MODERN SHEEP: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 235 



In American associations ewes are registered individually as well 

 as rams. In England the rams are usually registered singly, and 

 the ewes in flocks. In order to bring sheep to this country, free 

 of duty, from Canada, the pedigree of the grandsire and granddam 

 must be produced. Members of associations can get their sheep 

 recorded at half the fee usually charged, and, moreover, they get 

 each volume of the record free of cost. The usual charge made 

 by associations for registering American-bred sheep is fifty cents, 

 and one dollar for foreign-bred sheep. If they are not registered 

 the year of their birth extra fees are charged. When a sheep is 

 sold to another party a fee of twenty-five cents is charged for trans- 

 ferring. The seller usually records the animal unless it be under 

 one year old, in which case he provides the purchaser with the 

 names and number of the recorded sire and dam. Breeders should 

 always send certificates to purchasers at the time of sale. By 

 doing this trouble usually following procrastination is avoided. 

 The breeder of an animal is he who owns the sire and dam at the 

 time of breeding or mating of the sheep. 



PREPARING SHEEP FOR SALE. 



When preparing sheep for sale they should not be fed too 

 highly or fattened to. the extreme. Sheep in good condition give 

 much better results to the buyer than those in an exorbitantly fat 

 condition, since they can not possibly give such results as they 

 should, and as are expected of them. A little shaping up of the 

 fleece with shears is not illegitimate as we look upon shaping these 

 days, as most all breeders in putting their sheep up for sale try 

 and have them in as nice and attractive a condition as possible. 

 Where sales are conducted by auction, naturally the auctioneer 

 should be well-versed in his business, that is, a sheep or livestock 

 auctioneer should know something about the breed and pedigrees 

 of the animals he is offering. There is no question but that a 

 qualified livestock auctioneer brings far better results than the 

 average all-round auctioneer who conducts ordinary farm sales, 

 etc. Auction sales of sheep, of any pretension, should be largely 

 advertised in the leading livestock journals. There is a good 

 deal of work connected with preparing sheep for sale by auction. 

 The catalogue of itself entails a great deal more work than one 

 might imagine. This, of course, should give the numbers of all 

 the sheep for sale, pedigrees, etc. The animals offered for sale 

 should be numbered on the side or back with stencil or stamped 

 with a proper marking fluid. 



In some parts of England auction sales of livestock are held 

 with a minute sand-glass. The highest bid made between the time 

 the glass is turned till the sand runs out is the purchaser of the 

 article that is being offered. A part of the up-to-date sheep auc- 



