CROSSES AND CROSS-BREEDING. 81 



Black-face, and mostly drop couples. Early lambs of this cross, 

 having a little colour in their faces, take the market well. 



Border-Leicester HerdwicJc cross. For high-lying tillage farms, 

 the Border-Leicester Herdwick cross sheep are excellent ; their 

 mutton is of the very best, they are hardy and good sized and 

 thrive well, but the ewes are not so prolific as those of the other 

 two crosses, while the fleece is coarser. 



Wensleydale Black-face cross. A very favourite first cross 

 along the adjacent Westmorland and Yorkshire borders is that 

 of the Wensleydale Black-face. Sheep of this cross also go 

 by the name of " Grey -faced." The lambs are rapid growers, 

 and the mutton is of high repute, but they fatten more easily 

 when nearly full-grown than as young lambs ; they are therefore 

 better adapted for the mutton market than the lamb market. 

 The Border-Leicester sire certainly scores over the Wensleydale 

 as a producer of fat lambs ; but the latter has a special value as 

 a sire for a second cross. 



Second Crosses. Coming now to the second cross, the Border- 

 Leicester ram has not much advantage over the rams of other 

 large breeds in the matter of begetting lambs that come easier 

 to the birth ; for the first-cross ewes above described are large 

 and roomy enough to give birth quite naturally to fairly large - 

 headed and wide -shouldered lambs. Rams of the following breeds 

 are used on these half-bred ewes : Border-Leicester, Oxford Down, 

 Wensleydale, Shropshire Down, Leicester, Lincoln, and Suffolk 

 Down. The first-named was at first much more largely used 

 than all the others put together ; but the Oxford Down, especially 

 for white-faced cross ewes, is coming rapidly into favour, as may 

 be gathered from the large and increasing numbers sent in recent 

 years to the great ram sales of the North, at Kelso and elsewhere. 

 The plump, dark -faced, close-coated lambs of this Oxford Border- 

 Leicester Cheviot cross are great favourites with the butchers, 

 and carry more lean than lambs produced by the use of the Border- 

 Leicester ram a second time ; and even on the grey -faced ewes, 

 except when fat lambs are required, the Wensleydale ram is to be 

 preferred to the Border-Leicester. In fact, the heaviest cross-bred 

 sheep produced in Cumberland and Westmorland are those of the 

 Wensleydale Border-Leicester Black-faced breed. For several 

 years in succession at the Penrith Christmas Fat Stock Show the 

 1st prize pen of shearling wethers were thus bred. These sheep 

 have averaged 230 Ib. live-weight, and have realised 84s. each. 



A common practice on the higher arable lanbs of the Border 

 district is to cross the half-bred ewe with a half-bred ram, bred 

 on identical lines. Fattened during the winter, the lambs of this 

 cross produce carcasses of solid lean mutton in much favour with 

 the butcher. 



