10 FITTING SHEEP 



they sometimes err so much that they do great harm and 

 injustice to the breeders and their exhibits, while at the same 

 time they detract from their own credit as judges of the breed 

 of sheep the merits and points of which they may be actually 

 conversant with. While we may know what the most de- 

 sirable conformation of the body of a typical mutton sheep 

 may be, the type and characteristics of the various mutton 

 breeds vary so much that to get a correct idea of them we 

 must have considerable experience in handling them before 

 we should be admitted as critical judges of any of the breeds 

 we are to pass judgment upon. For those having experience 

 in handling sheep other than the Merino to pass judgment 

 upon a modern Shropshire could not be accepted as anything 

 but an injustice to the breeder and exhibitor, and vice versa, 

 for what can a shepherd who has handled nothing but mutton 

 breeds be expected to know about the technical points and 

 type of a well-bred Merino? It cannot be expected that he 

 should know any more than a Shire horse breeder who has 

 never handled a race horse should be acquainted with the 

 points of the latter. Another mistake often made by judges 

 is that of allowing over-fed, broken-down sheep to take 

 premier places over sheep that are in the fullest of health and 

 bloom. While they will carefully examine the fleece to find 

 a trace of dark wool, and the skin for undesirable discolora- 

 tions, they will totally ignore the importance of trotting the 

 animals around the ring to see if they are firm on their pas- 

 terns or have been overheated in feeding and thereby ren- 

 dered useless for procreating their species. When an animal 

 is shown let him be shown for what he is actually worth 

 to-day, not for what he has been, or what he may some day be. 

 Entirely too many sheep are shown which are said to have 



