MODERN SHEEP: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 183 



care and treatment. Without careful cultivation none of our im- 

 proved domestic plants or animals can hold their own, and under 

 improper treatment there will soon be a tendency to revert to their 

 primitive state; therefore, we should apply all our effort to keep 

 the props of improvement under them to avert such a condition. 

 There is very little pleasure in raising purebred stock unless we 

 hold, if not improve, the standard of our favorite breed, and sure- 

 ly there is but little profit attending our enterprise if our ideals 

 do not tend in this direction. 



Nowhere in the world are sheep raised to that state of perfec- 

 tion they are in the British Isles, and it is a question, if with 

 certain modifications, we should not follow their methods of feed- 

 ing as far as possible. Of course we must of necessity deviate 

 from their methods in certain cases; for instance, the ram lambs 

 which are expected to rank some day among great sires are weaned 

 rather earlier than with us, and, generally speaking, they are fed 

 more liberally. When our lambs are on dry feed, or the best we 

 can possibly provide, the English lamb is basking in the sunshine 

 of a rape field or kale field or turnip field, which have been left 

 untouched during the winter. Then they also have good grass 

 pastures and perhaps a run of the rye field, with vetches, peas, 

 etc., by way of variation, and all this, with oilcake and grain of 

 some kind regularly each day, with unlimited exercise, they keep 

 remarkably robust and thriving. 



Ram lambs should receive generous fare until they have en- 

 tered the yearling age. A pound, a day of a mixture of oil cake 

 and oats, even when they "are up to their eyes" in rape, clover 

 pasture, etc., will be a good investment. 



No matter of what breed the ram may be he should be fed 

 liberally and wisely, but not too well. A pampered ram is poor 

 property and good blood counts for little where sensible feed- 

 ing is not in evidence. Earns as well as ewes sometimes fail as 

 breeders because of their being in too high a condition. Earns 

 should be fed regularly; the best results cannot be expected from 

 those irregularly fed. The ram must not be allowed to run down 

 during the breeding season. Plenty of muscle-making foods should 

 be fed the young rams. Their rations should be strong in protein, 

 as it builds up flesh and muscle. Oats and bran, with a very little 

 addition of oil-cake makes an ideal grain ration for rams. These 

 foods, however, should be used sparingly, or more by way of a 

 regulator of the digestive organs than as a food. Succulent rations 

 are the best fare for the ram. Mangels or beets should not be fed 

 to rams, since they bring about bladder troubles. 



THE BREEDING SEASON. 



The breeding season of the ewe usually commences in this 

 country in September, but in England, no doubt due to her more 



