360 THE SHEEP OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



course of improvement has been chiefly carried on, resulting in 

 what is now known as the " improved Eoscommon breed." 



It is admitted that the first improvement effected in the old 

 Connaught breed of sheep was caused by crossing it with 

 Leicester rams. By this cross not only was the form of the 

 animal improved, but the wool lost much of that coarseness 

 which it originally possessed. The pure Leicester was tried in 

 Connaught, but it did not succeed. It was said to want con- 

 stitution to suit the wet climate of the west, and this was shown 

 more particularly in the case of lambs of the pure Leicester 

 breed, which were subject to scour, and could not be brought 

 through the winter without considerable loss by death. The 

 cross, however, with the native breed succeeded admirably, and 

 when the effects of that cross were established, the Eoscommon 

 breeders evinced great skill and intelligence in so selecting their 

 breeding flocks as to perpetuate certain desirable characteristics 

 in the style of the sheep and the quality of both their flesh and 

 wool. Selection has been, in fact, the chief means latterly 

 employed in producing the " improved Eoscommon sheep." 



The old Connaught breed of sheep were never fattened until 

 they were three or rather four years old, when they made great 

 weights, but the mutton was coarse. In consequence of the 

 improvement which has been made in the breed, shearling 

 wedders are now often sold fat to the butcher, making from 

 251b. to over 301b. per quarter ; but as a general rule the 

 Eoscommon graziers hold them over until they are thirty 

 months old, at which age they are generally sold in Ballinasloe 

 fair, at prices varying from three to four guineas each, to 

 Leinster graziers, by whom the sheep are kept until they are 

 about three years old, when they make from 361b. and upwards 

 per quarter. Draft ewes, fed after being cast for breeding, 

 weigh from 341b. to 401b. per quarter, and the quality of the 

 mutton is unexceptionable. It must be understood that the 

 Eoscommon sheep are, in general, reared entirely upon grass, 

 with the help of some hay during winter. Turnip-feeding does 

 not, as in Great Britain, form a material point in sheep-farming 

 as conducted in Eoscommon, there being only one acre of 

 turnips grown in that county to each 109 acres of area. These 

 sheep, from first to last, are for the most part reared and 



