582 HOW TO SELECT GOOD SHEEP. 



stood, of course, that such standard will give only the approximate 

 weight 



HOW TO SELECT GOOD SHEEP 



The best sheep for general purposes will be procured by cross- 

 ing from the common sheep with the pure blood Merino. Two or 

 three Merino crosses will raise it to the rank of a first-rate wool- 

 growing sheep, scarcely inferior to the Merino, except that it does 

 not transmit its good qualities to the offspring with quite so much 

 certainty. Such a sheep will present nearly all the points of the 

 perfect Merino, which may be taken as a standard in defining the 

 points which a good sheep will exhibit. 



Marks of the Best Sheep for Wool The good wool- 

 producer will have a shortish face, broad between the eyes, with 

 the nose pointed, and on the end fine and free from wrinldes. The 

 eye should be bright, moderately prominent, and mild in expres- 

 sion. The neck should be straight (not curving downwards), short, 

 round and stout particularly so at its junction with the shoulder, 

 forward of the upper points of which it should not sink below the 

 level of the back. The points of the shoulder should not rise to 

 any perceptible extent above the line of the back. The back to the 

 hips should be straight, the crops (that portion of the body immedi- 

 ately between the shoulder-blades) full ; the ribs well arched; the 

 body large and capacious; the flank well let down; the hindquarters 

 full and round, the flesh meeting well between the thighs (or in the 

 " twist "). The bosom should be broad and full ; the legs short, 

 standing perpendicular and well apart. The skin is an important 

 point. It should be loose, and of a rich, delicate pink color. A 

 colorless skin, or one approaching a tawny or butternut hue, indi- 

 cates defective breeding. The subject of wrinkles is a disputed 

 point; like the color of a Berkshire hog, this is somewhat a char- 

 acteristic of the Merino. The best rule is that while a smoothly 

 drawn skin with absence of dewlap is not desirable, an exceedingly 

 wrinkled neck will add but little to the fleece, and certainly not 

 enough to compensate for the deformity and the great impediment 

 it places in the way of the shearer. 



Wool Indicating the Profitable Fleece Evenness of 

 fleece is of the first importance. Many sheep exhibit good wool on 

 shoulder and side, while it is coarser and even hairy on the thighs, 

 dewlap, etc. This deteriorates the value of the fleece. Rams of 

 this character should not be bred from, and the ewes gradually 

 excluded from the breeding fold. The wool should be if possible 

 of even length and thickness over the whole of the body, shortness 

 in the flank, and shortness or thinness on the belly, being serious 

 defects. The weight of the fleece being equal, medium length with 



