Book VII. REARING OF SHEEP. 1001 



6430. Another practice, but which requires much capital as well as knowledge, experience, and atten- 

 tion, is that of breeding and fattening off all lambs, both wethers and ewes, especially where markets 

 for their sale when fat, are conveniently situated ; or this system may be partially acted upon, varying 

 the plan according to capital, circumstances, and the nature of the times. In which case, whenever store 

 stock become extravagantly high, it is mostly a good way to sell 



6431. The sheep farming of the arable or low warm districts of the kingdom conse- 

 quently differs in various particulars from that of the hilly and mountainous districts ; we 

 shall therefore first give a general view of the sheep management of arable lands, and 

 next of mountainous districts. 



SuBSECT. 1. Of the Rearing and Management of Sheep on rich grass and arable Lands, 



6432. The most general sheq) husbandry on rich lands, or where turnips and other 

 green food is raised for winter consumption, is to combine the breeding and feeding 

 branches, leaning to each according to the returns of profit : a method very common 

 among arable farmers, and which is attended with the least trouble and hazard, is that 

 of purchasing a store flock, as lambs, wethers, and what are termed crones, or old ewes ; 

 some of the last sort often proving with lamb, may be fattened off with them to good 

 account. It is likewise often the case that ewes are disposed of in lamb, or with lambs 

 by their sides, in what are termed couples, in which circumstances, it is frequently a 

 good practice to make annual purchases of them, in order to the fattening of both, and 

 selling them in that state within the year. In the purchasing of sheep, which is often 

 done from very distant fairs and markets, much care and circumspection is necessary, 

 whatever the sort or intention with which they are bought may be. In these cases 

 much advantage, especially when at a considerable distance, may be derived by employ- 

 ing a salesman on the spot. 



6433. The treatvieat of the lambs is the first consideration in the mixed sheep hus- 

 bandry : lambs are either suckled or fattened on grass, or sold in autumn as lean stock. 

 Those that have been suckled or fattened in the house, in which system of fattening, 

 much attention is required to have them early, to their being well, regularly, and very 

 cleanly kept and suckled, as well as to the ewes being of the right sort, and the best 

 milkers tliat can be provided, and to their being fully supplied with food of the most 

 nourishing and succulent kinds. Their tails and udders should have the wool well 

 clipped away from them, in order that they may be preserved in a perfectly clean state. 

 The lambs also require, especially towards the close of their lattening, to have regular 

 supplies of barley, wheat, and pease meal, ground together in combination with tine 

 green rouen hay. When these have been sold off, the lambs which have been fattened 

 on the best grass land will be ready to succeed them at the markets, in the spring and 

 summer months, and these will be followed by the sale of the store lambs, at the different 

 autumnal fairs. 



6434. The selection or setting of the lamb-stock is the first business of sheep manage- 

 ment after the lambs have been weaned. It is generally performed in the month of 

 August, at which period the fairs for the sale of lambs mostly take place. And as at this 

 time the whole are collected together for drawing into different lots, it is a very suitable 

 l)eriod for selecting or choosing those that are to supply such deficiencies in the breeding 

 flocks. In his Calendar of Husbandry, Young has remarked, that in making this selec- 

 tion the farmer or his shepherd usually (whatever the breed may be) rejects all that ma- 

 nifest any departure from certain signs of the true breed : thus, in a Norfolk flock, a 

 white leg, and a face not of a hue suflSciently dark, would be excluded, however well 

 formed; in the same manner a w'hite face on the South Downs; in Wiltshire a black 

 face would be an exclusion, or a horn that does not fall back ; in Dorsetshire a horn that 

 does not project, &c. 



6435. The selection of the grown stock generally takes place after the lambs are weaned, 

 or, at all events, before tupping season, though wethers may be drawn out of the flock 

 at any time. A certain number of old ewes or crones are removed every year, and these 

 as well as the wethers, are fed off for the butcher, either on grass, artificial herbage, 

 or roots, according to the situation and circumstances of the farm, and season of the 

 year. 



6436. The shearing ofsheej) is an annual operation, which includes several prepara- 

 tory measures and after-processes. These are, washing, separation, catching, clipping, 

 marking, and tail cutting. 



6437. The proper time for clipping or shearing sheep must be directed by the state of 

 the weather and the climate in the particular district, as by this means the danger of in- 

 jury by cold from depriving the sheep of their coats at too early a season, and from heat 

 by permitting them to continue on them too long, may be avoided in the best manner : 

 but another circumstance that should likewise be attended to in this business, is that of 

 the wool being fully grown or at the state of maturity ; as where the clipping precedes 

 that period, it is said in the Annals of Agriculture to be weak and scarcely capable of 



