4:76 Feeds and Feeding. 



This system of feeding cannot, however, be considered desirable for 

 mutton sheep. 



769. Mutton breeds and the Merinos compared. The Merino 

 sheep is peculiarly a wool-bearer, and nearly all lines descended 

 from the Spanish stock have been selected for that single purpose. 

 The story of the Spanish Merino in its home country forms one of the 

 most interesting chapters in the history of live stock. 1 In their pil- 

 grimage from South to Central Spain each spring and their return 

 in the fall the Spanish flocks make annual journeys covering over 

 a thousand miles. Only the strongest and most rugged animals sur- 

 vived the long, fatiguing, perilous marches. The ability to exist in 

 enormous flocks, to range over a vast territory, and to subsist upon 

 scant food are the leading of the many remarkable qualities wrought 

 by stern Fate into the very constitution of the Merino sheep. (725) 



Almost opposite in several characteristics are the English mutton 

 breeds of sheep, which have been reared in small flocks confined to 

 limited pastures, the best specimens being saved and nurtured each 

 year with intelligent attention to all their wants. They have been 

 sheltered from storms and liberally fed with rich roughage and grain 

 from barn and stack whenever the fields were scant of herbage or the 

 weather severe. In general the life of the English mutton sheep has 

 been one of quiet contentment and of plenty almost to surfeit. In 

 this country we cannot hope to attain the wonderful success reached 

 by British sheep-owners unless we closely follow or improve upon 

 their methods. 



770. Size of the flock. The sheep is distinctively a gregarious 

 animal. The improved American Merino of today still shows in a 

 marked manner the result of inheritance by its ability to exist in 

 great flocks and thrive under the most ordinary conditions of care 

 and keep. With reasonable oversight thousands of Merino sheep can 

 be held in single bands where the range is ample, and for the brief 

 period of fattening tens of thousands can be successfully fed together, 

 as is now commonly done with range sheep, carrying Merino blood, 

 which are brought to feeding points in the trans-Missouri corn-belt 

 states. 



Two hundred sheep of the mutton breeds are as many as can be 

 successfully managed in one flock, and to secure the best returns 

 from even this number one should have had previous experience in 

 their management. The novice would better begin with a flock of 

 25, increasing the number as experience grows. 



1 Low, Domestic Animals of the British Islands, Vol. II. 



