L56 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



eral soundness has been satisfactorily established. Spooner states that 

 grown sheep take up 3J per cent, of their weight in what is equivalent to 

 dry hay per day, to keep in store condition. Veit places the consumption 

 at 2J per cent. My experience would incline me to place it about midway 

 between the two. But whatever the precise amount of the consumption, 

 if it is proportioned to the weight, it follows that if an acre is capable of 

 sustaining three Merinds weighing 100 Ibs. each, it will sustain but two 

 Leicesters weighing 150 Ibs. each, and two and two fifths South-Downs 

 weighing 125 Ibs. each. Merinos of this weight often shear 5 Ibs. per 

 fleece, taking flocks through. The herbage of an acre, then, would give 

 15 Ibs. of Merino wool, and but 12 Ibs. of Leicester, and but 9f Ibs. of 

 South-Down (estimating the latter as high as 4 Ibs. to the fleece) ! Even 

 the finest and lightest fleeced sheep ordinarily known as Merinos, average 

 about 4 Ibs. to the fleece, so that the feed of an acre would produce as 

 much of the highest quality of wool sold under the name of Merino, as it 

 would of New Leicester, and more than it would of South-Down ! The 

 former would be worth from fifty to one hundred per cent, more per pound 

 than either of the latter ! Nor does this indicate all the actual difference, 

 *as I have, in the preceding estimate, placed the live-weight of the English 

 breeds low, and that of the Merino high. The live-weight of the four- 

 pound fine-fleeced Merino does not exceed 90 Ibs. It ranges from 80 to 

 90 Ibs., so that 300 Ibs. of live-weight would give a still greater product 

 of wool to the acre.* I consider it perfectly safe to say that the herbage 

 of an acre will uniformly give nearly double the value of Merino, that it will 

 of any of the English Long or Middle wools. 



The important question now remains, What are the other relative ex- 

 penses of these breeds 1 I speak from experience when I say that the 

 Leicester! is in no respect a hardier sheep than the Merino indeed, it is 

 my firm conviction that it is less hardy, under the most favorable circum- 

 stances. It is more subject to colds, and I think its constitution breaks up 

 more readily under disease. The lambs are more liable to perish from ex- 

 posure to cold, when newly dropped. Under unfavorable circumstances- 

 herded in large flocks, pinched for feed, or subjected to long journeys 

 its capacity to endure, and its ability to rally from the effects of such draw- 

 backs, do not compare with those of the Merino. The high-bred South- 

 Down, though considerably less hardy than the unimproved parent stock, 

 is still fairly entitled to the appellation of a hardy animal. In this respect 

 I consider it just about on a par with the Merino. I do not think, how- 

 ever, it will bear as hard stocking as the latter, without a rapid diminution 

 in size and quality. If the peculiar merits of the animal are to be taken 

 into account in determining the expenses and I think they should be 

 the superior fecundity of the South-Down is a point in its favor, as well 

 for a wool-producing as a mutton sheep. The South-Down ewe not only 

 frequently yeans twin lambs, as do both the Merino and Leicester, but she 

 possesses, unlike the latter, nursing properties to do justice by them. But 

 this advantage is fully counterbalanced by the superior longevity of the 

 Merino. All the English mutton breeds begin to rapidly deteriorate in 

 am unt of wool, capacity to fatten, and in general vigor, at about 5 years 

 old and their early maturity is no offset to this, in a sheep kept for wool- 

 growing purposes. This early decay would require earlier and more -rapid 

 slaughter or sale than would always be economically convenient, or even 

 possible, in a region situated in all respects like the South. It is well, on 



* It is understood that all of these live-weights refer to eves in fair ordinary, or what is called Btor* 

 condition, 

 t I apeak of fuil-blood I,ci;ester8. Some of its crosses are much hardier than the pure bred sheep. 



