266 



TEETH OF THE SHEEP. 



The proper mode of managing horns at shearing, was 

 mentioned at page 189. I am not aware that they are subject 

 to any diseases except those caused by fracture. They are 

 sometimes broken in fighting ; and I have seen an old* ram 

 which had one knocked clean from his head by the charge of 

 a ram from behind, while another occupied his attention in 

 front. The bleeding is very considerable in such cases, but a 

 tarred rag securely bound over the part to keep away flies 

 and irritating substances is all that is necessary. 



Fig. 1. 



Fig. 2. 



Fig. 3. 



Fig. 4. 



Fig. 5. 

 TEETH OF THE SHEEP. 



Fig. 6. 



THE TEETH. The sheep has thirty-two teeth eight 

 incisors in front of lower jaw, and six molars on each side in 

 the upper and lower jaw. The lamb at birth has two incisor 

 teeth visible, or pressing through the gums. Usually before 

 it is a month old it has eight comparatively short, narroAv 

 ones, as in Fig. 1. At about a year old, though sometimes 

 not until the fourteenth or sixteenth month, the two central 

 "lamb teeth" are shed and replaced by two "broad teeth," 

 which gradually attain their full size. The sheep is then 

 termed a yearling, or "yearling past." Two lamb teeth 

 continue to be shed annually and replaced by broad teeth, 

 until the sheep has eight incisors of second growth, when it is 

 termed "full mouthed." Fig. 2 represents "the mouth" of a 

 yearling past ; Fig. 3 of a two-year-old past ; Fig. 4 of a three- 

 year-old past, and Fig. 6 of a four-year-old past.* Fig. 5 is a 

 back or inside view of the teeth of a three-year-old, showing 

 the narrow and dwindled appearance of the two last lamb 



* The English, counting from the periods when each new pair of incisors become 

 fully developed, usually speak of two broad teeth as indicating a two-year-old, four a 

 three-year-old, six a four-year-old, and eight a five-year-old. 



