AGE OF THE SHEEP AND GOAT. 



The sheep is of value for any purpose for a still more 

 limited period than the ox, and its exact age is of less impor- 

 tance, except in the case of valuable breeding animals, which 

 are always possessed of a registered pedigree which guarantees 

 the day of their birth. An approximation within a month or 

 two is sufficient for practical purposes in a spring lamb, and an 

 error of six months will not alter the taste of a four-year-old 

 South-Down wether for a roast saddle. After this time it is a 

 poor economist, except in districts where wool is the only prod- 

 uct to be derived from the sheep, who will not turn it over to 

 the butcher, — again excepting the pedigreed breeding animal. 

 Civilization, better agriculture, and the care of man have altered 

 the physiological characters of the ovine races even more than 

 they have those of the bovine, and a larger percentage of the 

 former have been rendered precocious than of any other species 

 of animal. As a result of the improved agricultural needs, the 

 sheep has altered considerably in form ; the eruption of the 

 teeth is more hasty, the horns have diminished in size or are 

 absent, and the general shape of the animal has been modified. 



The age of the sheep is determined by the character of the 

 teeth, and of the horns, when the latter are present. 



DENTITION. 



f Temporary,. . . . . ^'^'^ ^20 

 Formula <' 



I Permanent, ' ' . = 32 



The sheep has thirty-two teeth, like the ox, — eight incisors 

 in the lower jaw, none in the upper, six molars in each arch of 

 either jaw, making twenty-four molars in all, and no tushes. 



(175) 



