382 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



determined, he first notes her form, and then opening the wool on the 

 shoulder, thigh and belly, notes the length, thickness, quality, and style of 

 the staple. If he kept the minutes at shearing recommended by me (un- 

 der the head of " Selection") it will save much time and lead to far more 

 accurate classification. When every point in the ewe is determined, he 

 decides which ram, on tlie whole, is best calculated to perpetuate her ex- 

 cellencies both of fleece and carcass, and best counterbalance her defects 

 in their mutual offspring. With a pigment composed of Venitian red and 

 hog's lard, he then, as has been already mentioned under the head of 

 Registering, gives the ewe a mark which will last until the next shearing, 

 which will show by what ram she was tupped. Those selected for each 

 ram are placed in different inclosures, and the chosen ram placed with 

 them. In four weeks' time, the rams are withdrawn, and the flocks 

 doubled or otherwise rearranged for winter, as may be necessary. This 

 looks like taking considerable trouble, but having practiced it for years 

 on my farm, and having always made these selections myself, I know 

 that in reality the trouble is very slight — nothing, when the beneficial re- 

 sults are taken into consideration. With a couple assistants, to catch, a 

 day would suffice for effecting the proper classification and division of sev- 

 eral hundred ewes. 



Where choice rams are scarce, so that it is an object to make the ser- 

 vices of one go a great way — or where it is impossible to have separate 

 inclosures, (as on farms where there there are a 

 great number of breeding-ewes, or where the shep- ^'s- ^^■ 



herd system is adopted to the exclusion offences,) 

 the following method may be resorted to. Build a 

 hut containing as many apartments as you wish to 

 use rams, with an alley between them. That part 

 of fig. 30 which is surrounded by black lines repre- 

 sents the hut divided into four apartments, each fur- 

 nished with a feeding-box and trough in one comer. 

 Gates or bai"s open from each apartment into the 

 alley, and at each end of the alley. The dotted 

 lines inclose a yard just sufficient to hold the flock 

 of breeding-ewes. j \ 



A couple of strong rams (of any quality) for about | ! 



every hundred ewes, are then aproned, their brisk- ' 



ets rubbed with Venitian red and hog's lard, and they are let loose among 

 the ewes. Aproning is performed by sewing a belt of coarse sacking 

 broad enough to extend from the fore to the hind legs, loosely but strongly 

 round the body. To prevent its slipping forward or back, straps are car- 

 ried I'ound the breast and back of the breech. It is indispensable that it 

 be made perfectly secure, or all the labor of this method of coupling will 

 be far worse than thrown away. The pigment on the brisket should be 

 renewed every two or three days — and it will be necessary, usually, to 

 change the " teasers," as these api'oned rams are called, about once a 

 week, as they do not long retain their courage under such unnatural cir- 

 cumstances. Twice a day the ewes are brought into the yard in front of 

 the hut. Those marked on their rumps by the teasers are taken into the 

 alley. Each is admitted to the ram for which she is marked once, and 

 then goes out at the opposite end of the aUey from which she entered, into a 

 separate field from that containing the flock from which she was taken. 

 A powerful and vigorous ram from three to seven years old, and properly 

 fed, can thus be made to serve from 150 to even 200 ewes, with no greater 

 injury than from running loose with 50 or 60. 



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