Ch. XXXIX.] ON SHEEP. 455 



he is termed a"vvedder" or "wether," and the female a "ewe:" both, 

 until they are weaned, being indifferently styled " lambs ;" but at the future 

 periods of their lives they are, in different districts, thus severally designated, 

 namely : — 



THE MALES. THE FEMALES. 



Wedder-Hogs, Hoggets,! From the time of weaning j Ewe-Hogs, or 

 Hoggerells, or Tegs J to the first shearing. JGimmers. 

 Shearlmg-Hogs, ori ^^ j^^ ^ ^ |Gimmer-Sbearlings, 



Dmmonts. J =• |or Theaves. 



At the expiration of which time, they are each known as " two shear," 

 " three shear," or " four shear" wedders or ewes, until they are full-mouthed ; 

 when the ewes, if drafted out of the flock either as being barren, or to be 

 fattened, are termed " cast" or " yelled," and when turned six years old, 

 are denominated " crones." 



PROCREATION. 



The time at which the ram ought to be admitted to the ewes, should 

 depend upon the nature of the climate, and the prospect of spring food for 

 the future support of the lambs ; and this should be abundant, for if the 

 lambs be once stinted, their flesh becomes sticky and they can never again 

 be restored to healthy condition. Nurse-ewes should therefore have the 

 best of pasture, and if the farm does not afford turnips, they should, during 

 winter, be furnished with a certain proportion of hay. Ewes are generally 

 fit to breed at the age of about fifteen to eighteen months. Much however 

 depends on the state of the flock as to their forwardness, and the time must 

 necessarily be regulated by the period at which they were dropped as lambs : 

 thus, supposing it to have occurred in Januarv, that would presume them to 

 be ready for the ram — if at fifteen months — in the beginning of the following 

 May ; and if tupped at that time, their lambs would then be dropped about 

 the end of September ; which is a practice only followed for the production 

 of house-lamb.* Eighteen months old is therefore more usual, and in 

 exposed situations, where it is not desirable that the lambs should be 

 dropped until late in the spring, the ewes are not generally tupped until 

 some time in October. 



The number of ewes to he put to a ram should be regulated not only by 

 his age and vigour, but, in some degree also, by the nature of the farm on 

 which the flock is pastured: thus, if fed upon mountainous land having a 

 wide range of open field, three rams are not unfrequently put to a hundred 

 ewes, whereas in enclosures, two are quite sufficient; indeed one, if he be 

 full grown and in very high condition, may serve a hundred. Generally 

 speaking, however, sixty ewes are considered quite enough, and a yearling 

 tup will serve as many ewes as an older one ; though many breeders are of 

 opinion that his utmost powers ought not to be exerted until he has 

 reached another year; for if too many be put to him, there will be 

 hazard of their all bearing, and the lambs produced will probably be weak 

 and puny. 



The breast of the ram is not uncommonly smeared with some colouring 



* " It does not often occur that any of the British sheep, excepting the Dorsets, can 

 be induced to take the ram before September. A small flock of very beautiful Merinos 

 were imported from Saxony to Yorkshire, by Sir H. Vavasour, of Melbourne Hall, in 

 the Spring of 1835, all of which produced healthy lambs towards the close of December 

 in the same year, and again at the like period in 1836. One of these ewes will have 

 lambed three times within fourteen months. They have had no extra keep, are excel- 

 lent nurses, and very hardy in constitution." — Howard of Melbourne. 



