10 BRITISH SHEEP AND SHEPHERDING. 



Nor should the excellent work of those who have pioneered 

 more recently go unrecognised. Breeders have hitherto been careful 

 to retain some of the indigenous features of the breed that they 

 have undertaken to improve ; and to keep in some characteristics 

 of such other breed or breeds as they have used on it ; and they 

 have blended these so nicely that they are beautifully balanced ; 

 no feature seeming to jar on the eye, or to destroy the useful purpose 

 of the sheep. 



But a rather dangerous period has been entered upon, and 

 breeders have need to be very careful in their methods. The 

 welfare of the sheep in the future is in the hands of the breeder 

 of to-day. Just as in the early days of a breed's improvement 

 " fancy," that is, the fancying or thinking that a certain feature 

 should be retained or eliminated, was the subject of controversy 

 among those who were engaged in the remodelling of type, 

 so fancy continues in all stages of development ; though with so 

 much to guide them as there is now, in comparison with that 

 available to the early pioneers, the opportunities occur more 

 rarely. There are always some, no matter what the breed, or 

 for that matter, animal, who are more impressed with the value 

 of a certain feature than are others, and this is often shown in the 

 show-ring, where one judge will upset a previous decision. One 

 man has found that on his land or for his purposes one feature 

 or set of features give him the results he wants and at which he 

 aims ; another equally experienced man finds that other points 

 are more profitable to him each may be equally right according 

 to his experience. But a third may have a strong fancy for 

 something which is not so valuable ; and he may be a man who 

 has great influence over others, and his less correct opinion may 

 be accepted and acted upon to the prejudice of the breed. 



It is most highly important when a man pioneers in a breed, 

 even though the breed may have been brought to a high point 

 of perfection, that he should know why those before who did so 

 much for the race retained or specially developed each breed 

 feature. There are certain features common to all breeds where 

 the early maturity and constitution of the animal are concerned, 

 and to which all must conform, but breed features are a thing 

 of themselves, and it is highly important that the mistake is not 

 made of trying to over-develop some feature suitable to some 

 other type, and not so valuable possibly objectionable in the 

 breed one is handling. There is so much evidence of the skill 

 of our breed improvers in being able to develop any feature they 

 desire that no one doubts their ability to accomplish whatever 

 they set their minds to ; though no one has yet accomplished 

 the act of making a breed possessing the quality of the 

 Southdown or Suffolk which will carry a fleece of the weight 



