82 THE SHEPHERD'S MAHUAL. 



mals becomes domesticated, necessities arise which call for some- 

 thing more than mere vigor of constitution, although this should 

 always remain a vital point in the breeders estimation. The sole 

 aim of the stock breeder is profit, and this lies not so much in a 

 long life as in early maturity. The total result of six or ten years of 

 the life of a wild animal is crowded into two or four years of a 

 domesticated one. The capacity for consumption of food, and the 

 ability to turn a larger quantity of food into flesh or wool in a 

 shorter time are gained by the skill of the breeder, and in course of 

 time the quality of the product is refined and improved until hardly 

 a semblance of the original stock remains in the highly-bred, im- 

 proved animal. The rapidity with which these effects have been 

 produced by some of the most skillful sheep-breeders is wonderful, 

 and the names of Bakewell and Webb will be remembered, and 

 their successes perseveringly emulated for many years to come. 

 No animal is more easily improved in character, and none yields 

 more readily to the breeder's art, than the sheep. But the reverse 

 is also true, for if on the one hand success rapidly rewards the 

 successful breeder, failure as rapidly warns the unsuccessful one 

 that he has made a mistake, and must immediately retrace his 

 steps. 



The management and selection of any existing breed of sheep, or 

 of the production of any new breed or variety, must be a question 

 of profit. The point for the farmer to consider is, what kind of 

 sheep will pay him best to keep, taking into consideration his 

 locality, his soil, the crops he can conveniently raise with which 

 to sustain them, and his markets for disposing of his wool and his 

 animals, whether as lambs or as store sheep, or fat sheep fit for 

 the butcher. For want of thorough acquaintance with the habits, 

 characteristics, and peculiarities of the various breeds, many a 

 farmer has made a fatal mistake, and failed, when otherwise he 

 might easily have been successful. The results of these mistakes 

 in selection, and errors of management, have led to much dis- 

 appointment and disgust. One of the most serious errors of our 

 breeders and farmers, is the endeavor to maintain up to a 

 certain standard of excellence in this country, in spite of all the 

 differences of climate and varieties of food, the highly bred races 

 of English sheep, which have been imported from time to time. 

 Nearly every flock of all the pure races has failed to keep up to 

 the original standard, although new importations have been added 

 to them. The farmer who has purchased a few sheep from such 

 flocks, being without the requisite knowledge as to their manage- 

 ment, or not possessing the fitting food for them, has found them 



