378 REARING AND FEEDING OF ANIMALS. 



is committed; for a fine stock will be ruined if placed in circumstances where 

 it cannot be maintained. 



The breed, then, being selected which is the best suited to the circumstances 

 in which it is to be placed, the province of the breeder is to breed from the. best 

 individuals. 



Disposition to fatten, and early maturity, are the properties most regarded 

 in sheep to be reared for food. But the property of yielding good and abundant 

 wool is not to be disregarded; and there is another property essential in the 

 rearing of this class of animals, namely, hardiness and sound health of indi- 

 viduals. 



In the case of the sheep as of the ox, refinement in breeding may be carried 

 too far, and with more danger. By breeding from animals near of blood, the 

 same means exist in the case of the sheep as of the ox, of giving that prematu- 

 rity of age which produces fineness of the bones, and a disposition to fatten. 

 But it is attended, too, with the same effect, of rendering the animals more 

 delicate, and subject to diseases. It seems a violence done to nature, when 

 carried too far, and the animals show the effects of it by becoming too fine in 

 their skins, by ceasing to produce wool in sufficient quantity, by the females 

 ceasing to yield milk, and by the males becoming at length unable to continue 

 their species. 



Whenever, then, the sheep of any flock become too near of blood, the breeder 

 should resort to the best animals of another family, but of the same breed, to 

 continue his stock. This species of crossing is now easy, since there is scarce 

 any of the cultivated breeds of which superior males may not be procured from 

 other flocks. In the case of the New Leicester, so widely diffused and highly 

 improved, no necessity can exist for breeding from animals too nearly allied. 



Form. In the sheep, as in other animals, certain external characters indi- 

 cate a disposition to fatten, and at an early age. Other characters indicate a 

 disposition to produce wool, and the quantity of wool, it has been said, is not 

 to be disregarded in the rearing of the sheep. But where the main purpose in 

 rearing the sheep is for food, the province of the breeder is to accomplish this 

 object with as little sacrifice as possible of the secondary qualities. 



A property that indicates a tendency to fatten in the sheep as in the ox, is a 

 general rotundity of form and fineness of the bones. The chest should be broad, 

 the ribs well arched, and the back and loins accordingly broad, flat, and straight. 

 The sheep, like the ox, occupies, independently of the neck and head, nearly a 

 rectangle, and the larger the proportion of this rectangle which the body occu- 

 pies, the more perfect is his form as a feeding animal. His body, therefore, 

 should be large in proportion to his limbs, or, in other words, his limbs should 

 be short in proportion to his body; his breast should be well forward, and hi?r 

 betty straight; his head should be small and his ears thin; his limbs to the joint 

 should be fleshy, below delicate and covered with short hair: his skin should be 

 soft and elastic; his wool soft to the touch, thick, and coming well forward to 

 the face, but not covering it: his face and forehead should be covered thickly 

 with short hair, and his eyes, as indicative of health, should be lively. 



Rearing and feeding. In the rearing and feeding of sheep, the system to be 

 adopted must depend upon the nature of the farm, and the kind of stock. 

 The treatment of mountain-sheen in an elevated country is, of necessity, very 

 different from that of the larger sheep on an arable farm. It is the rearing and 

 feeding of the latter which may be first considered. 



The female sheep are ready to receive the ram in November, or sooner; but 

 the precise period is determined by the forward condition and constitution of 

 the animals. A medium period is from the 5th to the 10th of November, in 

 which case the ewes will begin to lamb previous to the beginning of April, and 

 the principal period of lambing be in the early part of that month. 



To prepare the ewes, they should receive good feeding for a time previous 

 to the male being introduced; and, for this purpose, they may be turned upon 

 the stubbles where the young grass is for a fortnight before. The ram is put 

 into the field where the ewes are pasturing, and herds along with them. He 

 covers them as they come into season; and 1 ram is considered sufficient for 

 80 sheep. In order to show what females have received him, and what have 

 not, it is usual to smear his breast with pigment, which appears upon the 



