LECTURE XLVIII. 



JUDGING BREEDING SHEEP. 



All told there are something like twenty-five different 

 breeds of domesticated sheep, fourteen of which we shall 

 study. If there is one thing more important than another 

 for a judge to know, it is the types that are characteristic 

 of the different breeds of sheep that may be presented in the 

 show ring. This is the case with sheep more than with any 

 other class of live stock. 



How Types Are Formed. Several causes contribute to the 

 formation of type as found in the different breeds of animals. 

 Bakewell's method of selection and mating produced the 

 Leicester type in sheep. Cruickshank's method of selection 

 and mating has given us the Scotch Shorthorn type. Again 

 the function of an animal has much to do with the forma- 

 tion of a breed type, as illustrated in the American trotter, the 

 Arabian horse, and the dairy cow. Selection and mating and 

 function are not the only factors concerned in producing 

 breed type, for notice the difference in type between the Hoi- 

 stein and the Jersey, Shire and Shetland pony, Shorthorn and 

 Kerry. And who has not observed the difference between the 

 coat and appearance of the horse that has taken shelter on 

 the lee side of a straw stack during the winter and the sleek, 

 glossy coat of the groomed and blanketed, well-fed driver, 

 whose environments have been changed. Environment has 

 had much to do in the making of breeds of sheep and is a 

 very, important aid to man in helping him to select a breed 

 that will suit the conditions prevailing in his locality. As has 

 already been stated in a previous lecture, sheep have adapted 

 themselves to different conditions, an important one being 

 altitude of land. The lowland breeds differ from the moun- 

 tain breeds types that have been developed as suited to give 

 the best results under the conditions afforded in these differ- 

 ent altitudes. The different breeds have been taken in hand 

 by man, associations have been formed for the sole purpose 



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