be among cows and horses. The human
doctor studies the idiosyncrasies of each patient ; but when a
veterinary surgeon is called in to a flock of sheep he is obliged
to prescribe generally, and the constitutional differences of
individuals must tend to render the results of his treatment
conflicting and unreliable.

SOUTllUOWN KAM.

ORDINARY TREATMENT OF LAMBS. 137

CHAPTER XIV.
ORDINARY TREATMENT OF LAMBS.

The management of lambs from birth to weaning is a sub-
ject of great importance. That it varies much, according
to locality, must be freely admitted, from a method which
may be summed up as a daily or twice-daily inspection, to the
highly artificial system of close folding and constant changes
of food, such as prevails upon the downs of Wiltshire and
Hampshire. Between these extremes lie many variations in
practice, differing in comparative expense and trouble ; some
very simple, some more complicated, so that it would indeed
be difficult to please all parties by any description of lamb
management.

Take, for example, the treatment of lambs in Northumber-
land or Lincolnshire, and we shall find, so far as food is
concerned, that almost all that is required is abundance.
Lambs are dropped in March and April, and after the usual
care bestowed during the first three or four days after birth,
lambs and dams are placed on fresh young seeds, or, it may
be, upon permanent pasture. There may be seen Leicester or
Leicester-Cheviot ewes with their lambs, the very picture of
contentment, feeding upon the fresh herbage of Italian rye-
grass and springing clovers, while their offspring play around,
or make a rush upon their patient mothers two at a time,
wagging their tails and "dunching" at her with their heads
until they almost raise her hinder parts off the ground. In
these cases the ewes are thinly run over the entire field, and

138 sheep: breeds and management.

changed from pasture to pasture in accordance with the
supply of food. Corn may be given in small quantities when
green food is scarce, or in the case of twins, or it may be as
a Httle extra indulgence for two-teeth ewes or gimmers. The
main idea is, however, that of grazing and growing without
artificial help. A few thatched hurdles are put up, and a little
straw is laid down around them for shelter, and the master or
the shepherd visits them from time to time. Such visits I
have often paid in years long passed away. The duty of the
visitor is first to count the sheep, and this he does rapidly in
twos and threes, as they dot the field singlj'-, in pairs, in
triplets, in little constellations, if the expression may be
allowed, in which the groups seem to arrange themselves to
the practised eye. The lambs are more difficult to count, as
they are often hidden by the bulkier forms of their mothers as
well as by hillocks, troughs, or other protections from the cold
winds prevailing at this season. Lambs are fond of racing,
and are not easy to count as they gallop the course they have
chosen, and skip and play on any dirt-heap, or natural mound,
or vantage ground. To notice if all are " full " — to attend to
any little individual requiring a drop of cow-milk — a bottle of
which, nicely warmed, the visitor carries with him ; to see if
the tails are all free and not stuck down with hard dung —
these are the principal objects of the inspector, who, having
satisfied himself on these points, and seen that no ewe is lying
awkward in a furrow, and that no lamb has twisted himself
up in a sheep net, and in a word that all is right, walks or
rides away. Twice a day or oftener should the flock be
visited, and thus weeks pass by and the green foliage of April
and May give place to the browner pastures of June and July,
the sheep still finding their own living among the bents, and
dry, but nutritious, grass. After weaning, the lambs still
follow their dams, accepting their guidance, and thus they are
carried on until turnips swell into substantial winter keep.

In the most recent account of Lincolnshire lamb manage-
ment, given in the report upon the Nottingham prize farm

ORDINARY TREATMENT OF LAMBS. 1 39

competition, a similar picture is drawn of the summer manage-
ment of breeding flocks, and if this were all, but little would
be left to write upon with reference to feeding. Our attention
would need to be directed to those episodes in a lamb or a
sheep's life, such as docking, castrating, washing, clipping,
weaning, and dipping. Also to such topics as maggots and
foot lameness, which always need close attention. A pen
should be made in a corner, and a dog is required to go
round the sheep and bring them into close quarters, where the
shepherd can catch and examine them. His shears are pro-
duced to cut off the wool where the maggots cluster thickly,
and the mercury stone, or the Cuffs fly ointment, or other
remedy, is applied to kill the wriggling pests. In other cases,
he pares and dresses the feet, and applies the particular astrin-
gent which he favours, be it a solution of sulphuric acid, butter
of antimony, or a paste bought of the druggist. Flies attack
both head and tail as well as any other part of the carcase,
especially when it is damp or dirty. Nothing can be more
painful and irksome to a sheep of the Leicester-Cheviot breed
than the pertinacious settling of flies upon his devoted head.
They form a black helmet between his ears. They suck the
juices from his scalp, trample it with their feet, and by the
friction of their bodies and wings soon wear a bare place into
a scald upon which they revel. The unfortunate animal in
vain tries to shake them off. He runs and stops, he stamps
with his feet, waggles his ears, shakes his head, squats among
the bents, or seeks the shade, and lies as close as a hare in its
form — but all in vain. In this sad plight he is found by the
shepherd, who, summoning his faithful quaint-looking dog to
his aid, drives him and all his fellows to the pen, and pro-
ceeds to make him comfortable. If the injury is superficial,
a dressing of sulphur and oil applied with a brush is sufficient ;
if the skin is raw and broken, the sheep cap upon a pad of lint,
supplemented with a dressing of Canada balsam upon the sore,
may be applied.

A shepherd should always carry a knife with a blade suffi-

140 sheep: breeds and management,

ciently long to slaughter a sheep if necessary. Such meat is
not generally thought to be unwholesome by rural folk, and if
the carcase dresses out fairly Avell, it finds a ready sale among
the work people ; and the farmer himself is not averse to
taking a quarter for his own household. In the light of
modern science this appears wrong, as blood poisoning, car-
buncle, and other evil consequences have been traced to the
consumption of diseased meat. On the other hand, thorough
cooking appears to be a fairly good safeguard against such
evils, and all we can advise is that when braxy mutton is
eaten it should be well roasted or boiled. It would go sadly
against the instincts of a true shepherd to bury a carcase
slaughtered to "save its life," or rather its value; and the
master also would think himself greatly wanting in thrift if
he followed high medical advice, and sacrificed a sweet bit
of meat obtained under such circumstances.

Such is an outline of the management of lambs, as carried
out in many counties. It contrasts forcibly with the next
picture which I shall endeavour to present, of constant change
of food, corning from birth to death, and the production of
lamb prodigies. The two cases are so different that descrip-
tions of the latter system has often aroused criticism from
sheep-breeders who follow the less sophisticated method just
described. According to the first plan lambs in August will
be worth from 15s. to 30s. a head, and as an extreme case
applying to black-faced Jambs 6s. may be mentioned as a
satisfactory price.

I shall next endeavour to describe a system adapted for
producing lambs of aolbs. per quarter at eight months old, or
rams ready for service at the same age. It is well, however,
to point out that the difference between the management of a
lot of lambs upon a Yorkshire fell or Northumberland hillside
farm is very different from the system pursued upon a Hamp-
shire farm with its double cropping of fodder crops and roots,
and its diversity of foods for each month of the summer. On
these farms the lambs frequently are indulged with three or

ORDINARY TREATMENT OF LAMBS.

141

four separate kinds of green food every day, and they often
spend no more than three or four hours upon one particular fold.
Rape, clover heads, cabbages, and vetches, with cut mangels,
cake, and corn constitute their daily fare, and thus growth is
extraordinarily rapid. It is no exaggeration to say that durin-
the height of the season lambs will increase in live weight at
the rate of one pound a day— an addition which must appear
marvellous, or past belief, to many graziers of sheep. The
full details of the system must furnish material for the next
chapter.

LINCOLN RAlt H,OGGS.

141

sheep: breeds and management.

CHAPTER XV.
EXTRAORDINARY TREATMENT OF LAMBS.

I TRUST that those of my readers who have followed the last
chapters upon Sheep and their Management will not judge me
harshly if I now proceed to take as my special theme my own
breed of sheep.

It is as lambs that they particularly excel, and I have oftei
declared a Hampshire Down ram lamb, as he appears in thi
sale-ring at the Market House, or on the Butts, at Salisbury,
late in July or in early August, to be one of the wonders of the
world. These lambs are for the most part born between the
loth and the 31st of January, and the principal fall is about the
20th of that month. A few are dropped late in December,
but this is not thought desirable by ram-breeders, as they are
then apt to have passed their most perfect bloom before they
are disposed of. Nothing, we know, beats a January lamb ;
and, if we take January 20th as the day upon which a lamb
is yeaned, we shall be able to show a record of a daily
increase in live weight of f lb. from the day of birth to
August I St — that is, a lamb of 144 lbs. weight at 192 days
old.

Comparing this with the increase of ordinary sheep or even
of cattle it is very striking, and will scarcely be credited by
those who are accustomed to the usual system of bringing
up lambs, described in the last chapter. The result shows
the wonderful earliness of maturity in improved Hampshire
Down sheep as a breed, in which quality they are unrivalled,

EXTRAORDINARY TREATMENT OF LAMBS. I43

nd also the merits of the system of feeding which can pro-
duce it. The three factors necessary for the achievement of
such a result are, first the breed, second the mode of feeding,
a d third the peculiar soil and climate of a southern county
a apted for the growth of summer fodder crops as well as of
good root crops.

To bring out a 12 stone lamb at eight months old is within
possibility in the case of this breed, and yet this was the limit
I proposed when contrasting the usual management of sheep
with what I am now about to describe.

A Hampshire Down lamb may then be supposed to be
born on January 20th, and we have to follow his short history
until he appears either as a wether ready for the butcher
early in August, or as a ram lamb fit for service at the same
date.

In the first place it will be necessary to feed the dam
liberally in order that her milk may be both plentiful and
rich, and with this end in view we early begin to feed with
cake, giving an allowance of i lb. per head per day. This,
together with hay and turnips or swedes, constitutes her diet,
and this is continued for at least ten weeks, or until such
time as it is considered advisable to lower the amount of
cake or corn given to the ewes in order to increase that given
to the lambs. Both ewes and lambs are comfortably housed
at night in a well littered and well sheltered pen, and have
daily access to a fold of turnips, and receive their cake and
liay regularly. The young lambs quickly learn to nibble at
the turnip-tops and to select the finest portions of the hay,
and when this is noticed it is time to give them a corner to
themselves, where they can have a little finely-ground linseed
-cake, split peas, oats, and crushed malt. This they soon
learn to relish, and it is pleasant to see them crowding
around their troughs after their corn, and then passing
through the creeps or lamb-hurdles to steal a drop of milk
from their mothers.

The lamb hurdle is from this time an institution. By its

144 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

means the young creatures can run forward and crop the first
green food of the season in the form of succulent swede or rape
tops. They are at this time in receipt of eight different sorts
of food — namely, hay, turnips, turnip or rape greens, linseed
cake, peas, oats, malt, and milk. Their progress is wonder-
ful, and their short and smooth coats evidence their perfect
health. As the season advances into March further change is
obtained by an outrun on young grass for three or four hours
in the middle of the day. This system is pursued until early
in April, when they enter upon a succession of spring and sum-
mer fodder crops which were sown extensively the previous
autumn. This series begins with rye, over which swedes or
mangels have been heaped, and from this fold they go daily
in many cases into water-meadow, always returning to the
rye-fold in the afternoon. These sheep are ahvays between
hurdles throughout the year, although a "spread" over a
field is frequently allowed during a few hours of the day.
The lambs also continue to enjoy the privilege of choice of
food by means of the lamb hurdles, so that Avhile the ewes are
close-folded the lambs enjoy much greater freedom. There
are generally two descriptions of green food going at once,
and, in many cases, three or four, according to the season of
the year. Following the order in which the fodder crops
mature, we find that these lambs are, successively, fed upon
turnips and rape, rye and water-meadow, winter barley and
water-meadow, winter barley and trifolium, trifolium and
vetches, vetches and rape, rape and cabbage. There are at
least two distinct changes of food every day, and as vegetation
becomes more luxuriant they often have a variety of courses
which is quite epicurean, in its character. Take for example a
fine midsummer day, when the lambs awaken upon a fold of
vetches. The shepherd is up betimes, and begins by giving
them an allowance of cake. He then grinds some mangel into
troughs, which they eat with great relish. They are next'
admitted to a fresh fold of vetches, after which they are
walked quietly away to a neighbouring piece of good rape or

EXTRAORDINARY TREATMENT OF LAMBS. 145

cabbage. After two hours or more, and in the heat of the
afternoon, they are allowed to spread themselves over some
old sainfoin or aftermath clover. They will then return to the
vetch fold, and after receiving another feed of corn they lie
down to well earned repose, having increased their weight by
I lb. each. Hay chaff in troughs is also frequently supplied,
even in summer, by way of keeping them firm in their bowels ;
thus, a lamb may easily partake of eight different kinds of
food. Rape and cabbage or kale give way to turnips in late
July or early August, and the allowance of " corn " is kept up
to from I lb. to i^ lb. per head. This allowance is pretty
constant from birth, considering the cake given to the ewes,
which is, of course, supplied for the benefit of the lambs.
Weaning usually takes place in May, and the ewes then go on
to hard keep.

Such is the system, so far as it can be described, by which
these lamb prodigies are produced. The most serious expense
is probably the cake and corn, but the total amount consumed
per head is not so serious as might at first be thought. At the
very fair allowance of i lb. per head per day for the entire
period of the lamb's short life it would not be more than 200
lbs., and 2 cwt. would probably give all that is required. At 8s.
per cwt. this equals i6s., so that we are probably justified in
stating that the corn and cake costs well within 20s. a head.
The increase in value due to the cake is, I submit, consider-
ably beyond these sums, so that it appears probable that these
lambs pay for the cake. Lambs treated according to the
system just described have been sold at 64s. each on x\ugust
ist, and could not have been worth 44s. apiece without cake
and corn, so that we have good reason for thinking that the
cake and corn is paid for, and more than paid for, by the
increased value of the sheep.

Careful shepherding, suitable land, plenty of change, Hberal

allowance of concentrated foods, and a good breed to work

upon, are the chief points required in order to secure success.

The remaining points of management are the tailing of the

10

146 sheep: breeds and management.

lambs, which is done by searing at a month old ; castrating,
which is usually performed in May ; and careful attention to
the feet in order to prevent foot lameness.

Docking.

Lambs should be tailed when about a month old, and it is
better to castrate at a later date. Docking or tailing in neces-
sary for several reasons. A sheep's tail is sadly in his way. It
is a feeble member, quite incapable of being used for brushing
away flies or for any other object. It is a useless appendage,
although it, no doubt, at one period of sheep history served as
useful a purpose as the tail of other animals to them. But the
development of wool has altered the sheep from his original
form, and now the tail is too Hable to become filthy from dung
and mud, and it is better off. The operation is simple and
instantaneous, and lambs begin sucking immediately after the
severance has been effected. It may be done in a moment
with a knife, but less blood is lost, and healing is promoted, by
the use of a hot sharp iron which is pressed through the tail
at the required point as to length. This may be close to the
rump, or about three inches lower down, according to fashion.
The tails may be made into pies, and are esteemed by some as
a delicacy. They should be steeped in boiling water, and the
wool then readily comes off, leaving the tails bare and clean.
Lambs look all the better for tailing, and a collateral advan-
tage is that when fat they handle better at the dock or rump,
than if they carried a long tail. Docking should not be
attempted in frosty weather, as the frost seizes on the
wounded portion and prevents it from healing.

Castrating.

The knife may be employed for castrating. It is very
■common practice to castrate and tail at the same time, but the
treatment is severe. I prefer to postpone castration until the
weather is mild and the ground warm, as it is dangerous for a

SHEEP WASHING. I47

newly cut lamb to lie on the cold earth. The objection to this
course would probably be raised that in warm weather flies
abound, and attack the scrotum and possibly breed maggots
within it which would of course be a serious complication.
The best mode of avoiding this is to use the actual cautery in
the form of an iron heated to the proper temperature. The
scrotum is cut open with a knife and the testicles are brought
forward until the cords can be grasped by a pair of clamps.
The testicles are then seared off close to the clamp, and,
before the cords are released, they are thoroughly cauterized
and dressed with lard and a proper application, and returned
into the scrotum. There is no bleeding, and the clamp pro
bably deprives the parts to be operated on of sensation. It is
seldom that any loss follows the castration of ram lambs if the
operation is skilfully performed. It is usually done by an
itinerant expert, who travels from farm to farm, earning
capital pay during the two or three months in which this
work is generally performed.

Sheep Washing.

The yolk, or yelk, is an important item in wool. When we
remember that in the process of washing the fleece loses from
one-third to one-half its weight through the loss of the yolk,
it is evident that the question of washing or not washing is
of vast importance. It will be in the memory of readers that
this question has been raised of late, and that farmers have
been recommended to shear their sheep in the grease, and
accept the lower price which the wool commands under these
circumstances. Mr. Turner, Bradford, appears to think that
wool is best washed in cold water. He writes as follows :
" I saw an article on ' Wool ' the other day in which the
use of hot water and soap was advocated. With this idea
I entirely disagree. I venture to say that the use of hot
water or soap is positively injurious to English wool. What
I would recommend (of course with all reservations as fn

148 sheep: breeds and management.

convenience) is tub-washing in cold water." Between such
a method and the ordinary system of pool washing there
is no wide divergence, and hence there does not appear to
be any urgent necessity for changing a system which has
been found to work fairly well. At the same time, if tub-
washing could be substituted for pool-washing, there is the
advantage of the presence of the yolk, which is a true and
natural soap, and therefore well calculated to assist in the
thorough cleansing of the wool. The following manner has,
in fact, been found satisfactory, and might be adopted when
circumstances are favourable to its use : " Having two tanks,
each capable of holding, say, five sheep, let the sheep be
placed in tank number one and washed in the usual manner ;
then let them be plunged in the second tank, which must
be kept constantly supplied with clear water. It should
be remembered that the first tank should be kept as greasy
as possible, only as much water being added as the sheep
take out with them. The yolk is a kind of natural soap,
and is quite sufficient to wash the sheep properly if ad-
vantage is taken of it." This system has the advantage
of great simplicity, and is really only a modification of the
usual practice. Given a good water supply, all that is
needed is to deflect a stream so as to give a sufficient supply
of water to both tanks or sets of tanks. For example, the
stream would supply a regulated amount of water for keeping
up the level of the washing water, while a continuous flood
could be easily maintained through the lower or second series
of tanks. The sheep, after being washed thoroughly in the
upper tank, would be handed on for a plunge or swim in the
lower tanks, and be allowed to land and shake themselves.
Such a system will commend itself to practical men as
feasible, and might be at once adopted without much outlay.
There is indeed no reason why one set of tanks only should
be constructed for washing, and that the sheep should then
be thrown from the greasy water into the burn or brook, and
allowed to swim out.

SHEEP WASHING. 149

The system of going into the water for the purpose of
washing sheep is more prevalent in the north of England
than in the south, in spite of the greater severity of the
climate. Sheep washing in mid stream is no doubt a trying
ordeal for a weak constitution, and is a cause of rheumatism.
The upper part of the body becomes over-heated, while the
lower portion is immersed in the running water, and in no
circumstances is a drop of whisky more advisable or excus-
able. We do not know of any harm having happened to
sheep washers during, or just after, the work, but it is
probable that it may sow the seeds of future ailments. The
advantages of the system is that the sheep are washed while
on their backs, and that the dirt and sand are more easily
v/ashed out and fall downwards by gravity. Swimming
sheep through a pool is the alternative, and in this case the
men are furnished with T-headed rods resembling hay rakes
without teeth, and with these the sheep are scrubbed and
soused under the water until the operators are satisfied, and
the sheep is then allowed to land. It is possible that the
prevalence of short-woolled Down sheep in the southern
counties, and the greater distribution of long-woolled sheep
in the northern counties, may be the reasons for this slight
difference in practice.

Sheep ought to be washed ten days or a fortnight before
clipping, so as to allow the yolk to once more rise in the
fleece, and thus add to its weight, its suppleness, and lustre.
Hot weather is most favourable for this important object,
and washed sheep should be placed on grass land free from
sandy banks, under which the animals might rub and thus
collect sand on their backs.

In view of the fact that a large proportion of foreign wool
reaches the London market in the grease, it is only reasonable
that farmers who are favourably situated should put to the
test the advantages and disadvantages of washing their
sheep.

i^o sheep: breeds and management.

Shearing.

Towards the end of May shearing will commence. Some
time ago I witnessed an interesting display of shearing with
the Wolseley machine shears. Having heard of the favour
with which this instrument is being received in Australia
and New Zealand, I took the opportunity of a public exhibi-
tion of this method to become acquainted with the procedure.
The process was most successful and rapid, and may be
described in few words. The power used was a i4-h.p. ver-
tical steam engine, from w^hich a belt actuated the shears.
The power was conveyed through a flexible tube, similar in
principle to what is used by dentists for cutting into decayed
teeth. Some of us have experienced the operation of tooth-
stopping when the swiftly revolving file or rotating cutter is
applied by a skilful dentist. Similarly, the shearer holds in
his right hand a machine which resembles in its structure
both a horse-clipping machine and the knife and guards of
a reaping machine. It is a compact, workmanlike-looking
instrument, and when actuated by the power the knife os-
cillates between the guards with immense velocity. The
sheep is held and handled as in ordinary shearing, and seems
to yield itself with passive indifference to the mechanical
novelty. The head, cheeks and throat are freed from loose
wool, and the fleece around the ears is removed. The breast
and belly wool is then opened out, and in a few broad cuts
the fleece begins to peel off" rapidly under the hands of the
shearer. The work is superior to that usually done by hand,
and much more rapid, as a good operator turns off a sheep
every seven to eight minutes. The wool is more cleanly
sheared off, and there are no ridges left of longer wool. The
danger of cutting the skin seems also to be slight, and in the
specimens which I saw shorn there was not a scratch or cut
to be seen. The cost of the implement, with its tubing,
bracket, and pulley for attachment to the power, is ^lo, and
a man is sent out with each instrument to instruct beginners

WEANING.

151

in its use. I was informed that any man could learn how to
use the shears in half a day.

How far this implement is likely to supersede our slower
and more laborious method it is difficult to say, but perhaps
the comparatively small numbers of our sheep will militate
against its extended use. The smaller size of the colonial
sheep has also been in favour of the Wolseley machine shears,
and the promoters of the demonstration already noticed
evidently -were a little disappointed at the area of skin to be
got over in the case of our large sheep. I see that the
average tally of one man with these machines is stated to be
115 per day, while a maximum of 203 is said to have been
reached. At the rate at which the work progressed with
good EngUsh tegs, I should say that a very good average
result would be eighty sheep in a day of ten hours.

The Newall-Cunningham Syndicate, 73, Cheapside, Lon-
don, and Burgon and Ball, La Plata Works, MaHn Bridge,
Sheffield, also supply machines for the same purpose at £10
to £1^ each, which satisfactorily shear sheep.

Weaning.

Many years ago an excellent paper on sheep management
was contributed to the Journal of the " Royal " by Mr.
Pawlett, in which he advocated weaning lambs at eight weeks
old. I have often thought about it, and how Mr. Pawlett
found that even in the succeeding February his early-weaned
lambs were heavier than those which had sucked later. A
good deal must depend upon the season at which a lamb is
born, for to those who lamb down their flocks in January,
weaning in March appears absolutely impossible. Those
sheep farmers whose flocks lamb down late in March are •
differently situated, and the advent of summer weather, and
the presence of plenty of green food, may render weaning
possible early in June, or when the lambs are from ten to
twelve weeks old. So much is done by rule on most farms

152 sheep: breeds and management.

that perhaps few flock-masters trouble as to the precise age
of a lamb when it is weaned. One may be a full month older
than another when the order is given, and yet both must
share and share alike. " The season brings the flower again,
and brings the firstling of the flock," and on as near the
same day as possible the weaning takes place, as also does
the washing of the ewes and their shearing.

Gradual weaning appears the best for both lambs and dams.
The severe system of taking away the ewes and placing them
on dry keep out of hearing of their bleating lambs is a plan
which is followed, especially when open grazing is the rule.
When sheep live much within hurdles and the lambs are
allowed to run forward before the ewes, a simple means of
weaning is to stop the runs for a few hours each day, and thus
gradually accustom both lambs and ewes to live without each
other. The lambs in this case have the first choice of the
" victuals," and the ewes may be held back on somewhat hard
keep, " eating the crusts," so as to dry up the flow of milk.
When treated judiciously little inconvenience seems to be
suffered on either side, the lambs being allowed to draw the
udders at increasingly long intervals, until they are weaned.

SINGLE AND TWIN LAMBS.

153

CHAPTER XVI.
SINGLE AND TWIN LAMBS.

The number of twins or of single lambs is an important
matter affecting the profits of sheep farming. An abundance
of twins is a matter for congratulation, but is not an unmixed
advantage. They will not attain the size of single lambs for
sale in the following autumn ; the ewes require more food, and
are often more reduced in condition through suckling, and the
strain upon the mother is heavy, especially in the case of tw^o-
tooths. Still, a good many twins are required in order to keep
up the number of lambs, which is liable to drawbacks from
death, barrenness, and slipping. Twins give the opportunity
to the shepherd of dividing them, and thus supplying lambs to
ewes which have lost their own offspring, and which, other-
wise, would go as barreners. Without a fair proportion of
twins we should unquestionably suffer from a short supply of
lambs, even upon the assumption of a lamb to a ewe through-
out the flock. This apparently modest estimate is by no
means always realised, in spite of twins, as barren and aborted
ewes may easily constitute 5 per cent, of a flock, and often
double that proportion. Deaths among very young lambs are
also frequent, so that the general statement that " for every
ewe put to the ram there should be a lamb at weaning time "
is not far from correct.

How TO Obtain a Big Crop of Lambs.

Some flocks, and some farms, seem naturally adapted for
producing a large number of lambs. It may be reasonably

154 sheep: breeds and management.

expected that twins will in turn produce twins, and hence
rams and ewes which have been twins might properly be
selected to propagate their species. Fertility is as likely to be
inherited as any other property, and with it the natural accom-
paniments of good nursing and abundant milk supply. I am
inclined to think that ewes are naturally disposed to produce
a pair of lambs, and that single lambs are to be regarded as a
degree less normal than twins. Thus, when ewes are in good
order and keep is abundant — both of which conditions must
be regarded as strictly natural — the number of twins is imme-
diately increased, and sometimes almost the whole flock pro-
duces doubly. This indicates the best method of obtaining a
big crop of lambs, namely, keeping the ewes well throughout
summer. Extreme fatness or extreme poverty both militate
against fertility, but a judicious mean and plenty of good food
during the period of conception produce an opposite effect.
Ewes which have been barren during one season will often
conceive early and produce two strong lambs the succeeding
spring, and purchased ewes which have been caked will
generally produce a lot of lambs.

Young Lambs.

The first duty of the shepherd after a lamb is born is to
clear its mouth of mucus, and see it draw its first breath.
Previous to birth the foetus receives oxygen through the
mother. It is her lungs which vivify its blood, and her
digestive system which prepares its nourishment. But with
the breaking of the umbilical cord comes the necessity for air,
and after a convulsive movement of the diaphragm and inter-
costal muscles the young creature gasps, and generally utters
its first cry. Whether the almost universal practice of shep-
herds of blowing into the lamb's mouth facilitates this action
is not certain, but it is probable that this simple expedient
excites the slumbering vitality, and causes the necessary
muscular contraction A slap with the flat of the hand across

DIFFICULTIES. I55

the buttocks will also often cause a lamb to draw its first
breath, when animation appears to be suspended for a few
seconds after birth.

The lamb is most conveniently carried by its two fore-legs,
and in this position it is taken to one of the pens, or cribs,
already described, followed by its anxious mother. As soon
as the lamb has got on to its feet, and has found the teat, and
the shepherd is satisfied that the ewe has a sufficient supply
of milk, he \\ill proceed to give her two or three swedes, a
mangel, or better still, a white or yellow turnip or two. A
little hay may also be supplied, and after these simple atten-
tions the ewe may be left in charge of her lamb, and if all
goes on well there is no need for more elaborate treatment.

From what has been said it is then evident that where
a ewe is naturally delivered of her lamb she requires no
medicinal treatment, but only to be placed in a sheltered
position and to be fed with ordinary food.

Difficulties.

One of the first difficulties to be overcome happens most
frequently in the case of two-tooth ewes, which occasionally
refuse to take to their lambs. This is more likely to occur
in the open field than in a pen, and the best plan is to place
lamb and dam in a small crib and hold the ewe while the
lamb sucks. In all such cases a little patience is all that is
required, and in a short period the maternal instincts will
assert themselves.

It is less easy to make a ewe take to a strange lamb, but
this is managed by the shepherd without much difficulty.
One of the best methods is to keep the lamb in readiness, and
as soon as a ewe with plenty of milk is delivered of a single
lamb the stranger is rubbed wdth the newly-yeaned lamb, and
smeared with the liquor amnios which flows copiously from the
womb of the dam. The lamb is then presented to the ewe,
which will at once take to it, and place it on the same affec-
tionate footing as her own natural offspring.

156 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

If a ewe loses her lamb, and it is requisite to replace it, one
of a pair of twins is generally selected, or it may be a lamb
which has lost its dam. The skin of the dead lamb is re-
moved, stretched over the little stranger, and made secure.
The ewe is then put in a small coop or crib and placed in
the "stocks," and the strange lamb will then make itself at
home, and in a day or two the ewe's objections will disappear,
after which she may be released. It may seem unnecessary
to further describe the process, but as some of our readers
may be ignorant of what is meant by the stocks, I will briefly
describe what is meant. Two hurdle stakes are driven firmly
into the ground, about yin. apart, and a thong or shackle is
passed over the tops of them both. The head of the ewe is
then put through the stakes, so as to hold her by the neck,
and the thong is used to keep the stakes close enough together
to imprison the ewe. A third stake is passed horizontally under
the ewe's belly, and supported at the two ends on the bottom
bars of two hurdles placed on either side of the ewe, but at a
sufficient distance to allow the lamb to approach its foster
mother. The ewe is thus not only held but is unable to throw
herself down to prevent the lamb from sucking. After a short
discipline of this kind the ewe will generally take to her new
charge.

When ewes have not a sufficient supply of milk, cow's milk
may be used. Various views have been expressed as to
whether a cow recently calved or old in milk is most suitable
for supplying nourishment to a young lamb. In Wilson's
"British Farming" we are told that to give a lamb milk
from a newly-calved cow is tantamount to knocking it on the
head, but the experience of many shepherds is entirely
contrary to this forcibly expressed opinion.

When a young lamb is weak and unable to stand, it should
be placed near a fire, and a teaspoonful of gin in a little warm
water, sweetened with moist sugar, may be administered
with good effect. The ewe should be milked into a cup, and
the lamb fed with a spoon, and in a few hours it will probably
regain its strength, and be able to rejoin its dam.

EARLY TREATMENT OF LAMBS. I57

When lambs are affected with diarrhcea a teaspoonful of
castor oil will remove the acidity which is the cause of the
disorder, and check the complaint.

When lambs are two or three days old they are liable to a
rapidly fatal form of diarrhcea, know^n as the " scant." When
once this disease appears in a lambing pen it is difficult to
cope with it, and the loss may become serious. Instead of
attempting direct treatment, the best system is to make a new
pen at a distance from the old one, and to remove the ewes
and lambs to it. By this change of lair and of food the
disease is usually stopped. As the scant only attacks ex-
tremely young lambs, this practice entails less trouble than
might at first sight appear ; it is, in fact, only necessary in the
case of the newly-lambed portion of the flock and those
expected to lamb. The pen should at all times be kept healthy
by the use of plenty of litter, and the removal or burying of
all dead lambs or ewes, and all cleansings. This is too much
disregarded by shepherds, but it is one of those points which
a master may properly enforce.

Early Treatment of Lambs.

The treatment of very young lambs differs according to the
earliness or lateness of the j-eaning time. When flocks lamb
down in March and April, and where the close folding system
gives way to the more natural plan of open grazing, the ewes
and lambs are first turned out on to pastures or seeds. In the
close folding districts of the chalk formation, where lambing
principally takes place during January and February, greater
care is requisite, and a more artificial system of management
is pursued. In this latter case ewes and lambs are turned out
upon turnips or swedes. During the first fortnight lambs sub-
sist entirely upon milk, but even before the lapse of that short
period they will be seen playing with the finest portions of the
hay and the turnip greens. When it is desired to bring out a
ot of ram lambs or early wethers at eight months old, no time

158 sheep: breeds and management.

should be lost, and after the first fortnight an enclosure of
hurdles is made for the lambs and furnished with suitable
troughs.

Lamb Hurdles.

At this stage the lamb-hurdle, or lamb creep, becomes an
important institution. It is a contrivance by which the lambs
are allowed to run forward while the ewes are kept back.
The same object may be attained by disposing ordinary hur-
dles so that the lambs can pass out of the fold at pleasure.
The lamb-hurdle is in constant requisition throughout the
spring, and by its means the lambs are able to run forward
and crop the choicest herbage before it is soiled or trampled
by the older sheep. The best creeps are adjustable to the
size of the lambs, and the upright bars through which the
young animals pass are round and smooth, and revolve easily
upon a central axis of iron. They are also furnished with a
similar roller, which forms the top of the creep, so that the
lamb passes through without rubbing the wool. The opening
is hinged inwards, but is rigid when pushed outwards, and
this is done to allow of lambs running quickly back into the
fold if frightened, but at the same time to prevent the ewes
from passing outside the fold.

Shepherds.

Those Avho employ shepherds must find it entertaining to
talk to them. Let a master be ever so well practised in the
arts of farming, or ever so well read in the subject of sheep,
he will find his shepherd's remarks (that is, if the shepherd is
worthy of his class) full of freshness, and of immediate prac-
tical value. I have studied shepherds in many sheep districts,
in England and in Scotland, and believe them to be a genuine,
sound, and reliable set of men. The hill shepherds of the
Highlands are men of great experience and trustworthiness, as
are also those of Lammermuir and Cheviot. In every sheep

SHEPHERDS. 159

country they form a distinct class, and, on enquiry, you in-
variably find that they are the sons of shepherds. Probably
if the inquiry was pursued, it would be found that the occupa-
tion is for the most part hereditary, and that shepherds form
a sort of caste among themselves. It would indeed be diffi-
cult to make a shepherd out of a man who had not from his
earliest years and associations been accustomed to follow the
flock, and hear all that was said about them by his father and
brothers. The art is imbibed with the mother's milk, and as
the boy grows he learns to know all about sheep instinctively,
and as a second nature. A true-bred shepherd probably
requires less training than would a town-bred lad, however
early he might be apprenticed to the trade. The knowledge
is not always easy to fathom or understand. If a shepherd
says a ewe will die, she is only too likely to die. If he says she
will get well, he is almost invariably right. He knows when
she is going to have twins, and he shrewdly suspects when
she is about to produce triplets. His prognostics as to good
and ill luck almost partake of the oracular, and his suspension
of an opinion is ominous. He does the right thing as a matter
of instinct, and knows what will agree or disagree with his
flock as if he were a sheep himself. When the master sug-
gests a change of food, the shepherd, as in duty bound,
assents ; but, as also in duty bound, expresses his opinion
that the sheep will "scour" or "blow," or go back, or do
something which is not altogether desirable. Experienced
masters in such cases allow themselves to be guided a little,
and modify their orders. Inexperienced masters sometimes
learn to their cost that the shepherd was right. If the master
knows better than the shepherd about every detail, then the
probability is that the shepherd is not a very good one. It
can, indeed, hardly be expected that the farmer, who is the
administrator of the entire business of a large farm, should
know the sheep as well as a man who is with them all day,
and in certain seasons all night, and who knows each indivi-
dual of the flock as well as a schoolmaster knows every boy in
'his school.

l60 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

The memory of a shepherd for individual sheep is very
remarkable, and it is striking to note how quickly he picks up
this knowledge when he enters upon the duties of a new place.
It is also curious to observe how rapidly shepherd boys under
their father obtain this power of recognition and a memory of
faces. The master admires a lamb, and the shepherd pro-
ceeds to speak of its mother, and the circumstances under
which she was born, and to tell him that she was a late lamb,
and at one time gave little promise of her future excellence.
This other lamb, now growing into a fine specimen, and likely
to be of value as a sire, was that same little helpless thing
which the master had noticed, and told the shepherd that it
would never come to anything ; and this capital pair of lambs
are from that ewe which broke her leg in falling over a chalk
pit two years since. Or it may be that a ram lamb is chosen
out of a lot of a hundred or more for a certain purpose. The
master suggests marking it, but the shepherd protests that he
will know him again, and know him he will, without fail.

In the same manner the shepherd's suggestions as to the
description of corn or cake required to push forward his sheep
for sale are sound, and worthy of attention ; and he will not
be led aside from his opinion by any quotable authorit}' what-
soever. It must not, however, be inferred that shepherds are
infallible or that masters are to follow their shepherds' behests
entirely. A shepherd would make everything on the farm
bend to the requirements of the flock, but it is the master's
duty to see that all departments are equall}^ well served.
Shepherds also care nothing about expense. They want cake,
they want hay and corn, the best pastures, the run of the best
root crops. They do not spare the master in their request for
hurdles, for troughing, for keep ; but the master must main-
tain a judicious firmness throughout, while he hears all that
his shepherd has to say on these subjects.

Shepherds are somewhat antiquated in their ideas of sur-
gery, and are too liable to have recourse to bleeding and the
use of the knife. In their treatment of foot rot, of bad udders,

SHEPHERDS.

I6l

and of sturdy, they are guided by crude notions, and probably
often do more harm than ^ood by their treatment. While the
fact remains true that the veterinary profession is, compara-
tively speaking, ignorant of the treatment of sheep, shepherds
are likel}' to continue to discharge the duties of doctor as well
as nurse. Drugging sheep is not usually successful, as they
are much more likely to die under treatment than either cows
or horses. You may bring a cow through an illness which at
one time appeared in every way likely to prove fatal, but when
once a sheep is down there is but little hope. So far as results
go, the rough, and sometimes what seems to be the cruel,
treatment of the shepherd is just as likely to be successful as
that of the " vet." It is, indeed, not easy to get shepherds to
follow the long list of directions given by a professional man,
and faith in the benefit of what is suggested by him is too
often entirely absent.

IX

i62 sheep: breeds and management.

CHAPTER XVII.
WINTER FEEDING OF SHEEP.

A GREAT change has come over the winter feeding of sheep
during the last thirty years. Thirty years ago I was introduced
to farming, and I well remember that tegs were fatted in my
part of the country so as to come out of their wool fit for the
butcher at from fourteen to eighteen months old. They Avere
usually shorn and sent to market as they ripened, being drawn
one or two score at a time as they became fit. The same
system no doubt prevails still, but nevertheless, there has been
a marked movement in favour of early maturity. Some twenty
years ago Mr. W. J. Edmonds, of Southrop, in Gloucestershire,
read a paper, in which he spoke of bringing out eight stone
sheep at ten months old. We now speak of bringing out ten
stone sheep at eight months old. I can remember when Mr.
Hulbert's nine to ten months old sheep made a sensation in
Cirencester market when penned in November. Now seven
to eight months old sheep, weighing 20 lb. per quarter, are
constantly shown.

As further proof of the advance in earliness of maturity, it
may be mentioned that even in the memory of middle-aged
shepherds it was very common to keep back two-tooth or
shearling ewes till they were four-tooth, or, as it was called,
" double two-tooths," before they entered the ewe flock. Now
many people advocate tegs dropping lambs at one year old.

A large number of lambs in these days never see winter
keep after they are weaned. They are begun in January upon
turnips, and are sold to the butcher in August, September and

CHANGE KROM SUMMER TO WINTER GRAZING. 163

October, at an age when at one time they would have been
called lambs.

The winter feeding of tegs is now confined to certain breeds
of sheep, such as the Cheviot, Leicester, Cotswold, and some
of the Down breeds. It is also used in the case of the smaller
and later lambs of our most forward breeds of sheep, such as
the Hampshire and Oxford Downs, the foremost and earliest
lambs being sold to butchers in the early autumn. The winter
feeding of tegs, therefore, is most generally carried out in the
case of breeds not famous for early maturity, and of later and
smaller lambs which are bought at the autumn fairs.

Change from Summer to Winter Grazing.

Grass loses its " nature" in September, and during October
tegs are finding their way from open grazing to the turnip
fold. The change should be made gradually, by placing the
tegs for a short period daily upon turnips and allowing them
to back run upon seeds or stubble. By this system they
become accustomed to wdnter fare, and by the time they are
closely penned upon it they have ceased to pine after green
food. The change from summer to winter keep should be
made with care, as, indeed, should all changes of diet.

A few white turnips scattered over the pastures, or folding
on the turnips for a few hours only at first, with frequent
changes, tends to keep sheep healthy, and free from casualties.
To pen at once upon swedes, hay and corn, would be highly
dangerous, and certain to result in the death of some of the
flock. No root is more suitable for early winter feeding than
the Pomeranian and common white globes. They are palat-
able, easy of digestion, and not too forcing or heating. Up to
December, sheep will do better on these soft turnips than
upon the harder and richer yellow and Swedish varieties.
Little hay is needed as long as grass can be had on the runs,
and the stubbles afford grazing, but as winter closes in and
the dark and wet days of November approach, something

164 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

comfortable is needed, and for this purpose nothing is more
suitable than hay. Clover hay is too rich in albuminoids to
commence with, and besides, it is policy to cut into the inferior
ricks first, and to reserve the best hay for finishing with in
spring. Meadow hay and white turnips will be gradually
changed for clover hay and swedes after Christmas. The
lower temperature which will then prevail, and the more
matured constitution of the sheep will at that time be favour-
able for the introduction of food of a more nutritious character.
The differences in composition between these classes of roots
and hay are very great, and a diet of white turnips and
meadow hay is very dift'erent from one of swedes and clover
hay. Swedes and clover hay are highly nutritious and heating,
while meadow hay and white turnips, being poorer in albu-
minoids, are less heating to the system and easier of digestion.

Dry Food.

Too much stress can scarcely be laid upon the paramount
importance of plenty of dry food for sheep.

Turnips are too watery for winter feeding when used alone.
Grass is also watery, but the circumstances under which it is
consumed are so different that its high percentage of moisture
is not injurious.

It has been the habit of writers to decry turnips as con-
sisting largely of water. It must, however, be remembered
that all succulent and luscious vegetable growth is watery,
and that even the animal body consists principally of water.
Nature's most perfect food for stock contains over 80 per cent,
of water, and yet no combination of artificial foods has yet
been contrived to rival young grass. It is, however, the
misfortune of the turnip to contain an excess of moisture and
to be fed at a time of year when the very mention of cold
water seems to send a shudder down the spine.

To awake on a piercingly cold morning on a bleak hill-side,
and to partake of a breakfast of " ices " — for such would be

DRY 1-OOD. 165

about the correct description of turnips in such circumstances
— does not seem inviting, and, in fact, it is extraordinary how
the animal system can stand such treatment, and in many
cases thrive upon it. The advisabihty of adding some food of
a more comforting and concentrated character is apparent,
and this leads me to speak of the various descriptions of dry
foods for sheep.

Winter may be considered to include December, January,
and February. Agriculturally, the winter is somewhat longer,
and yet November is scarcely a winter month to the stock-
feeder, and March brings a certain relief in the form of early
rye, young seeds, and in some favoured districts in the form
of w^ater-meadow grass. July-sown rape, and late-sown turnips
also begin to throw up green fodder in March, so that some
time during that wild month we begin to feel the influences
of returning spring. Still, the stock-feeder's winter is con-
siderably longer than chat of the calendar, and we shall pro-
bably not be far wrong if we assume that our flocks rely chiefly
upon roots, hay and purchased foods, from November 15th to
April 15th, or for a period of twenty-one and a-half weeks.
As late springs are among the evils which w^e may expect in
these latitudes, it is necessary to provide a supply of winter
keep for a somewhat later period, to be used concurrently
with spring crops ; and hence a sufficient stock of swedes,
mangel and hay, to last into May, must be considered as a
point in management.

This can be accomplished by 'two methods, the first of
which is the more certain and practicable. It is summed up
in a piece of sound advice to all sheep keepers, namely, not
to overstock. Overstocking is liable to produce an uncom-
fortable and perplexing dilemma. The winter's provision of
food becomes prematurely exhausted, and the pinch comes
just at the time when it is undesirable to sell. The case
stands thus. We encounter a late spring, and store stock is
found to be a drug. The consequence is that we must hold
until the return of genial weather fills the country with keep,

l66 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

and sends up prices. In the meantime we are put to shifts
of various kinds. We, for example, are obUged to feed grass
which ought to be reserved for mowing. We are compelled
to stock our spring fodder crops before they reach perfection^
and our rye, winter barley, trifolium and vetches are in turn
invaded before they have attained half their growth. Over-
stocking empties the exchequer, by reason of the hay and
cake bills which accrue from it, and the farmer is in a state of
chronic discontent and anxiety, waiting for growing weather.
The evils of overstocking are not confined to a protracted
shortness of victuals. They are seen in an increased mor-
tality, a prevalence of scour, and a dryness of coat, and want
of bloom among lambs. In long-woolled flocks it results, at
length, in loss of size and frame in the ewe flock. Such are
the evils of overstocking with sheep.

We should, therefore, endeavour to keep within bounds as
to the number of sheep, and at the same time arrange our
cropping so as to give an abundance of victuals throughout
the entire year.

The foods principally relied upon during the winter are
turnips, swedes, mangels, clover and meadow hay, peas-
straw, oat and barley straw. These may be called the
natural foods produced on the farm, and a few words upon
each of them may not be out of place.

Turnips

are usually stated to be insufficient for fatting purposes. It has,
in fact, been declared that sheep cannot be fattened on turnips
alone. It must be allowed that the experiment is never strictly
made in practice, because some sort of dry food is always given.
I have, however, seen sheep do remarkably well upon turnips,
and Mr. Clement Cadle, of Gloucester, who I regarded as an
eminently practical authority on farming, told me that he had
seen them fatted on turnips and little else. Turnips and
straw are capable of keeping sheep in good condition, and so

SWEDES. 167

far as nutritive properties are concerned, they are sufficient.
Too little regard is paid by purely scientific authorities to the
great variation of quality in turnips according to the ground
upon which they are grown. To them a turnip is a root
containing 92 per cent, of water, and this is enough to con-
demn it. Turnips grown on land of good quality are superior
to those grown on weak, poor soils, as is evidenced by the
(quicker progress made by sheep placed on good land. White
turnips, although actually inferior to swedes as a food, accord-
ing to analysis, are superior to them up to January ist, or
even later. They are less trying to the digestion, and their
consumption forms an excellent introduction to the harder
winter feeding which begins with the new year. Store sheep
will thrive well upon turnips if they have access to oat straw
or a little long hay or hay chaff. Ewes should be allowed a
more liberal supply of dry food, so as to induce them to
eat more sparingly of the succulent turnip. Fatting sheep
must have hay and cake or corn, and it will be found that the
diminution in the amount of turnips eaten will be at the rate
of 12 lbs. of turnips for each i lb. of cake supplied.

When turnips are being fed off the ground it is a good plan
to pull them up with a pecker, and allow them to lie on the
ground a day or two before they are folded over. This dries
them a little, and renders them slightly pined and soft, and
thereby heartier and less watery.

Swedes

contain somewhat less moisture than turnips, and consider-
ably more sugar. They are a stronger food, better adapted
for fatting sheep than for ewes either before or after lambing.
They should be reserved for the later periods of winter feeding
from January to May, after which they rapidly lose in quality.
Swedes, because they are harder than white turnips, and
because they are used when tegs are losing their central
teeth, should be cut into troughs by means of a Gardiner's
turnip cutter.

i68 sheep: breeds and management.

Mangels.

My attention has lately been called to the fact that mangels
cannot be safely given in quantity to wether sheep. They
appear to have an injurious effect upon the bladder and
urinary organs, and in many parts of the country flock-
masters dare not use them for wethers, although they may be
given to female sheep. On this point of practice I may say
that mangel is relied upon as a change of food for ram lambs
in the great sheep-breeding district of Wilts and South Hants.
The roots are either cut into troughs or thrown about upon
vetches or rape as a change, but the lambs have at that
season so large a variety of food in the shape of green fodder,
that no evil consequences follow. Ram breeders would find
it difficult to do without mangels in the hot months, and shep-
herds may be seen in our showyards slicing mangels and
giving them with cabbage and rape to rams.

Hay.

It would be thought extravagant in the north of England to
give hay to sheep. There a smaller amount is made, and
that chiefly for horses. Experiments upon the powers of
digestion of our domestic animals have proved favourable to
the use of hay for sheep, and in the great sheep-farming
districts of the chalk and oolites, shepherds would feel sadly
aggrieved if hay were withheld. Horses, and even cows, are
made to live on straw before the flock, which becomes the
great consumer of hay. The best descriptions for sheep are
clover and sainfoin hay, and the best method of feeding is in
the form of chaff. It is cut up by means of powerful three-
knife chaff-cutters, worked by steam, and furnished with
screens for separating the dust. In these machines the pro-
duct is delivered into quarter bags, which are carted to the
field and emptied into troughs. The chaff"-cutter is also
useful because it enables the farmer to mix a certain quantity

COTTON CAKE.

169

of straw with the hay, but such a proceeding is not agreeable
to the shepherds, who, in spite of all that is written in books
on the subject, believe in pure and unadulterated hay. We
must, in fact, regard a good stock of hay as one of the greatest
boons and best safeguards against those evils to which a ewe
flock is exposed during winter. It is a warm and comforting
food, and mixes well with turnips. It is this combination of
dry, sweet hay with watery turnips which, more than anytliing
slse, will preserve the high position which this food holds
among practical men. Ensilage would not meet the case
nearly so well, and, usef':.l as silage undoubtedly is for dairy
stock and fatting bullocks, .it is not likely to oust hay from
the sheepfold.

Straw.

Sheep should be allowed access to straw, and in hard
weather will eat a good deal of it. Like hay and other dry
food it helps to prevent over-indulgence in roots. Straw is,
however, scarcely nutritious enough for sheep, and is better
bestowed on cattle in sheds and stalls, when it can be
moistened with water or with mucilage made from linseed.
The system of pulping roots and mixing them with straw
chaff also is excellent for cattle, but less applicable for sheep
in the open field. Pea haulm is richer than the straw of
cereals, and sheep are very partial to it. The pea crop might
be cultivated more widely with advantage by sheep farmers,
as both the grain and the straw would be found exceedingly
valuable foods. Next to pea straw, oat straw is the most
useful, and barley and wheat straw can scarcely be recom-
mended in quantity for the flock.

Cotton Cake.

Shepherds look askance at " that yellow cake." Whether
from custom, prejudice, or real experience, they prefer best
linseed cake, and surely there is much to be said in favour of

170 sheep: breeds and management.

this opinion. And yet excellent results have been obtained
with cotton cake both in teg and ewe feeding. For lambs it
is not suitable any more than it is for calves. Rough or
undecorticated cake may be given to ewe tegs without fear,
and a mixture of cotton and linseed cakes to fattening sheep.
Ewes also eat it with relish and do well upon it, but here its
use ends. The case of cotton v. linseed cake for manurial
purposes, although at one time loudly proclaimed by agricul-
tural chemists, has not been distinctly proved in practice, and
the merits of the rival cakes will probably continue to be
tested by feeding results rather than by manurial effects.

Beans and Peas.

Linseed cake and old beans are the staple concentrated
purchased foods of successful sheep feeders. White peas are
in high repute for lambs ; but as these animals become older,
opinion inclines towards beans. Pea chaff (husks) is also
largely used in spite of a somewhat unsatisfactory analysis.
Malt coombs (culms) is another excellent food, especially for
mixing with inferior hay chaff.

The Use of Cake and Corn.

Profitable sheep farming is inconsistent with too lavish a
use of cake and corn. Fatting tegs may be allowed from
\ lb. to I lb., or even i| lb. of cake and corn per day, and in
extreme cases 2 lbs. may be given. The quantity should be
gradually increased from, let us say, 2 oz. to 2 lbs. When a
large flock of even the highest quality is kept, the use of cake
and corn should be restricted to the time between yeaning
(lambing) and weaning, or at latest to shearing. Many
farmers continue to give a little cake to ewes after weaning
up to shearing, because the wool then comes off easier and
better. The breeding flock from June to the following Christ-
mas should live off the natural produce of the farm if they are

OPEN GRAZING AND CLOSE FOLDING. I*/!

to prove a profitable stock. The case of the lambs is different,
and much depends upon their destination. Ram lambs should
be pushed on as fast as possible, whereas ewe lambs should
have little or no cake, the quantity depending upon the object
which the breeder has in view. Store lambs will do very well
on summer fodder without extra assistance. In making these
remarks I have in view flocks in enclosed districts, and not
hill flocks, which are so little acquainted wdth cake and hay-
chaflf, sliced turnips, and other artificial modes of feeding, that
they have been known to stampede at the very sight of them
and their accessories.

Open Grazing and Close Folding.

A general survey of the methods of grazing sheep during
summer shows two principles in ordinary use — open grazing
and close folding. The first of these systems prevails on all
sheep walks and in a number of enclosed districts. Perhaps
the most ordinary idea of feeding sheep in summer is to turn
them into fields and allow them to roam and select their own
food. Ewes with their young lambs are put into a fresh piece
of clover and rye-grass, and, where the management is liberal,
a few troughs are to be seen in which oats or a little cake are
supplied daily. The management consists in inspection from
time to time, and the chief evils to be guarded against are
scour, flies, sore heads, breaking through fences, and other
casualties which must be seen to. These are so numerous
that a farmer seldom walks round among his sheep wdthout
feeling pleased that he has paid them a visit. At one time he
finds a ewe on her back in a furrow, at another a lamb
entangled in brambles or hung up in a gate or sheep-net, or he
may just arrive in time to prevent the whole flock from
wandering through a gap into a field of standing corn. It
would, therefore, be untrue to say that this system involves no
care or trouble, but it is nevertheless comparatively simple.
The general result of this system of open grazing is satis-

172 sheep: breeds and management.

factory, but it cannot yield extraordinary results, unless
indeed at a great sacrifice of area and of food. When the
master judges that the pasture is becoming bare, he shifts his
flock to another, and allows the first to regain its freshness,
when it may again be stocked. This system of free and open
grazing is constantly to be observed in travelling through the
country. The sheep are dotted over the pastures, or, as the
express train dashes past them, they are seen scampering
away from the fences in evident perturbation of mind and
body. The system is not only generally practised, but has its
advantages when used as an alternative to close folding, even
in the case of sheep intended for exhibition, or for the maxi-
mum development of the animals.

Open Grazing for Show Sheep.

Show sheep require room, and even in districts where close
folding is the rule, the favourites are allowed to wander.
How often have we heard the advice given to allow such
sheep to " lie about " on a piece of good sainfoin, or to run
forward unchecked while the remainder of the flock follows
restricted between nets or flakes. By this system, if over-
stocking is avoided, the best choice of food is given, and it
may be recommended during at least a portion of the day.
Our Down breeds are well known to be patient of the fold, and
to be capable of being placed thicker on the ground than are
the Longwoolled races ; but even Down sheep are the better
of a free hand in the selection of herbage. Perhaps the best
plan is to combine the advantages of both systems in such
cases, and while allowing liberty at one part of the day, to
confine to a fold during another period.

In hot weather sheep often seem to flag and sicken, and
refuse to eat during the most oppressive hours, and when this
is noticed the shepherd should draw off his sheep to the open
and breezy down, where they may spread themselves, and
they will then be seen to rega-n their appetites and pick about

CLOSE FOLDING. I73

among the young grasses and clovers. They will then return
to a fresh fold on which they will feed heartily towards sunset,
when they should be put back upon the old fold and allowed
to rest.

Change of Food

is one of the secrets of successful sheep farming. Wherever
this pursuit is carried out to the best advantage, at least one
change is made in their pasturage during each day. It may
be from ordinary seeds to down, or from old sainfoin to seeds,
or from seeds to permanent pasture. The exercise in moving
from one part of the farm to another is beneficial, and the
change of food is agreeable and stimulates growth. While,
then, we do not object to open grazing as a principle, we
deprecate the system of turning sheep into a field and there
allowing them to remain until the herbage is exhausted and a
change is simply imperative.

Close Folding

is the rule during winter while the flock is upon turnips, but
is rather the exception during summer. Over whole counties
the system is unknown, while in others it is ordinarily followed.
It is most characteristic of those districts in which Down
sheep are kept, and where the arable land is adapted for the
groAvth of fodder crops. As already explained, close folding
should not be pushed to an extreme, but should be alternated
with a run in open fields.

The advantages of close folding, when judiciously practised,
are very great. A fresh bite is insured, and this is especially
the case when two pitches out of the food are made daily.
The sheep may be allowed upon a fresh " break " until they
begin to lie down to rest, and they can then be shut back
upon the old fold. After a while they are again allowed access
to the new portion, which then becomes the resting-place, and
a fresh fold is struck out in the luxuriant clover or rape, or

«74

SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

whatever the feeding crop happens to be. Thus the animals
are taken gradually and systematically over the entire area,
and the food is always fresh and untrampled.

Sale sheep are not asked to clear up the whole mass of food,
and the close-folding system allows of a perfect regulation in
feeding. What the sale sheep leave is eaten up by the stock
ewes who follow their more favoured offspring, and gnaw
down the fold to the bare ground. A regular system is often
foL'owed, by which perfect economy of food is insured. The
mo3t forward wether lambs are allowed the first pick, and
may be pushed forward without regard to waste. They are
allowed to pick the choicest morsels, to bite off the tops of
rape or clover, and to eat the hearts out of white cabbage. A
second and less forward lot may follow, and still further
demolish the feast, and, finally, the old ewes are admitted to
clean up and make close work. This completely does away
with the charge of wastefulness, and is less expensive than
moving and throwing the cut herbage into racks. It is also
better than the system, which has its advocates, of constantly
shifting hurdles and allowing the sheep to feed with their
heads through vertical bars. This system we cannot recom-
mend. We have seen hurdles specially constructed for the
purpose. They are made in the form of an equal limbed cross,
two legs of which rest upon the ground, and by turning them
over, a fresh yard of fodder comes within reach of the hungry
sheep. We object to this proposal on the grounds of trouble
(expense), of insecurity, and of insufficiency of food. Where-
ever a mixed flock is kept the different sections may be relied
upon to make perfectly clean work and prevent all waste.

The Lamb Hurdle

or lamb creep is a useful and necessary institution when close
folding is the rule. By its means lambs are saved the hard-
ship of close penning upon a stale fold. Lambs must have
change and freedom, and both are secured by the lamb creep.

THE LAMB HURDLE. I75

They can run forward to crop the choicest and sweetest
herbage, and return to their mothers for milk. Neither is
it necessary to allow lambs too large an area, as a large outer
fold fenced with hurdles, say, of a quarter acre in extent, is
sufficient at once, and as the ewes advance, the outpost
devoted to the lambs is also pushed forward.

Close folding allows of the greatest amount of variety in
feeding. The sheep may, for example, return to a fold of
vetches the last thing at night and feed upon a fresh bite in
the early morning. A good shepherd should be up early, and
if he can give his charge a feed at five o'clock they eat heartily
before the sun is powerful, and will take their corn at nine
o'clock with an appetite. He will then grind up some mangel
or white cabbage, and toward mid-day transfer the sheep to a
fold of rape, which ought to be provided near. At four o'clock
he will give them a run upon clover aftermath or sainfoin, and
towards evening he will take them back again to their lair
upon the vetches. Thus a happy day is spent, full of variety,
and this is the way in which lamb prodigies are reared and
astonish the eyes of ordinary farmers from districts where
sheep grazing means turning out into a grass field. The
difference in value in favour of the close-folding system, as
just described, -will be about 20s. a head on lambs in
September. What would have been fair stock lambs, worth
25s. to 30S. each, are developed into animals worth 45s. to
50s. without difficulty. As to cake, it is no doubt an important
consideration, but it pays to give it. When the best cake
is under id. per lb., half a pound on an average over the
whole period of summer grazing is only 3d. per week, some of
which must be allowed to remain in the land. If we allow, as
we think w^e may, half of the cake to be left in manurial value,
the charge upon the lambs for cake is reduced to i|d. per week,
or during a season of twenty-four weeks to 3s. per head. If,
however, as might be preferred, " every tub should stand upon
its own bottom," and "every herring hang by its own tail."
then we think the direct expenditure of 6s. per head upon

xyS sheep: breeds and management.

caking lambs will prove remunerative, and the benefit to the
land will come in as a pleasant retiection which will no doubt
m time be realised.

Fodder Crops for Summer FEEDiNa.

The high estimate of the value of fodder crops has of late
years been raised by researches as to the waste of fertilisers
through drainage. It has been shown that fodder crops pre-
vent waste by appropriating fertilising matter, which, but for
them, would flow into drains, or into the inaccessible parts of
the subsoil. Sheep play an important part in conjunction
with fodder crops in this important matter. The crop, in
the first case, is a collector of plant food from the air, and the
soil, including the subsoil ; and, having fixed certain important
constituents, the sheep convert them into a marketable com-
modity, returning a large proportion of the food constituents
to the soil, thus enriching the surface. Sheep have been very
properly spoken of as an exhausting stock to the land, but
while this is the fact, the reverse is also true ; for sheep may
be used to improve land, more perhaps than any other agency.
We know that in Kent and other counties a ewe flock is
looked upon as scourging, chiefliy on account of the drain it
entails, upon the land, of phosphates. In Sutherlandshire,
sheep grazing has im.poverished large tracts of mountain
pasture. Such facts only teach the necessity of carrying
on sheep-farming upon rational principles, and especially
show the importance of feeding with artificial foods, as well
as with the natural herbage of the farm. Bearing this in
mind, we may safely say that the more sheep a farm carries
(within certain limits) the better, for then the farmer is com-
pelled to assist his flock with artificial foods.

The growth of fodder crops, and their consumption with
cake and corn, are the best means of increasing a sheep stock.
The proper conditions must, however, be observed, for it will
not answer any good purpose to attempt to force a system on

WINTER BARLEY AND OATS. I77

unwilling land or under unfavourable skies. In our southern
counties, and on light-topped soils, the most suitable circum
stances are found for this system of management. Here the
fodder crop may be followed with a full root crop, and then
the land may be made to support sheep twice — first in summer,
and again in winter. The most suitable crops for a system of
summer fodder-growing are, first.

The Winter Cereal Fodder Crops,

such as rye, winter barley, and winter oats. Of these, the
first is the earliest. Rye yields an excellent sheep food. It
may be sown any time from midsummer to September. When
a turnip crop has failed, and repeated re-sowing has not suc-
ceeded, rye may be drilled. Such early-sown rye will furnish
a fold for sheep in the autumn, and again in the spring, after
which the fold may be broken up and roots planted. More
ordinarily rye is so^vn after a corn crop, in September, and
gives a spring feed, or catch crop, before roots are sown. Rye
is a wholesome food for sheep as it is slightly binding in its
nature, and is thus well adapted for feeding with more laxa-
tive foods, such as water-meadow grass or turnip greens. It
must be fed young, and before it throws up the seed stem. It
leaves the land in good time and in good condition for the
earhest root crops, such as mangel wurzel and early rape or
turnips.

Winter Barley

may be fed with rye. It comes into use slightly later in the
season, and is therefore less adapted for following with early
root crops.

Winter Oats

are still later, and assist to prolong the period in which these
cereal fodder crops maybe employed. By the use of these
three crops there is no difficulty in producing fodder during
about two months of the spring.
12

,y8 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

Trifolium.

Sheep are very fond of this plant, and thrive well upon it
until it begins to grow old and hard. It is most useful at the
beginning of summer and precedes

Vetches,

which must be considered as the mainstay of the flock during
the hot months of June and July. While vetches are in use
the earliest-sown

Rape

becomes fit for stocking, and shortly afterwards cabbages
may also be relied upon. Vetches, rape, and cabbage assist
to tide over the latter weeks of summer before the earliest-
sown turnips arrive at maturity.

Besides these crops, sheep will probably have access to
young seeds and to aftermath clover, and, if possible, a supply
of mangel wurzel should be also retained until the turnip
season comes round again.

The various fodder crops named are better fed in combina-
tion than separately. Thus rye ought to be fed with water
meadows and turnip greens, as well as with swedes and
mangel. Winter barley should be fed with winter rye,
mangel, and trifolium or winter oats. Trifolium should be
fed with vetches ; vetches with rape and clover aftermath ;
rape with cabbages and clover aftermath. When to this
variety are added sliced mangel, linseed cake, and beans or
peas, a varied food is constantly provided, and the things can
hardly help thriving.

As the acreage is cleared the ploughs follow, and the land
is quickly covered by a thriving turnip crop, which supports
the flock during the winter. The amount of sheep stock
which may be maintained during the summer months under a
system of fodder crops is very great. It may be best gauged

SHEEP ON A FIVE-HUNDRED-ACRE FARJI. T79

by the number of ewes which are maintained, and this gene-
rally amounts to one to the acre. Taking a 500-acre farm we
should, in the first place, expect to find a dairy of twenty-five
cows, together with young stock, bringing the entire head of
horned stock up to fifty. There will also be the usual number
of working horses, with pigs and poultry. The total sheep
stock on such a farm v/ould include during the winter — i.e.,
from October to January — 500 ewes, about a dozen rams, and
from 150 to 180 ewe tegs. When lambing is completed, the
sheep stock will have increased to the following numbers,
which may be taken as approximately true of many farms : —

4S0 ewes
160 ewe tegs

12 rams
500 lambs

Total sheep stock 1,152
This stock is maintained throughout spring and summer,
and only begins to be drafted in early autumn. The cull ewes
are the first to go, and these make room for the ewe tegs.
The best wether or ram lambs and some of the evv^e lambs
follow, until by October the head of stock is reduced to the
old limits. In some cases 1,200 or 1,300 sheep are maintained
during the summer upon 500 acres, and, as the lambs grow
rapidly, they are equivalent to the sheep of many districts
in size and appetite. Meanwhile the corn area is fairly kept
up, so that upon such a farm of 500 acres from 160 to 200
acres of corn will be grown. No description of farming is
more likely to prove profitable at any time when the price of
slieep is maintained, and when good barley can also be
grown.

i8o sheep: breeds and management.

CHAPTER XVIII.
EXHIBITION SHEEP.

The production of the splendid specimens of sheep which
form a principal attraction at all agricultural shows takes us
out of the ordinary routine of farm management, and intro-
duces us to one of the mysteries of the art of stock-keeping.
The contrast between a pen of wethers at Islington, or a pen
of ewes at any great show of breeding stock, and ordinary
wethers or ewes as seen on the farm or at a fair, is very strik-
ing indeed. How such a result is obtained must indeed
appear a curious question to the uninitiated, and it is not
too much to say that it could not be achieved at all without
a prior outlay of many hundreds of pounds, and an application
of skill which could not be emulated by any person outs' -le
the mystery. We do not say that it is impossible for a man
to forthwith enter the arena, or that if enough money is
expended he might not at once take his place among the
aristocracy of the breeding fraternity. But we do say that
his object could only be secured by a heavy outlay, and the
purchasing of the results of years, or even generations of
patient workers. A first-prize pen at a national show in a
country such as England means a great deal. It means a large
flock from which to choose, careful breeding for years, and
skill in feeding and in selecting the animals sent up. The
success could not be achieved without cordial co-operation
between master and shepherd, both fulfilling their part in
securing the result ; and hence, without various qualifications,

EXHIBITION SHEEP. l8l

no outsider could venture with the least prospect of success to
compete against those who hold the key of the position, A
glance at the requirements of success in exhibiting sheep will
readily show that high-class stock breeding is in some respects
a close profession, and that not from artificial, but natural
barriers. Capital, skill, taste, time, and a suitable situation
are all needed, and this combination is rarely to be found in
the possession of one individual, and hence we may somewhat
selfishly hope that the breeding of really first-rate animals is
not likely to be quickly overdone. There is undoubtedly
room for many more breeders, and we have never feared
injury from competition of this nature. English live stock is
in demand over the whole civilised world, and, besides this,
breeders are excellent customers to each other.

In making a few remarks upon exhibition sheep, we would
say that the importance of the animals being thoroughly well
bred is paramount. As well enter a half-bred horse for the
Derby as a badly-bred sheep for the highest honours. Neither
is it sufficient that the animals should be well-bred on one
side, but it must be from a pure-bred ewe and by a pure-bred
ram, if it has to win by anything but a fluke.

It is, in fact, but lost labour to train under-bred animals for
a show, and hence it is a fundamental fact that the foundation
must be laid, either by years of patient breeding, or by spirited
buying, in order to start as a fully equipped breeder.

Having, in the acquisition of a good flock, secured the
sheep, the next point of importance is the land. This may be
regarded as rather a matter of good fortune than of choice.
Some farms produce a quality of fleece, a growth of bone, and
a mellowness of flesh which cannot be attained on other situa-
tions. The occupier sits at a natural advantage with regard
to the holders of weaker soils which never can produce the
requisite merit. A large farm is better than a small one, not
only because the variety of soils is greater, but because there
is a greater choice in selecting suitable animals.

Early lambing is an important item in success, but this may

i82 sheep: breeds and management.

easily be pushed to an extreme. Lambs born too early
become coarse and pass their best before they are required for
exhibition. Young lambs always have a certain charm in coat
and style for good judges, and hence a great deal of judgment
is required with regard to the period at which a lamb should
be born, or rather with regard to the age of the lamb selected
for training. Size is far from everything, and we have seen it
passed by for quality on many occasions. Hence an exhibitor
may well pause before choosing his exhibits on account of
their great proportions.

Preliminaries having been settled, it will be necessary to
take out a much larger number of individuals than will
actually be required. There are many contingencies to be
thought of. A sheep may die or go wrong. He may develop
into a coarse brute, or if he goes on right it may be found
exceedingly difficult to match him with suitable companions.
Thus a pen of three, a pen of five or of ten matchy lambs are
not obtained except out of a considerable number, all of whom
must be treated alike. This is one of the most serious matters
connected with showing. So serious, indeed, is it, that many
of our best Ijreeders decline the showyard altogether. They
will not force forward twenty of their best ewe lambs in order
to pick out three or five for show. The game they think not
worth the candle, as the risk of spoiling their best females for
breeding is too considerable. The expense is also worth
attention, and is not measured by the pen exhibited, but by
the total number got ready for show.

As to the best method of getting up a lot of sheep for
show, there is the choice between house and open-air feeding.
Sheep are not so happy under cover as in the open air, and
we have heard the opinion expressed again and again that
an open-air life is the best even for show sheep. Any judge
can at once tell a shed-fed sheep from his wool. Plenty of
room is also a point, and many prizes have been won by
sheep which have been allowed to run forward in front of
their fellows and pick the primest clover, rape, and cabbage.

EXHIBITION SHEEP. 183

Upon the artificial foods it is not necessary to dilate, except
in so far as to say that sheep of this description should be
allowed a plentiful supply of the best that money can
purchase. A constant variety in natural foods, and a liberal
quantity of the best linseed cake and old beans fairly indicate
the food, but who can describe the many minor points as to
early and late feeding, frequency of meals, and methods of
tempting the unwilling appetite, and coaxing the animals to
grow ? These belong to the art of shepherding, and are of
vital consequence. A master might as well try to take prizes
without sheep as without a shepherd, and it would not be
possible to commit all the store of knowledge possessed by
a competent shepherd to paper. Neither possible nor yet
desirable ; and if it could be done, the written directions
would not ensure the same success in other hands. First-
rate shepherds are not so uncommon as they are difficult to
find, because they are not given to changing their situations
often. A pleasant feature of sheep-farming is that mutual
regard of master and shepherd, both men appreciating each
other's value. Training is carried on with some little affec-
tation of secrecy, and much undertoned and almost whispered
consultation. The attention is constant and the daily care
extraordinary. The trimming of show sheep is a matter of
importance. There are those who object to trimming, but
it is impossible to show sheep in the natural unkempt and
rough state. It is really cruel to ask a breeder to exhibit
his sheep in a great show, before ladies and gentlemen, with-
out dressing them. What would a horse-breeder say to a
regulation insisting that his hunter or his thoroughbred
should appear ungroomed and rough, with long tail and
uncombed mane ? A sheep-breeder has similar feelings, and
similar failings. Besides, the public like to see animals well
turned out of hand, and even the pigs appear with their hair
curled and oiled, and their skins blooming as if they had been
immersed in a bath composed with toilet vinegar. Trimming
may be overdone, or unfairly done, but to the legitimate use

184 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

of the art there can be no objection. The methods vary with
every breed. The Leicester appears, Hke the parson, all
shaven and shorn. The Lincoln is smeared over with some
mysterious unguent, which makes the hands feel very dis-
agreeable if they are allowed to touch the fleece. The Cots-
wold comes out curly in coat, white, and redolent of soap
and water. The Southdown appears as like a plum as a
sheep can possibly be made, and bears evidence 0/ the shears
over his entire carcase. A very smug gentleman indeed is
the Southdown when in his war paint. Trimming is carried
to the greatest perfection in the Down races, and they
certainly reward the artists who have accomplished their
tasks so deftly. How it is done, when it is done, and how
often it is done are topics which for the present we need not
now enter upon. Perhaps in a future work we may be able
to give full directions as to how to get up a sheep for shoAv,
but it must be allowed that there is something almost
traitorous in letting out trade secrets.

THE FUTURE OF SHEEP FARMING. 1 85

CHAPTER XIX.
THE FUTURE OF SHEEP FARMING.

If any kind of farming may be expected to pay, even in the
present times of depression, it should be sheep farming. In
spite of New Zealand and Australian mutton, the home-grown
commodity keeps up its value, while only a short time ago
store sheep were at a premium, which was rather discon-
certing to the grazier. Lamb buyers ought, however, to
remember that they also have had their turn in the low prices
which formerly prevailed, and previous to that date, when
winter grazing must have paid particularly well. The price
of sheep no doubt fluctuates, but it does so with the home
demand for stock, and the home supply of keep. If keep
is scarce, down comes the value of sheep, but with a return
of genial show^ers and quick growth, the price rebounds
with wonderful elasticity. How long this will continue, or
whether it will always continue, are difficult questions. Pro-
fessor Wallace says a day of tribulation is coming, but there
is comfort in the thought that Australia and New Zealand
are not newly discovered countries, and that the same report
has been used to alarm us for twenty years, and yet we find
mutton selling, as carcases, at 8d. per lb.

The great safeguards against depreciation in the value of
sheep appear to be : (i) Their diminished number in Europe,
as well as in England, which, although recently checked, is
distinct enough to those who study statistics of live stock

l86 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

Neither do sheep increase rapidly in America, except in the
extreme south of the great southern continent.

(2) It is, indeed, with Austraha, New Zealand, and the
Argentine Republic, that we have chiefly to reckon ; and it
is also with the Merino breed, which is not a flesh but a wool
producing race. The question is important as to how far the
Merino can compete with English flesh sheep in our own
markets. The fibre is short and the meat is described as
delicious, but this is not everything. Weight and rapidity of
maturation are more important considerations, and it does not
appear in the least probable that the light-fleshed, slow-
growing Merinoes are going to oust our own Southdowns
from their proud position. English mutton may not be so
short in grain or tender as Australian Merino mutton, but it
is juicier, richer, better coloured, and the fat is more delicate,
and better mixed with the lean meat. It seems scarcely pro-
bable that the dry morsel which thinly covers the bones of a
Merino can ever rival the succulent and luscious flesh of an
English-bred sheep.

(3) Encouragement for the English breeder also is to be
found in the same increase of foreign competition in the matter
of mutton. If Australian and New Zealand farmers are going
to supply England, they must become buyers of English sires
and dams, and send their agents to our shores to attend fairs
and sales. When we reflect upon the immense areas and the
vast flocks of Australasia it is evident that this demand for
English blood is practically boundless. As yet, our Colonial
friends have chiefly been engaged in buying Southdowns, Lin-
colns, and Shropshires ; but the time will come when they will
import the Oxford, the Hampshire, and the Suffolk as
freely, and English sheep-breeders will be encouraged to make
still greater efforts towards perfection.

(4) The rapid increase of the human family is an important
factor in the question of the future price of food. To those
who have passed the period of extreme youth, the flight of tea
or twenty years must appear as a comparatively short period.

THE FUTURE OF SHEEP FARMING. iSj

Historically, it undoubtedly is so, and yet the increase of
mouths calling for food in such periods is extraordinary to
think of. It is not too much to say that in ten years another
London is added to our own home consumption ! The popu-
lation of the United States doubles itself in twenty-five years,
and the rapid increase of the population of Australia and New
Zealand will probably in time require a much larger propor-
tion of their produce than at present. With regard to the
United States, we shall have another China in one hundred
years, at the present rate of increase, and the question is
rather how the human family is to be supported in another
century than one of a plethora of food production,

(5) The upward tendency of wages, and the more uniform
distribution of wealth, is a feature of the present day. The
labouring population is no longer contented with bread, but
wants meat, and, what is more, gets it. There is no doubt
that comfort and plenty have descended to a strata which
formerly lived in comparative squalor and want. Just as
wheaten bread has taken the place of rye and barley meal, so
beef and mutton will more and more take the place of pork
and cheese, and thus a market will be found for all the
butcher's meat that can possibly be produced. A drop of id.
a pound in the price of meat must always call in tens of thou-
sands of buyers to check any further decline in value.

Taking all these considerations into account, it seems then
hardly probable that any sudden increase in importations of
frozen mutton will overturn the home manufacture.

A few years ago Mr. Finlay Dun returned from a trip to
America with glowing accounts of the endless supplies of beef
which were about to inundate us. Later, his countryman,
Professor Wallace, returned from a tour in Australia, and
prophesied evil things of the sheep trade. It is more than
probable that his gloomy forebodings will also remain unful-
filled. No one ought to be more pleased than Professor
Wallace, if I am right.

The immediate future of the English sheep-farmer is, it is

l88 SHEEP . BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

true, gloomy. He is depressed by low prices, and holds only a
small stock of good hay, while the root crop is fairly abundant.
Corn is cheap, and cake to some extent participates. He,
however, cannot fear over-production, for he is millions of
heads below the sheep census of a generation since. Rents
have come down enormously. Two farms which I have in
view, formerly let at ^1,400 and ;^i,2oo, have been re-let
respectively at ;^5oo and ;^400, and such cases are no doubt
common.

It is probable that the present tenants of these farms are
much better off than if they held land for nothing in Australia.
At what price per acre, I would ask, ought we to value the
mere fact of being in England ? Surely it is worth several
shillings per acre to be within eighty miles of London, or fifty
miles of Birmingham or Manchester. It would be difficult to
say how much ; but surely land rented at los. per acre for
sheep-farming in England must, in hundreds of cases, be
better than free land at the Antipodes. Climate alone is a
consideration. An American once said of our climate — " that
we are always grumbling about it, but it was the only thing
we ought to be proud of." The remark was sufficiently
caustic, but from a grazier's point of view there is much truth
in it.

I am sorry to hear loud complaints from the North of Scot-
land as to this branch of pastoral industry. There is, however,
a great lesson contained in this distress, as it appears to be in
a measure due to outraging the inexorable laws of nature.
Generation after generation, lambs have been reared and
removed from the great grazing grounds of Sutherland.
Bones have been removed, and wool, and with them phos-
phates and potash, and the pastures have become seriously
injured. The area is too large, and the depletion has been
carried out too long, for individuals to meet this call, and the
dilemma is a serious one, indeed. No one can lay this
grievance to the door of " the bad times " — it has been caused
by wilful, albeit ignorant, waste, and, even when the times

THE FUTURE OF SHEEP FARMING.

189

are favourable for sheep-breeders, the men who occupy these
exhausted soils cannot take advantage of them. Under such
circumstances complaints are only to be expected, but they
are happily exceptional, and certainly are not likely to be
repeated by the many sheep farmers who duly keep up the
condition of their land by a rational system of management.

IQO SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

CHAPTER XX.
SHEEP FARMING IN SUTHERLANDSHIRE.

I HAVE SO frequently had occasion to speak of the manage-
ment of sheep on the enclosed grounds of the English shires
that it is now necessary to turn our attention for a short time
to the comparatively wild life of the Highlands of Scotland.
The ordinary notion of sheep-farming in England is naturally
limited to holdings of moderate size. Five hundred acres
is a fair-sized farm, and a thousand acres strike us as large.
Ewes, with corresponding numbers of lambs and tegs, care-
ful attention, regular turniping, and allowances of cake and
corn are associated with arable farming, and especially with
barley-growing. Such intensive farming supplies plenty of
food for remark and discussion. The " management " is con-
stantly varying and very complicated, the changes of food
frequent and elaborate, the expenses per acre, or per head,
heavy. All this is entirely different on a Highland sheep-
walk, and we may almost say that the picture is the reverse of
what we often see around us. The term extensive is more appro-
priate. It is not a question of how many sheep to the acre,
but how many acres to the sheep. We deal not with hundreds,
but with thousands of acres ; not with rounded chalk hills or
wolds of oolite, but with lofty mountains, whose tops rake the
clouds and bring down their treasures in torrents ; snow-capped
peaks and distant blue vistas of rugged scenery ; such pictures
as Landseer loved to paint, with the stag and the deer-stalker
in the fore-ground, or the tartan-clad shepherd with his faithful

SHEEP FARMING IN SUTHERLANDSHIRE. I91

collies. The whole surroundings are changed, and the dialect
in which the master talks to his herd is almost unintelligible to
a southern ear.

" The traveller who crosses the mountains to the north-west
coast from Kildonan," says Mr. James Macdonald, "enters
the Sutherland portion of the parish of Reay. The principal
holding in this district is the fine farm of Bighouse, extending
to about 60,000 acres, and rented at £1,1^-2. by Mr. Robert
Paterson, of Birthwood, Biggar, Lanarkshire." This farm is
about double the size of the small county of Clackmannan, and
a great deal larger than Kinross. If Rutland were so divided
there would be room for one and a-half such farm. The rent
amounts to fivepence per acre, over all. Along the banks of
the river and burns there is a good deal of green land, but the
greater part is black and mossy. Rhifail extends to about
30,000 acres, and is rented at about ;^gooa year, or sevenpence
per acre, and consists of mixed hill pasture. Ribigill, the
largest farm in the parish of Tongue, and one of the best
managed in the county, is 30,000 acres in extent, and is rented
at ;^i,465 a year, or at about one shilling per acre. Melness,
the largest farm in the county, and probably in the kingdom,
is 70,000 acres in extent, and is rented at £i,25y per annum,
or a little over fourpence per acre. The entire stocks of the
districts are of Cheviot sheep, and have been so for more than
half a century, and during all this time the change in the
system of management has been so slight as scarcely to be
worthy of notice. The pastoral farms of the county carry
what are known as " ewes and wether " flocks, that is, self-
supporting flocks that throw into the market every year a crop
of cast ewes and of three-year-old wethers. These ewes and
wethers are delivered to the buyers direct fiom the hills, about
September ist. Sutherland is a breeding and rearing, and not
a feeding county. Mr. Macdonald tells us that the best idea
of the details of management in Sutherland may be obtained
by taking the case of a tenant entering a farm at Whitsuntide,
the usual time of entry, and by following him through his first

ig2 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

twelve months. He would take over from the way-going
tenant at valuation a flock corresponding to, say, 2,000 ewes.
In an ordinary year from seventy-five to eighty-five lambs are
nursed for every 100 ewes tupped, so that with the 2,000 ewes
there would be at least 1,500 lambs. The death-rate in
ordinary seasons is from 5 per cent, to 10 per cent. Taking
it at the higher figure, the incoming tenant would find 1,350
one-year-old sheep (say 675 gimmers and 675 dinmonts),
and in round numbers 610 two-year-old wethers, and 550
three-year-old wethers. He thus would commence with a
grand total composed as follows : —

2,000 ewes
1,500 lambs
675 gimmers »

610 two-year-old wethers
550 three-year-old wethers

6,010
Besides two or three " turnip herds " there would be seven
shepherds on the farm, each having under his charge 500 ewes
and their lambs. The ewes would occupy the lower and
greener land, the others the higher and blacker. Clipping
commences with the " eild " sheep about the first week of Jime
and continues for a month — the smeared sheep having been
washed immediately before. He sells his wool and his three-
year-old wethers, and, perhaps, his " shott " lambs and draft
ewes at Inverness Wool Fair, where he probably also sells his
wool. The weaning of lambs takes place in the last week of
July or first week of August. The worst lambs are sold, and
the remainder are grazed on the better pastures until the first
week in October, when they are sent for wintering either to an
arable farm on the south-east coast, or to Caithness, Ross, or
Moray, or elsewhere.

The hill stock being thus lightened, the wethers occupying
the higher and colder grounds are smeared with a mixture of
tar and butter in equal proportions, with perhaps a little oil and
milk added, the cost being about 8d. to lod. a head. The

SHEEP FARMING IN SUTHERLANDSHIRE. I93

remainder of the stock is dipped with oil and tobacco juice, at
a cost of 3d. per head.

The tups are turned out about November 22nd, and taken
back about Christmas, from forty to fifty ewes being allotted to
each, and a few of the strongest or hardiest gimmers are also
tupped. Two or three of the better bred tups are mated with
choice lots of ewes in order to breed rams for future use.
During the winter the younger sheep are placed in the best
ground, and from each " hirsel " weakly animals are drawn, and
given hay and oats, if necessary. If the winter is open and the
pasture good, none except specially weak sheep require hand
feeding ; but if the winter is severe the younger " hirsels " get
a little hay, or a small daily feed of turnips, if these are raised
on the farm. Hand-feeding is considered a bad practice on
hill farms, and is only resorted to when it becomes a necessity.
The ewe and wether tegs are wintered separately, the former
on grass as much as possible, getting turnips for a month or
more in spring, while the wether hoggs are wintered on turnips
for about six months, at an expense of from 8s. to los. each.

The cotton grass, or mossing, is ready to take them by the
end of March, and the hoggs are then dipped and sent on to
the cotton grass, which maintains them till the deer-hair and
other grasses come up in May. Lambing commences about
April 20th. In May the lambs are branded with the farm and
hirsel marks, and the males are castrated at the same time.

The above simple account of a year's sheep farming in
Sutherlandshire indicates that the number of events of interest
are few, and that the minute attention which is daily necessary
in an English flock is not required. The sheep, indeed, live an
independent and natural existence, exposed to many vicissitudes
during the long winter, and enjoying a free and happy life in
the summer.

With regard to the number of sheep which a large Highland

sheep farm will carry, Sciberscross, which is 39,000 acres in

extent, is stocked with 6,000 sheep, and is rented at /"IjSQO-

Kinbrace, 30,000 acres in extent, carries about 5,000 sheep,

IS

jg^ SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

and is rented at £990. As already pointed out, a farm sup-
porting 2,000 ewes would carry a total sheep stock of about
6,000, and might be 30,000 to 40,000 acres in extent. Probably
the largest extent of land held at one time in a single tenancy
was 150,000 acres under the occupation of Messrs. Donald and
William Mackay (father and son). These gentlemen were
considered to be the most extensive farmers in the United
Kingdom. Although Cheviot sheep are said to be almost
universal in Sutherlandshire, there has been a disposition of
late years to return to the older Black-faced breed, chiefly on
account of the severity of the winters. The deterioration of
the pastures is a cause of much anxiety, due apparently to
continued grazing without making the necessary return in the
form of phosphates. It is also alleged to be due to sporting
tenants interfering with the proper burning of the hill ground,
and to the greater severity of the seasons during recent years.
The simplicity of the feeding, the absence of artificial fer-
tilisers, and the rudimentary character of the buildings, the
fixed character of the management, and the vast extent of
the holdings are unfavourable to the application of what is
generally called science to such a pursuit as this. It bears a
strong resemblance to Australian sheep farming, where inspec-
tion, change of pasturage, marking, washing, cHpping, lamb-
ing, and watering constitute the chief occupations of the
shepherds. The master is, indeed, more a capitalist with
money invested in sheep than a farmer in our sense of the
word, and the details of management are chiefly left to the
shepherds. No more intelligent and trustworthy class exists
than this, and the Collie dogs are only second in importance.
The extraordinary sagacity of these dogs has often been
illustrated, and the manner in which they watch and marshal
the flocks is admirable.

A LARGE FLOCK.

195

CHAPTER XXI.
A LARGE FLOCK.

A FLOCK of a thousand ewes is unquestionably a valu-
able property. Such a large flock I have recently inspected,
and a few remarks upon what it entails in the way of total
sheep stock may be worth perusal. This flock is maintained
upon about 1,000 acres of land, varying in quality from rich
water meadows and good river-side arable land, to healthy,
but poor, down. The ewes are black-faced Hampshires of
fair quality, and are mostly used for breeding wether lambs
for sale during the autumn fairs. There is also on the same
farm a dairy of about seventy cows, which, with heifers,
calves, and the sheep, form an abundant and profitable stock.
A thousand ewes, as a standing flock, means a large number
of sheep during the summer, when the flock is at its maximum
number, and is approaching its maximum value. For the
latter we must wait another month, when the cull ewes will
be brought up into sale condition, and the most forward lots
■of lambs will be fit for the market.

Where 1,000 stock ewes are kept 1,100 lambs may be reason-
ably looked for. The number of lambs born will greatly exceed
this figure, but deaths are unavoidable. They are, in any case,
sure to be sufficiently numerous to keep the number of reared
lambs only slightly above the number of ewes turned out in
autumn. Barren ewes form an important item, sometimes
reaching a proportion of from 2 to 5 per cent, of the breeding
flock. No one can lamb down 1,000 ewes without c^Qsidc-r-

ig6 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

able losses from deaths, barren ewes, and abortion, and although
twins may abound, yet the general outcome, when all losses
are discounted, will be not far from the estimate put forward.

In order to keep up a flock of i,ooo ewes about 360 young
ewes will be required for stock every year, and about 330 cull
or draft ewes will be available for sale. Such estimates must
be approximate only, but if we assume an annual loss of 5 per
cent, (a loss which really ought not to be incurred) we should
have the actual reduction in numbers through death repre-
sented as follows : —

360 two-year-old ewes, of which about 4 per cent, die = 15
345 three-year-old ,, ,, 4 ,, ,, =14

331 four-year-old ,, ,, 4 .. m = ^3

1,036
This would allow a sufficient number over the 1,000 to stand
against casualties during the season.

The flock during April and May, and in fact through
summer, will therefore consist of, say, 1,000 ewes, 1,100
lambs, 360 tegs, and probably about ten or twelve rams left
over from last autumn. The total number of sheep on the
farm would therefore be 2,470, or approaching 2^ per acre.

Realisation.

A question of some interest very naturally springs out of
this statement. What may be expected from a flock of 1,000
ewes, in revenue ? This question may be answered either in
terms of so much per ewe or so much per acre, and, as 1,000
ewes seem to correspond to 1,000 acres, the two would allow
of a similar answer in either case. The amount realised must
depend in a great measure upon the quality of the flock. 1
will take the case of a good ordinary flock, such as the one
under consideration. The breed is Hampshire Down, and the
locality Wiltshire.

What then is likely to be the proceeds of these 1,000 ewes ?

REALISATION.

197

In the first place there is the cHp of 1,370 sheep, which may
be taken as averaging 4I lbs. each, or slightly under 5 lbs.
This equals 6,580 lbs. at ii^d. per lb., or /'315 5s. lod., less
draft, &c., ;^3i2 los. 6d. The next item will be the sale of
320 cull and fat ewes, which, if good, we may take at 45s.
each early in August. This gives a return of £']io. The
lambs may fairly be considered as half composed of wethers
and half of ewe lambs, of which igo will be for sale. I
estimate the values of the lambs sold in August as follows : —

I s. d.
100 prime wether lambs at 50s.
100 „ „ ,, at 45?.

200 ,, ,, ,, at 35s.

150 smaller lambs at 305.
icx) ewe lambs at 40s.
90 „ at3Ss.

Deduct for losses

Net sales ;^i)362 o o

The total proceeds of such a flock would therefore be^

£ s. d.

250 0

0

225 0

0

350 0

0

225 0

0

200 0

0

157 10

0

£^

,407 10

0

45 10

0

Wool
Ewes

Lambs

312 10 6

720 10 o

1,362 o o

;^2,395 o 6
There would also be the sale of cull rams, casualty sheep,
and skins, which would probably bring up the sum to ;^2,400
or thereabouts. It will, therefore, be seen that the return in
sales from a flock of 1,000 ewes maintained on 1,000 acres
would amount, in such a case as this, to over £'2 each ewe, or
each acre."^'

* This estimate was made when sheep ruled high, and prices might easily
be los. or even more per head below those given in the text. On the other
hand we have seen prices higher.

igs sheep : breeds and management.

Profits.

It is exceedingly difficult to come to a conclusion as to
profits. Attempts have been made to reduce this question to
one of book-keeping, but such methods are fallacious. It is
impossible to say what a flock costs, because the whole business
of farming is inextricably interlaced. The grazing of sheep
upon clover, for example, is beneficial to succeeding crops, and
folding upon turnips is not to be charged to the sheep alone.
Cake and corn given to sheep are also partly expended upon
them and partly upon the land, and labour is similarly difficult
to apportion. However exact a system of book-keeping may
be, many of these items could only be assessed by the exercise
of judgment, and they would therefore be open to argument,
and cease to be of the value which the figures appeared to
indicate. Gross revenue can be easily ascertained, and after
that no system of books can improve upon careful thinking out
of the items of expenditure with a view to forming a judgment.
There can, however, be no doubt that sheep are profitable.
One of the saddest features connected with the agricultural
depression is that many farmers have parted with their sheep,
and were unable to participate in the good prices which
sheep farmers recently realised. Corn and roots, mutton and
residual fertility, are so mixed up in the general conduct of
farming business that it is impossible to separate them except
by the rough-and-ready system of halving or quartering the
expenses. Such guesses, when put down in books, are accurate
in appearance, but rest on a weak foundation. I would rather
take a general view as to the cost per head of, say, i lb. of corn
per day at fd., and add 4d., 5d., or 6d. for the natural food ot
the farm, according to its abundance. Add to these items the
cost per head of attendance on a basis arrived at on a covering
scale. Add to this, losses at 5 per cent, per annum, which
would probably not be more than is. per week per score, or
less than kd. per sheep per week.

Sheep will, by such a calculation, be found to cost a figure

COST OF SHEEP KEEPING IQQ

circulating around is. per week, and varying from 6d. to is. 3d.,
according to the food given and the age of the animals. It is
by such a carefully-thought-out estimate, made in conversation,
or in a quiet walk among the sheep, that the farmer can best
and most truly think out the question as to whether his sheep
are paying or not. It is often considered that in ordinary
circumstances, if a lot of sheep is paying is. a week per head,
they are doing well.

Applying this rule to the ewe flock, according to the calcu-
lations above made as to gross revenue, they pay about gjd.
per week each. It must, however, be remembered that during
by far the greater portion of the year ewes cost only 3d.,
4d., and 5d. per week, as they seldom receive cake except
when suckling their lambs. Calculations on such a subject
are, as already mentioned, at best approximative, and it is
only when the margin is considerable that we can absolutely
affirm that the sheep are paying. It must also be borne in
mind that even a profit of 10 per cent, on the capital invested
in a flock is not a large income, and that a good profit does
not necessarily mean a large sum.

Cost of Sheep Keeping.

This subject is worthy of further consideration. So far as
dividing the costs of cultivation in a system of books, we do
not consider it practicable. It would only be possible in an
elaborate office-kept system of farm accounts, and even then
it would be largely composed of guesses and assumptions. As
a record of monetary transactions, accounts are of course ne-
cessary, and they help to furnish bases for calculations ; but
it is a mistake to think that the actual net profits of a sheep
flock, or of a dairy, are ever going to be brought out through
the processes of double entry. The transactions would need
to pass from side to side of the books like a shuttle in a loom.
Those who understand double entry will be able to follow
me, and will see the insurmountable difficulties in the way

200 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

of an accountant endeavouring to show the net profits of a
flock of sheep. I will endeavour to strengthen this position
6y giving an example.

The flock requires turnips, swedes, and mangel, and for
these foods we presume they must be charged. But before
doing this we must open accounts with turnip, swede, and
mangel, or treat all as "roots," and open a "root account."
The sheep account is thus debtor to the root account, and an
entry is made " Sheep, Dr. to roots." This is, we will pre-
sume, calculated on 3d. or ^d. per week per sheep, but whether
justly or not, no one could very well say. We must next
make some sort of a guess as to the manurial value of the
roots eaten, for it would be rather unfair to the root crop to
credit it only with ^d. for eatage, and with nothing for its
manurial value. This would lead to another assumption as
to the proportion of fertilising matter left in the land, and Ave
should require to debit a manure account or else a field account
with manure received by means of sheep. This might take
the form of " Gallows Field, Dr. to sheep folding," and would
necessitate either a sheep folding account or an entry on the
credit side of the sheep account. Or it might be treated as a
transaction between the root account and the field account,
such as " Gallows Field, Dr. to roots feed," and " Roots
credited by Gallows Field." The debt ought to be carried
on and divided throughout the rotation, involving a large
amount of calculation and a great deal of rough assumption.
When the sheep are debited with cake and corn, they should
also be credited with the unexhausted fertility due to these
feeding stuffs, and the crop benefited would be debited for
the same. Thus cross entries would multiply, and no one
could say where they had to stop. Many of them would be
mere bogus entries, for no one could say how far they were
realisable, as much depends upon season, and a heavy dress-
ing of sheep dung might possibly do harm to a barley crop.

An elaborate system of farm accounts to show the net
profits from any department of a farm would therefore be

THE COST OF KEEPING A SHEEP. 20I

practically iinpossible, and, besides, it would take all the
farmer's time to keep it.

The Cost of Keeping a Sheep

may, however, be approximately arrived at by a few notes
and a little thought, in a fairly satisfactory manner, and
of this I can easily give an example. This method also has
the advantage of being that which is usually followed by
farmers in turning over in their minds whether the system
they follow is the best which could be adopted.

We cannot take a better example than the cost of main-
taining a ewe, and in doing so we prefer to take the period
from weaning to weaning. All such calculations, as already
explained, can only be approximative ; and, as a principle,
we think the estimates should be of a covering character,
or should err rather on the side of excess. If a margin for
profit is then clearly discernible, we may rest assured that
there is a sure profit ; whereas, if our leturns are below the
probable or possible cost, our profit might prove a vanish-
ing one. To estimate the cost of a ewe may not appear a
very easy matter, and, in fact, it is not. We propose to
treat it in a business-like manner, upon a basis which we
know to be correct. For example, keep is a marketable com-
modity. It can be had at 3d., ^d., 5d., and 6d. per week ; we
have known it as high as gd. per sheep per week. Keep can
generally be procured at 4d. per head per week even when
no cake is fed, and if 4 lb. of cake is consumed by the sheep
on the land, probably 4d. would secure ordinary keep of
turnips and hay at any time. The period from weaning to
weaning takes up the entire year, which we proceed to divide
as follows: — Supposing weaning to take place on June ist,
there is a period of cheap and abundant keep from this date
up to October ist, during which we think ewes ought not
to cost in food more than 3d. per head per week. We
believe we could secure keep away from home at this rate,

202 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

and may consider it as leaving a profit to the lessor, and,
therefore, liberal. I assume the cost of food from June ist to
October ist, or for seventeen and a-half weeks, at 3d. From
October ist to February ist is a time of greater scarcity.
The ewes must have hay, turnips and grazing, and I estimate
the cost at ^d. per head, believing that in most seasons we
could take keep at this figure. On February ist I shall
assume that the ewe produces her lamb, and that she begins
to receive a little corn within a few days of that event. I
shall, therefore, raise the cost of keep to a figure suitable for
couples, and place it at 8d. from yeaning to weaning on June
ist. This figure we may divide, if necessary, into two
portions — namely, 5d. for the ewes, and 3d. for the lambs.

Food is, however, not the only item of cost, for we have
labour, cost of ram service, risk, actual loss, interest on
money, and incidental expenses, such as hurdles, troughs,
carting, &c., some of which are exceedingly difficult to esti-
mate. These items, even when estimated on a liberal scale,
do not reach a high price per sheep per week. Take labour,
for example, as assessed highly at 250 ewes per man at wages
equivalent to £1 per week. This is evidently id. per week
upon 240 ewes, which must be regarded as excessive. As
this is a very principal item, we take it at id. per week, and
we are disposed to put all other expense at another id. per
week. Losses at 5 per cent, on an average figure of 52s. is
5 per cent, on is. per week, which is actually i-2oth part of
is. per sheep per week, or rather over |d.

We think we are now in a position to make an estimate as
to the cost of keeping a ewe for a year.

s. d.

Keep from June 1st to October ist, 17^ weeks at 3d. .. 4 4^

,, ,, Oct. 1st to February ist, 17^ weeks at 4d. ... .. 5 10

,, ,, Feb. Ist to June 1st, 17 weeks at 5d ... 7 i

Labour for 52 weeks at id. ... ... ... ... ... ... 4 4

Other expenses and risks at id. per week, including ram service ... 44

£1 5 ii4

THE COST OF KEEPING A SHEEP.

203

The cost of keeing a ewe I therefore find to be £1 5s. ii;^d.
per annum. The lamb has been assumed to cost 3d. per
week from birth to weaning time on June ist, or for seven-
teen weeks, 4s. 3d., and the cost of the couple is seen to be
£\ los. 2^d.

A fairl)^ kept ewe and her lamb will, therefore, be kept on
mixed arable and grass farms, such as abound in the chalk
and oolite formations, for about 30s. From this sum it is
customary to deduct the fleece of the ewe, which varies with
the weight, and cannot be taken at more than 4s. or 5s.
Thus the net cost under the system of treatment indicated
will be from 26s. to 27s. per annum, and the amount of
profit depends upon the price of lambs. This varies exceed-
ingl)\ In July lambs may be worth 30s., or even 40s., in
which case the flock has certainly paid well, but in seasons
such as 1893 they are difficult to dispose of, even at prices
which it would be misleading to quote.

204 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

CHAPTER XXII.
DISEASES OF SHEEP.

[In the section on Management, references will be found to many of the
diseases of sheep. As it is not intended that this volume should be a complete
veterinary handbook, we shall not now enter into a detailed catalogue of ail-
ments, but the following paragraphs describe a number of the more serious
disorders. Several of these notices are from the pen of Professor Axe.]

Sore Mouths and Teats in Lambs and Ewes.

The article on aphthae, thrush or canker, by Professor
Axe (see page 223), is well worth the careful attention
of sheep breeders. There are few breeders but must
have suffered at certain periods of the year from the
disease which is there described. The consequences are
serious, as they entail the loss of many ewes and lambs,
and the effects are even more far reaching than this. I
remember a severe attack in the spring of 1886, after a
scarcity of roots, and a too free use of hay, cake, and other
dry foods. The ewes were in good condition, and the lambing
season was particularly fortunate and fruitful. A finer lot of
lambs, and a seemingly healthier lot of ewes I have seldom
seen up to March. It was at this time that some of the lambs
were seen to be affected with sore mouths, and simultaneously
ewes were noticed to be suffering from a pimpled and crusted
condition of the teat. As a precaution, the affected couples
were separated from the rest, but the disease spread notwith-
standing, and involved a great part of the flock. The spring
was cold and late, and harsh east winds prevailed, which

SORE MOUTHS AND TEATS. 205

further seemed to aggravate the disease. A veterinary sur-
geon was called in, and prescribed a number of remedies more
or less difficult to carry out over a large flock folded on the
open down and exposed to all the rigours of cold nights,
morning frosts, and dry east winds. The ewes could not
stand to be sucked, and the lambs were perpetually hungry
and discontented. Their frequent attempts to suck kept the
teats in a wounded, wet and uncomfortable state, while the dry
winds caused them to chap. Many lambs were compulsorily
weaned, and the task of drawing the diseased and foetid udders
fell to the shepherd, who was well nigh driven to despair.
Many ewes and lambs died, while others moved about gaunt
and miserable — the ewes tucked up in their bellies, and the
lambs long, thin, and dry in their coats. The mischief ex-
tended into the autumn, causing many ewes to be drafted
before their time ; and a further loss was experienced on the
sale of the cast ewes on account of many of them being unfit
for nursing, and therefore for breeding.

My own case is so well delineated in the article already
referred to that the description might be taken from it. I
have, therefore, no doubt that we suffered from an attack of
aphthae or thrush. Cure there seemed to be none, and we
rather lived through it than mastered it. Warmer weather
and plenty of green food, the death of the severest sufferers,
and the gradual recovery of others in time, obliterated the
ailment, and we had a fairly good lot of lambs to show after
ail. As I have recently heard of similar outbreaks involving
certain flocks, it may be useful to draw attention to the matter,
especially as in the article referred to some good directions are
given for treatment. A complete change of diet is one of the
most obvious and best means for checking the disease. Grass
or other green food and a cooling diet would be much better
than concentrated and heating foods, such as linseed cake and
clover hay. Bran, meadow hay, green rye, water meadows,
young seeds, with a few oats, would be likely to change the con-
dition of the blood, and produce a healthier and cooler condition

2o6 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

than such neating foods as swedes, peas, and linseed cake.
The udders of affected ewes should be freely lanced and
drawn, and the lambs in such cases must be hand fed. " A
saline aperient, such as a little Epsom salts, combined with
some aromatic, as aniseed or coriander seed, may be given to
the ewes at the outset, and this should be followed by the
administration of a little powdered columba root and salt in
the manger food twice daily. As a dressing for the udder a 5
per cent, solution of carbolic acid applied morning and evening
will assist in healing wounds and dispersing the eruption, or
what is equally efficacious, a weak solution of alum. The
mouths of the lambs should be washed both inside and out
with a solution of chlorate of potash -of the strength of 10
grains to the ounce, using just sufficient to moisten the
surface without allowing any to be swallowed. When proud
flesh appears on the lips or gums it should be promptly
touched with lunar caustic, and any teeth which may become
loose should be removed." Youatt recommends that the
mouth should be washed two or three times a week with solu-
tion of alum, or diluted tincture of myrrh, and a couple of
ounces of Epsom salts should be administered. He also
describes under the same heading a similar disease which
attacks " lambs oftener than full-grown sheep ; and sucking
lambs more frequently than those that are weaned. It is
attributed to various causes, as feeding among the stubbles, or
on stony ground, or the teats of the mother being chapped or
filthy. The application of a little mercurial ointment, very
much lowered with lard, or of the common sulphur ointment
with a twelfth part of mercurial, will speedily effect a cure."
Youatt also points out a curious coincidence between thrush in
the mouth and foot -rot, and suggests that possibly the sheep
may have rubbed the diseased foot with his muzzle or licked it,
and thus communicated the disease to the mouth. What is
known among shepherds as " evil" is no doubt a similar if not
identical disease. It is seen affecting lambs and sheep of
greater age, such as ewes, and appears as an eruption around

LAMENESS. 20y

the mouth. Lambs eating harsh grass are often affected by it.
This disease will be found more fully described at page 223.

Lameness.

Foot-rot is said to be a preventable disease. This, although
possibly true as an abstract statement, is not always equally
practical. For example, ewes heavy in lamb cannot be
handled and turned for dressing without danger, and the dress-
ing of their feet is for this reason often postponed. A sheep
lame from foot-rot will always be found to have an exuberant
growth of horn doubled tmder the sole of the foot, or splayed
outwards in a ragged condition. The sheep should be turned,
and every portion of loose and detached horn pared away. All
fungoid sproutings should be removed by the knife, and the
cutting should be continued as far as the disease has burrowed,
or the hoof is detached from the sensitive foot. This we
regard as fundamental, and we repeat that every part of the
horny portion of the hoof that is in the slightest degree
separated from the parts beneath must be cut away with a
proper knife for the purpose. Any fungoid granulation must
be removed, and then a caustic application must be used.
Washing the foot perfectly clean before applying the caustic
cannot be objected to, but, in practice, the cleaning is more
usually accomplished by direct paring with the knife. As to
the " dressing" which may then be applied, it is always of a
caustic or strongly astringent character. Butter of antimony
applied with a feather is found useful. Also various foot -rot
pastes which may be purchased at the druggists, or dry,
powdered sulphate of copper, or blue vitriol. Speaking of
" butyr of antimony," William Youatt says, " There is no
application comparable to this. It is effectual as a superficial
caustic ; and it so readily combines with the fluids beIongin«f
to the part to which it is applied that it quickly becomes
dilated and comparatively powerless, and is incapable ot pro-
ducing any deep or corroding mischief." If the foot has been

2o8 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

severely stripped of its horn, and especially if a considerable
portion of the sole has been removed, it may be necessary to
bandage it ; but in most cases, after dressing, the sheep is
turned away without this safeguard. One or two dressings will
usually complete the cure, but in a large flock it is difficult to
get rid of it altogether. Prevention is better than cure, and
the best safeguard against foot-rot is to dress the feet from
time to time so as to prevent the wall of the hoof from growing
to such a length as to double under the foot.

This over-shooting of the horn is the cause of pellets of hard
earth becoming inserted between it and the sole, and this
causes irritation and inflammation. This evil may be pre-
vented by care, and points to the necessity of supervision on
the part of the master, and the allowing to the shepherd a
sufficient amount of assistance to enable him to give increased
attention to the health and comfort of his Hock. Foot-rot is
most prevalent upon marshy, low-lying, or stiff soils, and we
frequently have experienced an outbreak when the flock has
been removed from the uplands and brought into the richer
and more unctuous portions of the farm. Lambs contract the
disease at a very tender age, and are evidently much distressed
with it. When this is the case advantage should be taken of
the first dry day to " go round " them carefully, paring their
little feet, and applying the remedy already mentioned.

Flies.

Flies of various species are a great cause of annoyance to
sheep and to shepherds. It is scarcely too much to say that
a principal work of the shepherd during summer is to guard
his flock against the attacks of flies. Of these I shall speak of
three: (i) common flies; (2) the sheep bot fly; (3) the sheep
tick fly.

Common Flies.

It may not be entirely satisfactory in these days of science
to speatf of common flies without, at the same time, strictly

FLIES.

209

defining what flies we mean* There is, however, a " very
large division," as Miss Ormerod tells us, of the Diptera, or
tvvo-\vinged flies, all the species of which are more or less like
a common house-fly. That the fly which torments sheep is
precisely the same as the fly which crawls up our window panes,
or torments our cooks in our kitchens, we may be sure is not
the case. There is no doubt that insects which take up their
abode in houses become in a measure domesticated, and hence
the musca domestica of our houses \-aries considerably from the
woodside hordes which appear to live for the sake of perse-
cuting their fellow creatures, but doubtless, and in fact, as we
know, have their uses in the economy of Nature. It is probable
that if the swarm which has settled upon the head of a devoted
sheep were examined by an entomologist he would easily iden-
tify several species, all, however, very much alike. They are
of the size and sombre hues of the house-fly, they are thick in
the body, short in the proboscis, active on the wing, and we
all know them as "flies." Buzzing around the tails, settling
on the dung, and busily looking round for a place " where she
may (literally) lay her young," are various forms of those
larger and even more offensive creatures, the meat flies or blue-
bottles, or bronze-coloured sisters, cousins and aunts of the
same. These creatures, which are the horror of the pedestrian,
the horseman and the shepherd, need no very special descrip-
tion. They are associated with bright sunshine and intense
heat, with country lanes flanked by woods, with pastures
especially bordering on plantations, but less with open downs.
These creatures affect sheep at two vulnerable points — the
head and the tail — and a few remarks upon them ^^•ill be
useful to breeders. So far as the head is concerned, we
know from experience that the victims are principally the more
or less bare-headed races of sheep. The Cheviot upon
Lammermuir, or its native hills, the Border-Leicester, the
Leicester, and the various Leicester-Cheviot crosses occur to
us as particularly susceptible to this form of annoyance. The
Down breeds are less affected, and, speaking from some experi-
14

2IO SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

ence, we should say enjoy a cerfain immunity from sore heads.
Shropshire sheep, with their woolly helmets, Oxfords and
Cotswolds with their characteristic fore-locks, Hampshires,
and, to a less degree, Southdowns, are not plagued with flies
about the head. It is at the roots of the small rudiments of
the horn that flies first find out a weak spot. There they are
no doubt first attracted by dirt and some form of decomposition
which it appears Nature designs these creatures to feed upon
and destroy. Any animal odour attracts them, and they be-
come the cause of irritation, and this again induces a serious
exudation which still further encourages attack. The flies
now settle in swarms upon the devoted head. They trample
with their tiny feet and perforate the skin for juices, until the
effect is a broad scald extending over the crown. The poor
animal in vain attempts to shake off his persecutors. He runs,
he suddenly stops, he wags his tail, but not in pleasure ; he stamps
his feet, he throws himself down, and by shaking his head
and ears, and taking some advantage of the bents which cover
his pasture, attempts an ineffective resistance to his enemies.
No sheep can fatten or thrive in this condition. His only
relief is sunset or night ; but in the early morning he is again
subjected to slow torture. Such is the ailment — next for the
treatment.

One of the essentials of treatment where large flocks are
concerned is simplicity. Unless a remedy can be suggested
which may be applied by the shepherd rapidly, and in accord-
ance with his habits and notions, it is not likely to be accepted.
It must be something which can be daubed on with a brush,
sprinkled from a can, or readily applied by the hand. It must
be thorough and immediate ; and fortunately we can prescribe
remedies of this nature. The simplest remedy appears to
have been communicated to the public in Hogg's " Shepherd's
Guide." " I happened," says the Ettrick Shepherd, " to be
assisting at the sorting of sheep of the Cheviot breed, when
sundry of their heads were broken with flies. The shepherds
brought them out of the fold with the intention of smearing

THE SHEEP CAP. 211

the sore parts with tar. I advised them to anoint them with
coarse whale oil, such as they mix with the tar, having several
times seen sores softened and healed by it. Some of it being
near at hand they consented. The flies were at this time
settled upon the fold in such numbers that when we went
among the sheep we could with difficulty see each other, but
those anointed with the oil were turned in among the rest, and
to our utter astonishment, in less than a minute not a fly was
to be seen." This remarkable experience certainly is an-
nounced as a discovery, for it surprised both the Ettrick
Shepherd and his comrades. Whether it was entirely a new
idea at that time it is impossible to say ; but certain it is that
whale or train oil is now looked upon as a sure safeguard
against this form of fly attack. Experience has proved that a
little sulphur mixed with the oil is beneficial, so that sulphur
and whale oil, applied with a brush, will keep off the flies and
prove a great advantage to the sheep. With such a simple
remedy at hand, no one should be troubled with sore heads ;
and our reason for giving it is that, in spite of its simplicity, it
is not universally practised or known.

The Sheep Cap.

The worst feature of the sheep cap is that when it becomes
dirty or moist from perspiration the flies settle upon it and
produce a sore under the cap. They thrust their proboscis
through the calico, and suck up the animal juices, thereby
producing as much irritation as before. It is therefore neces-
sary to place a pad under the cap ; but we prefer to dispense
with this means of protection and to employ the simple plan
first given. The sheep cap is made from a pattern which
corresponds to the general shape of the sheep's head from
between his ears to about half-way down his nose. There are
two tape loops, one for each ear, and at the nose end of the
cap there are two long and free tapes. On putting on the cap,
it is placed over the head, the loops are placed over the ears,

212 sheep: breeds and management.

the two free tapes are passed on either side around the nose,
between the eyes and nostrils, crossed under the jaws, passed
through the two ear loops, and tied under the neck, just below
the ears. Thus the ear loops are strained downwards on the
cheeks, and the cap is held secure.

Maggots.

That sheep may be literally eaten up by maggots is a known
fact. The disease — for so it may be termed, being as much a
disease as any other external or internal parasitic distemper —
is serious. It varies in intensity from a mere annoyance to a
fatal disorder. The flies which breed maggots are well known
to be viviparous, or to bring forth their young alive. The
maggots are thus deposited among dung, moisture, or dirt
■adhering to the coat, and they soon make their way through
the wool to the skin. There they produce irritation, which is
invariably followed with redness, soreness, and exudation of
serous fluid. Thus a scald is established and the maggots,
by incessant effort, succeed in burrowing into the skin itself.
The sheep exhibits symptoms not unlike those we have de-
scribed above, when he is attacked by flies about the head.
He often assumes an attitude as though listening, his head is
lowered, his ears pricked forward, and his feet are placed near
together. Stamping, running, couching, and general unrest
are the indications which attract attention. Sheep affected
with maggots often lie apart from their fellows, and close to
the ground. They from time to time jump up, run, and throw
themselves down again.

The mineral known as mercury stone quickly kills maggots.
Shepherds should always have a piece of this substance. It
is as convenient to carry as a piece of slate pencil, which it
somewhat resembles, and it may be purchased of any chemist.
To part the wool and thoroughly rub the parts affected with
mercury stone speedily kills the maggots, which ought, how-
ever, also to be brushed out by the hand until they are all got

THE SHEEP BOX FLY. 213

rid of. Spirits of tar may be used freely with the same good
effect. Fluid mixtures compounded for the purpose may
also be purchased of any druggist in a sheep-farming district.
The colouring matter which is applied to rams or show sheep
is often ostensibly applied as "fly powder." The object, no
doubt, is twofold, as the powder is coloured according to taste,
and is employed as a means of decorating an animal intended
to appear before the public. It, however, possesses an actual
use, as it keeps away the flies from animals which it is par-
ticularly desirable should not be disfigured in any way.

When maggots are neglected the sheep pulls out his wool
with his teeth, and, later, the skin becomes hard and dry, and
the wool comes off very much in the same manner as if the
skin had been scalded or burnt. The use of fly powder is
relied upon to prevent these injurious effects, which would
ruin any sheep intended for exhibition, or for appearing in a
sale ring as a ram.

The Sheep Box Fly (CEsxrus Ovis).

This fly belongs to the same order as the Horse bot fly
[Gastrophilus equi). It is rather larger than the common house
fly, and of an ashy colour, spotted with black (Ormerod). It
appears in May, June, and July, and becomes an intolerable
nuisance to sheep. Youatt tells us " that if only one appears
the whole flock is in the greatest agitation." The peculiar
instinct of the CEstrus ovis is to deposit its eggs on the inner
margin of the nostril, when they soon hatch, and at once pro-
ceed to crawl up the nose, until they reach the recesses of the
frontal sinuses, where they hang on with their tentaculas until
the following May.

During their passage up the nostril, and until they settle
themselves in their extraordinary habitation, they give great
annoyance to their unfortunate hosts, but after fixing them-
selves they do not appear to cause inconvenience or mischief.
Again, when they are ready to descend by the nostril, in

214 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

order to change into the pupal form, they give rise to much
pain and violent sneezing and signs of discomfort. It is not
often that more than three bots are found lodged in one
sheep's head, although a dozen have been recorded. The
best way of seeing the bot is to examine sheep's heads in
April or early May by splitting them and searching among
the convolutions of the frontal sinuses. The bot often has
reached the cancellous or spongy recesses which are found
at the base of the horn — these, as is well known, being in
communication with the air passages and higher convolutions
of the nasal cavity. When the worms are caught in the act
of expulsion from the nose, or are taken in that advanced
state from the cavities of a newly-killed sheep, they are very
restless, and are continually marching, or rather dragging,
themselves along. When placed upon the hand they find
their way to the divisions between the fingers, and, using the
points of their crochets, they endeavour to force them apart.
They soon get to the bottom of the loose earth or powder in
the insect box ; and if they are placed on the ground they
very speedily bury themselves in it, and are lost.

The sheep bot fly is by no means easy to encounter with
preventive measures, but it is probable that the same odours
which drive away other flies might be equally distasteful to •
the CEstnis ovis,

GiD — Sturdy — Turnsick.

One of the most strange and not the least fatal malady
which affects our lamb flocks is that peculiar parasitic
affection known to shepherds and flock-masters as " gid,"
"sturdy," or "turnsick." These names, like many others
employed in the nomenclature of disease, do not in any way
indicate the nature of tTie ailment, but are merely expressions
denoting a leading symptom in the disorder. Animals suffer-
ing from the disease are invariably giddy and turn round to
the right or to the left, or obstinately stand as if fixed to the

GID — STURDY TURNSICK. 215

spot and refuse to move on ; hence have arisen the terms by
which the malady is commonly known. Gid is essentially
a form of animal parasitism, and owes its origin to the
presence of one or more cystic or bladder-like parasites in
the substance of the brain, and to this fact the giddiness and
disordered movements of the infected lambs are due.

How these cestoid worms, as they are termed, obtain an
entrance to the body can only be shown by relating a short
biological story. The gid parasite consists of an hydatid,
or sack, filled with a watery fluid, and is sometimes spoken
of as a bladder-worm. It varies in size from a hempseed
when young to that of a cricket ball when matured. These
bladder-worms are derived from a tapeworm {taiiia camirus)
which infests the dog, and are in reality the young or larvae
of that creature. Just as the maggots which we find in
flesh represent the young of the blow-fly, so do these hydatids
in the brains of lambs represent the infant stage in the
development of the tapeworm. Each hydatid, however,
represents not one but a brood of many larval tapeworms.
How many may be known by counting the Httle white spots
which are seen scattered over the wall of the bladder, and
which are in fact the heads from which future tapeworms
are to spring should they find their way into the bowels of
the dog. Without the dog and other members of the species
to which he belongs there could be no gid parasites, and
consequently no giddy sheep. The lamb acts towards the
bladder-worm as a host, i.e., it affords it shelter and nourish-
ment in its youth until fitted for its new habitation in the dog,
where it proceeds to throw out segments and complete its
development into tapeworms. Without sheep and others of
the species to nrurse the bladder-worm, there could be no
tapeworm. Neither the hydatid nor the tapeworm can be
regarded as welcome guests. The former by its growth and
expansion breaks down the brain and paralyses its host,
while the latter reduces the dog it infests to starvation by
disordering the digestive canal, and not unfrequently proves
suddenly fatal by exciting fits of epilepsy.

2i6 sheep: breeds and management.

How hydatids gain access to the body of the sheep has
been clearly estabhshed both by experiment and observation.
Hounds, shepherd and other dogs roaming over pastures and
root fields commonly leave behind them matured segments of
tapeworms in their excrement. Each of these little flat white
fragments, with which all dog owners are familiar, is loaded
with eggs, which soon escape on to the ground, and having
become free are swallowed with the food of the sheep, or
failing to be thus safeguarded perish and decompose. Safely
landed in the intestinal canal the period of incubation com-
mences, and soon each egg discharges a minute embryo,
which, by some means as yet unexplained, finds its way to
the brain, there to develop into a bladder-worm or gid
parasite. In order that this creature may become a tape-
worm, it must, as we nave remarked, pass back into the dog.
Many, no doubt, fail to return to their canine host, as many
tapeworm eggs fail to reach the sheep. Some perish in the
brain of the lamb, and degenerate into a pasty mass, in which
case the host triumphs over the guest, but more frequently
the sheep succumbs to the destructive influence of the
parasite. It is then that further development of the latter
is rendered possible, for the dead sheep may become food
for the dog, and should the head with its living contents be
eaten, then development of the hydatid brood into tapeworms
is assured, and the life cycle of the parasite rendered com-
plete. If, however, the head of the infested sheep be not
consumed by dog or fox, or some other suitable creature, then
the bladder-worm perishes, and decomposes with the brain
which contains it. This is, no doubt, the lot of many, or gid
would over-run our flocks to a much greater extent than now.
' There are few shepherds of experience who are not familiar
with the eccentricities of sturdy sheep. The onset of the
disease varies in different cases, and the symptoms are by no
means alike in all. In some the patient is dull, and hangs
back from the troughs. The eyes are glassy, and the face
wears a vacant stare. It may obstinately stand, and require

GID — STURDY TURNSICK. 1\']

to be pushed along. The approach of the dog is disregarded,
or but little noticed, and such an animal is often said by shep-
herds to be "stunned i' th' head." In other instances there
is added to these symptoms various forms of disturbance of
locomotion. Some, while being driven along, turn more or
less towards the right or the left. Many describe a circle in
the one direction or the other. Others roll about from side
to side, and are, as the name of the disease suggests, giddy.

In some instances the animal moves forward in leaps and
bounds not unlike the skipping action of a deer. Others,
again, obstinately back, and are altogether incapable of
moving in any other direction. Besides disturbances of loco-
motion, the muscles of different parts of the body are some-
times seen to t^vitch, or the entire body may become con-
vulsed.

If the head of an animal so affected be carefully manipulated,
a slight bulging of the bones of the skull may sometimes be
recognised over the place where the parasite is lodged, and
by a little pressure with the finger the bones at this part will
be found to yield, owing to their having become thinned
by the outward pressure of the parasite within. The hyda-
tid, and consequently any bulging which may exist, will
invariably be found on that side of the skull towards which
the animal moves, whether to the right or to the left. When
the movements are such as we have described as taking
place in a forward direction, the hydatid must be sought for
somewhere in the middle of the head.

The treatment of gid is rarely attended with complete suc-
cess. It necessitates, of course, the removal of the parasite
from the brain, which can only be effected by laying open
the cavity of the cranium. The practice of puncturing the
bladder with a pointed instrument and drawing out the fluid
with a syringe is relied on by some, but it is seldom that more
than temporary relief is afforded by the operation. The mis-
chief done to the brain before the presence and the seat of
the parasite can be made out, and the frequent necessity for

2l8 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

a second operation, are serious drawbacks to success. We
have tried both modes of operating, but the resuUs do not
encourage us to place much reHance on surgery as a curative
measure.

Prevention in this, as in other kindred affections, is the
lesson which most commends itself to flock-masters.

We have already pointed out the relationship subsisting
between the gid parasite and the tapeworm {tcenia ccenimis) of
the dog, and it will be evident that to guard against the one
entails the exclusion of the other from the farm. In the
spring of the year in particular, dogs on the farm should
be carefully watched, and on the appearance of tapeworm
segments in the excrement they should be placed in confine-
ment at once and deprived of their liberty until the parasites
have been altogether got rid of. To accomplish this a dose
of areca nut, or some other suitable vermifuge, may be given
while fasting, to be followed by a dose of castor oil after the
lapse of an hour. Should one dose not have the desired
effect, a second must be administered, and, if necessary, a
third. When expelled, every particle of the parasite should
be burned, or otherwise effectually destroyed.

It may be necessary to repeat that only one particular tape-
worm {tisnia ccenurus) is capable of propagating the gid hydatid,
but as the characters by which it is distinguished are unknown
to flock-masters, it is in the interest of the dog, no less than
the flock, that tapeworms of whatever kind should all be
destroyed.

To render the system of prevention complete necessitates
not only the destruction of the tapeworm, but also the gid
organism. Dogs must not be allowed to eat the brains of
infested sheep. Whether the latter be slaughtered, or die
from the effects of the disease, the head with its contents must
be well boiled and buried.

With all these precautions, however, gid will continue to
prevail, especially in hunting districts where hounds cross the
land, and as they, no doubt, do leave behind fragments of the

JOINT-ILL. 219

offending tapeworm, masters of hounds might do much in the
interest of sheep farmers by urging upon the attention of their
kennel huntsman the desirability of keeping the pack as free
from tapeworm as possible.

Pastures near to towns crossed by public footpaths are
specially prone to become infected with the eggs of tape-
worms from dogs which pass over them. Such enclosures
should not, if possible to avoid it, be stocked with lambs, but
reserved for older sheep.

Joint-ill {Pyivmic arthritis).

The early life of the lamb is threatened with many and
various diseases which too often visit the fold early in the year,
and thin down to ruinous proportions the future of the flock.

Not the least important of these terrible visitations is that
acute and destructive affection to which custom has assigned
the term "joint-ill," and which is generally regarded by shep-
herds and flockmasters as having some obscure connection
with the " weather." It should, however, be pointed out that
while the affection so termed usually develops changes of a
marked character in the articulations of the limbs, such al-
terations are by no means invariably manifested in the course
of the disorder. It is frequently the case that this so-called
" joint-ill " assails and destroys its victims without exciting any
obvious changes whatever in those parts from which it has
derived its name. While, thereJ^^re, joint disease may be
admitted to form a leading symptom of the malady, it must be
understood that the disease itself is one of a general systemic
nature, of which the joint affection is but a local manifestation.
In whatever form it presents itself it frequently kills, or so far
depletes and wrecks the system as to render the survivors from
the affection most undesirable property.

The circumstances and conditions under which it arises
were, until recently, most imperlectly known, and hence it was

220 sheep: breeds and management.

that pathologists, both in this and other countries, were widely
divided in their opinions as to the nature and cause of the
affection. In this connection various views have been enter-
tained by different observers. Rheumatism was for a long
time accepted as the inducing factor until that disease became
better understood, and its many points of departure from the
malady in question were fully recognised.

The existence of abscesses in and about the joints, as well
as the liver, lungs, and other organs of the body, led to the
suspicion of a scrofulous nature, but as more light fell upon
the latter disease, its relations with joint-ill disappeared, and
are no longer recognised.

So far as the conditions of its origin are concerned, there is
every reason for believing that it does not owe its existence to
any one particular cause, but rather to the operation of several
co-ordinating circumstances connected with the feeding and
management of the ewe flock as well as the offspring.

It may be noted that the disease is confined to no particular
breed. The offspring of old and young stock are alike
affected, but it must be admitted that the lambs of ewe tegs
suffer much more frequently and severely than those of older
sheep.

In both old and young the liability to attack is greater in
twins than in singles. Of the influence of locality we have no
sufficient data upon which to form a judgment, but of meteoro-
logical conditions it can. be said that cold easterly and north-
easterly winds, especially if attended with rain or snow,
aggravate the malady when once it is established, but it does
not appear to have any notable influence in its production.
We have known it to prevail under the most favourable condi-
tions of weather. From twenty-four hours to three weeks or
a month old is the time when the disease usually appears, and
its duration extends over a like period. Isolated examples of
the affection seldom occur. Large numbers of the flock in-
variably suffer, and of those stricken 40 to 80 per cent,
succumb.

JOINT-ILL. 221

Vague references have now and again been made to here-
ditary influence, but no data are forthcoming to estabhsh it as
a factor in the induction of the disorder. Nor is there any
reason for regarding it, as some have done, as a contagious
affection.

Gamgee found that flocks affected with this disease " had
been kept in a confined space in winter, had been fed well,
and not allowed to move about sufficiently." In our own
experience this has not been the case. We have seen it in
open folding with plenty of room to " fall back," but where
the food was confined exclusively to roots until a short period
before parturition. It has mostly been the case that the roots
have been of indifferent quality and much diseased, and the
ewes in low condition when brought into the lambing pens.

Without ascribing the disease altogether to a state of
debility, such as an exclusive diet of indifferent roots may
induce, we are strongly impressed with the importance of this
condition as a predisposing influence, leading, as it must, to a
general debility and constitutional impairment of the foetus.

For a better understanding of the exciting cause, we turn to
the state of the navel, where we usually find more or less
swelling, or some imperfect closure of the orifice, or an abscess,
or a soft putrefying blood clot occupying the mouth of the vein
which in the foetus passes from the umbilical orifice to the
liver, and there is every reason for the belief that the in-
complete closure of this foetal orifice, arising out of an in-
differently nourished organism, serves as a channel through
which matter of a putrefactive character gains access to the
circulation, and, settling down in the joints and other organs
of the body, excites in them inflammation and abscess. Hence
the disease has come to be regarded as a state of pyaemia or
poisoning of the blood through the imperfectly closed and
diseased navel opening. This view of the pathology of the
affection seems to explain much, both in the symptoms
exhibited during life and the changes observed after death,
which could not otherwise be accounted for.

222 sheep: breeds and management.

It is hardly necessary to point out that where this tendency
to imperfect heahng and suppuration of the navel exists, dirty
lambing pens and dirty shepherds supply all that is needful to
contaminate the wound, and start a centre from which the
blood stream may be fatally polluted.

The symptoms of the disease are very striking and charac-
teristic. The affected lambs are dull and lowering, and lie
about with little or no disposition to feed. Soon stiffness
appears in one or more of the limbs. This is quickly fol-
lowed by severe lameness and swelling of the joints, mostly
affecting the knees and hocks first, then spreading to the
others. The enlarged joints are at first firm, hot and painful
to the touch, but later on they present small soft fluctuating
points, which sometimes break and discharge a thick ropy pus.
Not infrequently abscesses form under the throat, on the arms
and thighs, and in various other parts of the body.

Fever, indicated by thirst, shivering, and a high tempera-
ture, is always present to a greater or less degree. In some
instances, as we have already pointed out, the joints escape
altogether. In these cases the disorder shows itself by great
and sudden prostration, inability to stand, high fever, hurried,
panting breathing, and, later, diarrhoea and foetid breath, to
which is sometimes added a tympanitic state of the belly, and
a yellow condition of the membrane of the eyes.

With regard to treatment, it may be stated at once that
very little can be done to eradicate the disease in animals so
young when once it is established. The attention of the
flockmaster must be concentrated in the direction of arresting
its spread, and this must be done by giving prompt and special
attention to the ewes and the condition of the lambing pens.
In connection with the former they should be placed on a
liberal ration of good nutritious food, and if large quantities of
turnips are being allowed the quantity must be reduced, while
at the same time such as are diseased should be as far as
possible avoided. As a matter of course, the healthy will be
separated from the sick. If ewes are still lambing down it

JOINT-ILL. 223

will be desirable to thoroughly cleanse and disinfect the pens,
or even to remove them to another part of the field or farm-
stead. As to medicine, salt and sulphate of iron given to the
ewes morning and evening in their manger food will aid in
imparting tone to the system and improving the general health.

All lambs born after the appearance of the disease in the
flock should have their navels carefully examined and dressed
for the first two or three days, or longer if necessary, with a
solution of carbolic acid, and until turned loose should be
folded on clean dry litter.

Fouling of the pens should be carefully guarded against, and
cleanliness on the part of the shepherd ought to be strictly
enforced.

The affected lambs will require to be confined in pens with
their dams, but it is not advisable to resort to any medicinal
treatment beyond a small dose of castor oil where constipation
of bowels exists, or a little carminative astringent in the case
of diarrhoea. The latter may be provided by mixing together
a small quantity of prepared chalk and powdered nutmeg, and
adding to it a small teaspoonful of brandy ; the whole to be
given in milk. Any good that may be done must be effected
chiefly through the milk of the dam, whose general health it
should be the aim and object to improve by a generous dietary
and ferruginous tonics.

Aphth/E — Thrush.

No less troublesome and fatal than the disease to which we
have referred is that disorder of the mouth, commonly known
as " thrush " or " canker," which so frequently prevails in our
lamb flocks during the spring months.

Aphthae is an eruptive inflammation affecting the lining
membrane of the mouth, and frequently extending also to the
skin covering the lips and face. It is smiilar in character to a
disease of the human family, and with which most parents are
more or less famihar.

224 sheep: breeds and management.

Young lambs from two to six weeks old are mostly its
victims, but older sheep are sometimes seriously affected by it.
It rarely, however, prevails in stock over two years old. As a
rule the fatality arising from this disease is very considerable in
sucking lambs, and we have known it on more than one occa-
sion to sweep off a large proportion of a promising flock.

The malady is not limited to any particular localities, but
prevails from time to time wherever sheep husbandry is carried
on. Our experience, however, seems to indicate its larger
presence in strictly turnip countries.

Seasonal conditions appear to exercise a marked influence
over its development. A mild winter and temperate open
spring, when turnips shoot into luxurious growth at the period
of lambing, and meadows put up rank innutritions grasses, have
certainly coincided with the most widespread outbreaks of the
affection we have experienced.

As to the immediate cause of the disease but little is really
known. It has been stated to be a strictly dietetic affection.
At the time of its occurrence lambs are living exclusively on the
mother's milk, and the malady is generally regarded as arising
out of some deleterious property which this secretion has had
imparted to it by the bodily condition of the dam. It is quite
true that ewes whose offspring suffer from this disorder are
generally in low condition and wanting in vigour and bloom,
and it is not infrequently the case that they afford indications
of impairment of the digestive organs by a loose and unduly
active state of the bowels. We have on several occasions
found it to arise where ewes, badly wintered, have been
allowed to run over turnips about the month of March, and fill
themselves with rapidly-grown succulent sprouts.

The unrestrained use of such a diet is well calculated to
disorder the digestive system, and lead to impairment of the
lacteal secretion. Sudden changes from roots to the various
forage plants provided for spring feed for the ewe flock are
possibly also in some way connected with outbreaks of this
affection; at least, this has appeared to be the case in such

APHTH-C — THRUSH. 225

inquiries as have from time to time engaged our attention.
The fact cannot, however, be lost sight of that the presence of
this disorder in lambs rarely or ever exists alone, but is mostly
attended with a form of inflammation of the udder of the dam,
which, on account of its destructive effects on the gland, has
been designated malignant or gangrenous mammitis.

This disorder prevailed to some extent in the ewe flocks of
Lincolnshire during 1889, and proved very fatal to both lambs
and ewes.

The fact that it is communicable from the diseased mouth of
the lamb to the teats and udder of the ewe, clearly establishes
its contagious nature, and M. Nocard, who has studied the
micro-pathology of the affection in the latter, avers that it is
due to a minute organism or micrococcus, which he has found
not only in the milk but also in the watery effusions present in
the abdominal cavity after death.

That this organism is the specific cause of the disease is
show^n by its capability to induce the affection in previously
healthy stock, whether inoculated with the milk itself or after
being separated from it by the usual methods of cultivation.
Professor Brown, of the Agricultural Department, when study-
ing the disorder as it occurred in the Lincolnshire outbreak,
has recognised in the diseased tissues of the lamb, a microbe
in every respect similar to that discovered by M. Nocard in the
ewe.

It is therefore evident that the disease as it occurs in parent
and offspring is the same, and apparently the work of the same
micro-organism.

In our experience, the lambs have invariably given evidence
of the disease first, and afterwards the ewes have appeared to
become inoculated from the mouths of their young ; but as to
the source from whence the lambs receive the infection, that is
a question still waiting solution.

Is the materies viorbi primarily contained in and given out bv
the milk of the dam, or is it only after the teats become
inoculated by the lamb that it gains entrance to the gland ?
15

225 sheep: breeds and management.

If the milk is not contaminated in the first instance, then the
source of the infection must be sought for elsewhere. One
possible alternative appears to be that it may be sucked from
tbe surface of the sohd teat and ingested with the milk, but
from what source the teats become soiled there is no evidence
to show.

Referring to the symptoms of the disease, the first indica-
tions of illness are shown by the lambs hanging back from the
ewes. When at the teat, they refuse to suck or grasp it with
the mouth, and, after a few attempts, liberate it again. In the
act of sucking, the mouth becomes filled with foam, which
hangs about the lips and udder of the dam. The youngsters
cease to play, and lay about the pastures. Weakness and
wasting quickly become apparent. The head droops, the ears
hang pendulous, and the movements are feeble and unsteady.
At this time the outer surface of the mouth becomes covered
with small red pimples, varying in size from a hempseed to a
pea. Soon vesicles or small blebs appear on their summits,
and later these develop into sores, and become covered with
scabs.

A similar eruption is found to exist in the mouth, especially
on the tongue, gums, and lips. When severely affected, the
gums ulcerate, or throw out proud flesh, and the teeth become
loose, and fall from their sockets. In such cases the lower jaw
bone seldom escapes disease and more or less disorganisation.
This complication altogether disables the animal from feeding
and adds considerably to the mortality.

Inflammation of the lungs, followed by abscesses, not un-
commonly arises in the course of the affection, when great
prostration, inability to move, quick panting breathing, frequent
coughing, and other serious symptoms are presented.

As previously noticed the udder of the dam almost invariably
tiirows out an eruption similar to that in the mouth of the lamb.
Sores cover the teats, and these again are crusted over with
thick black scabs. Sucking on the part of the lamb is now out
of the question, and the milk being retained serves, with an

APHTHA THRUSH. 227

extension of the disease along the milk duct, to induce garget
or inflammation of the gland, which not infrequently results in
the sloughing of one half or the entire organ.

Nothing in the whole range of veterinary practice is so
difl&cult as to prescribe for the successful treatment of case? of
this description. To prevent the spread of the disorder i^ of
the first importance.

In this connection isolation of the sick should be promptly
carried out, and the shepherd should have no communication
with them until they are again convalescent.

An entire change of food as well as a change of ground is
most important as regards the healthy part of the flock. The
diet must be nutritious, plentiful, and stimulating, and, where
roots are to form a part of it, they should be sound and whole-
some and sparingly given.

With reference to the sick, the affected lambs may continue
to suck the ewes so long as their udders remain free from
disease, but so soon as the eruption presents itself on the latter
they should be taken away and fed with the bottle, while at the
same time the ewes are carefully hand-milked until the gland
is restored to a normal condition. This we are aware entails
immense trouble, but it is the only way by which losses amongst
ewes can be successfully guarded against.

A saline aperient, such as a little Epsom salts combined with
some aromatic as aniseed or coriander seed, may be given to
the sick ewes at the outset, and this should be followed by the
administration of a little powdered columba root and salt in the
manger food twice daily.

As a dressing for the udder a 5 per cent, solution of carbolic
acid applied morning and evening will assist in healing the
wounds and dispersing the eruption, or, what is equally
efficacious, a weak solution of alum.

The mouth of the lamb both inside and out should be washed
two or three times a day with a solution of chlorate of potash
of the strength of ten grains to the ounce, using just sufficient
to moisten the surface without allowing any to be swallowed.

228 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

Where proud flesh appears on the lips or gums, it should be
promptly touched with lunar caustic, and any teeth which may
become loose must be removed.

Liver Rot, Coathe or Bane.

No disease is more dreaded by the flockmaster than rot.
Although the true nature of this fearful malady has only been
understood during recent years, its fatal character has been
long known under various names. We must necessarily write
with brevity upon this subject, although the material at our
disposal might be extended over many pages. The proper
understanding of the disease is in a great measure due to the
investigations of Mr. A. P. Thomas, which are recorded in
vols, xvii., xviii. and xix. of the Royal Agricultural Society's
Journal (second series). It is not necessary in this connection
to do more than give a general and popular account of this
extraordinary and fatal disease which claims, it is stated,
1,000,000 victims a year in Great Britain. We can never
forget the devastation of our flocks after the Vv^et summer of
1879, which was followed by what was at the time called a
sheep famine in 1882 and 1883. This is the fellest of all ovine
diseases, and is due to the presence of parasites in the liver of
the sheep. The disease is produced by an invasion of what is
popularly known as fluke, and scientifically as Fasciola hepatica,
or Distomum hepaiicnm, a member of the Trematode section of
the Annuloida (Steel). It is a flat worm, having a general
resemblance to a flounder, by which name it is also known.

One of the most interesting and fascinating pages of modern
natural history concerns the life history of the entozoa or
internal parasites of mammalia, of which the fluke is a strik-
ing example. Like so many entozoa, recent researches have
shown that their life history depends upon their entrance into
more than one " host," or receiving animal, at different stages
of their existence. Of this fact there are many examples, such
as the tapeworm and the bladder worms, which cause gid or
sturdy in sheep.

LIVER ROT, COATHE OR BANE. 22g

The liver fluke follows this dual existence, and at different
stages is found inhabiting the body of a mollusc, shown by
Thomas to be the LymncBus truncatulatus, a freshwater snail with
a brown spiral shell, which is very common and widely dis-
tributed, but has no popular name. The late John Henry
Steel informs us in his excellent treatise on " Diseases of the
Sheep " that its shell is sometimes under a quarter of an inch,
and never over half an inch, in length, and Thomas found that
these snails suffer much from the invasion of the fluke in a
certain stage of their existence, and that this fluke disease is
as fatal to them as to the sheep. The invasion takes place, so
far as the snails are concerned, in \pril and May, but more
generally in June and July. " A severe winter kills off ' rotten
snails,' but a mild winter may simply render them torpid, and
thus unusually early cases of rot in sheep may occur in the
following May. in the tissues of this snail it develops into the
sporo-cyst, redia, or ' nurse,' a kind of sac in which develop
numerous larvae with tails (cercariae). These escape through
a special vent in the redia, and for a time lead independent
free lives in water. They then come to rest, cast their tails,
and develop an enveloping cj'st of a snow-white colour which
adheres to the stalks or leaves of grasses and water plants.
These may remain a few weeks, but if they undergo no further
change of conditions the embryo within perishes. In this form
on grass or in water they pass into the alimentary canal of the
host or ultimate bearer (sheep, horse or other mammal), and the
pupa-cyst is digested by the action of the gastric juice, and
from the stomach of the host through the duodenum and bile
duct the fluke passes graduall}^ up to the liver." Whether
this is an absolutely correct account of the development of
the fluke may be doubted, as Cobbold remarks that " there is
no recognisable limit to the variety or to the extent of larval
fluke development." To speak generally, there appears to be
no doubt that by some such process as that described the
fluke passes from the snail into the digestive system of the
sheep, and from thence into the bile ducts, where it arrives at
the stage of sexual development or maturity.

230 sheep: breeds and management.

Sheep receive flukes into their system in July, August and
September, or the later summer months, and the virulence of
the disease depends upon the number of flukes which find
their way into the digestive system of the sheep. If few
flukes are present no injury may follow, but a number sufli-
cient to crowd the bile ducts proves fatal. The subject is
full of difficulty, for the degree of mischief depends upon the
numbers of the invading parasites. The fluke does not pro-
pagate within the sheep, although it lays innumerable eggs,
which, with the excrement of the flukes, fill the ducts and
cause fatal derangement of the system. It has been ascer-
tained that flukes do not multiply within the sheep, and that
the severity of the attack depends upon the number of sporo-
cysts taken into the body of the sheep. These, when they
have attained maturity, lay eggs which are expelled by the
flukes in all parts of the bile ducts, in the intestinal canal, and
on the soil after escape of the flukes from the body, but
wherever they are deposited, their ultimate destination is the
soil, to which they are conveyed, either with the faeces as free
ova, or in the mature fluke as expelled from the sheep. The
infested sheep becomes a bearer and distributor of flukes as he
moves from pasture to pasture, expelling ova. As one sheep
may contain a thousand flukes, and each fluke forty thousand
eggs, it is manifest that one bearer may contaminate a pasture,
though that bearer be in apparent health.

The cause of fluke disease in sheep is, then, an accumula-
tion of encysted larvae in the body of the sheep, which there
develop into mature flounders or flukes, capable of laying eggs
within the sheep, or without, if expelled from the body. An
infested sheep, therefore, is a source of contamination by
stocking the pasture with eggs and ova. The flukes are pro-
bably for the most part expelled from the host (the sheep)
when mature, and when depositing their ova.

Rain washes the ova into drains, ponds and other accumu-
lations of water. The egg contents develop into ciliated
embryos which swim about freely in the water. It has the

LIVER ROT, COATHE OR BANE. 23I

figure of an inverted cone, v^^ith a proboscis-like papilla at the
centre of its broad and flat anterior portion. After a few days
of free, rapidly-moving existence the young creature loses its
cilia and becomes a creeping larva, and thus finds its way
into the mollusc which is the first intermediary bearer of the
fluke. Thus the life circle is completed, and after the
sporo-cyst is formed, the new generation again completes
the vicious circle of its existence, provided it finds a suitable
host in a sheep. If not, it dies. (Steel.)

The four stages of fluke disease have been enumerated as
follows by Gerlach : —

(i) Traumatic hepatitis, which occurs between June and
autumn, is seldom diagnosed but sometimes seen after death
from apoplexy. The liver is in a state of acute inflammation.

(2) Dropsy. The liver pale and firm. Occurs from
September to November or December, i.e., six to twelve
weeks after invasion.

(3) Emaciation, the stage of greatest mortality. It occurs
in January and February, and the liver is atrophied.

(4) Migration of the flukes occurs in May and June, but
Thomas has evidence of flukes remaining in the sheep longer
than a year.*

When sheep are first invaded by the parasitic sporo-cysts
there is a period during which the host appears to be benefited
and to accumulate fat. It is for this reason that butchers
and graziers sometimes put sheep on to unsound land shortly
before slaughtering. It is not necessary to consider this as
a stage of the disease, as the action of the flukes may be
stimulating to the system, and a small number of flukes
have even been held to be beneficial. Rot appears to be due
to an excessive number of flukes rather than to the presence
of a few, and the complete breaking up of the constitution of
the host is due to numbers. In this connection it is well to
remind the reader that the flukes are incapable of multiplying .

* Steel, " On Diseases of the Sheep."

232 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT.

in the sheep, but are all and each imported from the infested
grass. The close biting of sheep is supposed to be one cause
of their receiving such vast numbers of sporo-cysts, and hence
long grass is not so fatal as closely grazed infested meadows.

Treatment of Rot.

The treatment is rather preventive than curative. Frost
and drought are natural safeguards, and thorough drainage of
land is a great assistance in destroying the conditions favour-
able to the development of ova. Wet spots should be fenced
off, and the grazing of sheep be carried out upon " sound "
land. Neither must it be forgotten that infested sheep spread
the disease, and ought, therefore, to be carefully separated or
destroyed. The strength of sheep ought to be maintained
by plenty of dry and concentrated foods, and tonics such as
salt and sulphate of iron may be given with advantage.

To cure a rotten sheep is more difficult, and is looked upon
by many as hopeless. If, however, the animal is enabled to
outlive the invasion and exist until the expulsion of the flukes
it may recover. Professor Simond's recipe will prove a good
guide, and is as follows : Take of bruised oil cake and pea
meal of each a bushel ; of salt and aniseed each 4lbs. ; of
sulphate of iron lib. ; finely grind these substances, and
thoroughly mix them and give to each sheep from half to one
pint daily. Salt is an excellent tonic, and assists in the secre-
tion of healthy bile, and it has been long known that sheep
grazed upon salt marshes are never affected with rot. Change
of diet is also insisted upon, and animals affected may receive
stimulants such as turpentine and sulphuric ether. Succulent
herbage should be avoided. The line of treatment consists in
fortifying the system in every way, by good hygiene, tonics,
and stimulants, giving food of an easily digestible character,
and such as can be digested with the minimum of bile (Steel).
Treatment is often unsatisfactory, and the best is undoubtedly
that which keeps a flock as far as possible out of harm's way,
oy avoiding the conditions which are likely to develop this
disorder.

INDEX.

Age, 124

A large Flock, 195

Aphthae, 223

Apparent DifiFerences in Breed, loi

Best Condition for Ewes, 122
Black-faced Sheep, 82
Border Leicester, 24
Bot Fly, 213
Breeds of Sheep :

Black-faced, 82

Border Leicester, 24

Cheviot, 88

Clun Forest, loi

Cotswolds, 29

Dartmoor, 97

Devon Longw ool, 36

Dorset Horn, 76

Exmoor, 97

Hampshire Down, 53

Herdwick, 91

Kentish or Romney Marsh, 33

Leicester, 17

Limestone, 96

Lincoln, 21

Lonk, 94

Merino, 10,

Oxford Down, 66

Roscommon, 39

Ryeland, 43

Shropshire, 70

Southdown, 47

Breeds of Sheep (continueii)

Suffolk, 75

Welsh, 98

Wensleydale Longwools, 38

Various, 6
British Long-woolled Sheep, 17

Canker, 223

Castrating Lambs, 146

Change from Summer to Winter

Grassing, 163
Cheviots, 88
Close Folding, 173
Clun Forest Sheep, loi
Cost of Sheep Keeping, 199
Cotswolds, 29,
Cotton Cake, 169

Dartmoor Sheep, 97
Devon Long-wools, 36
Differences in Breeds, 103
Dipping, 123
Diseases of Sheep, 204
Distribution of Sheep, 8
Docking Lambs, 146
Domestication, Effects of, 4
Dorset Horns, 76
Drafting Ewes, 124
Drawing Ewes to Rams, 122
Dry Food, 164

Early Treatment of Lambs, 157
Effects of Domestication, 4

234

F.we Flock, 109

Ewes, Winter Management of, 112
Exhibition Sheep, 180
Exmoor Sheep, 97
Extraordinary Treatment of Lambs,
124

False Presentations, 133

Feeding, Winter, 162

Flies, 208

Flock, a Large, 195

Fodder and Crops for Summer

Feeding, 176
Foot Rot, 207
Forest Breeds, 81
Future of Sheep Farming, 1S5

Gid, 214

Glamorganshire Sheep, 98

Hampshire Downs, 53
Hay, 168

Herdwick Sheep, 91
How to Obtain a Big Crop of
Lambs, 153

Improved Hampshire Downs, 53
Improved Leicesters, 20
Improved Lincolns, 21
Improving a Flock, 118

Joint 111, 219

Kentish 01 Roniney Marsh, 33

Lamb Hurdles, 158, 174
Lambing Time, 128
Lambs, Castrating, 146
Lambs, Docking, 146
Lambs, Early Treatment of, 157
Lambs, Extraordinary Treatment
of, 142

Lambs, Ordinary Treatment of, 137

Lambs, Single and Twin, 153

Lameness, 207

Leicesters, 17

Limestone or Crag, 96

Lincolns, 21

Liver Rot, 228

Long and Fine-wooUed Sheep, 10

Long-woolled Sheep, British, 17

Look Sheep, 94

Maggots, 212

Management of Sheep, 109
Mangels, 168
Merino Sheep, 10
Middle-woolled Sheep, 41
Mortality among Ewes, 135
Mouthing, 125
Mountain or Forest Breeds, 81

North Wales Sheep, 100

Open Grazing and Close Folding,

171
Ordinary Treatment cff Lambs, 137
Oxford Downs, 66

Parturition, 131
Points of Sheep, 126
Profits, 198
Prologue, I

Radnor Sheep, 99
Rams, Selecting, 119
Rape, 178
Romney Marsh, 33
Roscommon Sheep, 37
Rot, Liver, 228
Ryeland Sheep, 43

Selecting Rams, 119
Shearing, 150

INDEX.

235

Sheep Cap, 211

Sheep Farming in Sutherlandshire,

190
Shepherds, 158
Shropshires, 70
Single and Twin Lambs, 153
Sore Mouths in Lambs and Kwes,

204
Southdowns, 47
Straw, 160
Sturdy, 214
Suffolks, 75
Swedes, 167

Thrush, 223

Trealuienl of Lambs, 137

! Treatment of Rot, 232
Turnips, 166
Turnsick, 214
Twin Lambs, 153

Udder, the, 125

Various Breeds of Sheep, 6

Washing, 147
Weaning, 151
Welsh Sheep, 98
Wensleydale Longwools, 38
Winter Cereal Fodder Crops, 177
Winter Feeding of Sheep, 162
Winter Management of Ewes, 112

>N