MODERN SHEEP: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 281 



breeders, recently expressed his opinion that all sheep shown at the 

 International, where any serious difficulties were experienced in 

 properly placing them, should, like the sheep shown at the Paris 

 Exhibition in 1900, be shorn, as such a course would readily re- 

 veal their respective defects. 



It is pretty safe to say that sheep judges as a rule give less 

 satisfaction than any other class of livestock judges, and it is not 

 to be wondered at when the large number of breeds of sheep are 

 taken into consideration and the pitfalls that judges who are 

 not perfectly familiar with their work are liable to- fall into. A 

 well-trimmed fleece will sometimes deceive the young judge, but 

 of course has no influence on the veteran. Blubber is sometimes 

 overlooked, and obese, broken-down animals often receive a rating 

 they should not get above useful young animals of ten-fold value. 

 A judge can never please all parties, so long as breeders 5 opinions 

 differ so much as to type. The vagaries of the show ring are 

 many, and one of the most peculiar is that where a sheep gets a bad 

 start under a so-called good judge he is liable to have an unfor- 

 tunate showyard career unless he should happen to fall into the 

 hands of a capable and fearless judge. There seems too much 

 precedent-following in showyard circles today. How often do 

 we see a champion, especially in the cattle classes of our agri- 

 cultural exhibitions or fairs, taking ribbons which belong to 

 younger and more deserving entries, long after he has closed his 

 real days of usefulness. Referring to this question some time ago, 

 the author took occasion to say : 



"The judge who has courage to take the initiative in turning 

 down a 'has been 5 champion for justifiable reasons is worthy of 

 universal respect. Many an animal which should have found an 

 honorable position on the retired list and others which at certain 

 times would have been more in place in the conditioning paddock 

 than in the show yard have taken honors which belonged to more 

 useful candidates simply because the halo of 'imported' or 'cham- 

 pion' dim as that sometimes in reality is had hovered over its 

 head for a long unbroken period; or, may be, because the judge, 

 fearing that by turning down such a too-much-vaunted champion, 

 he might injure its owner's feelings, and thereby risk incurring his 

 ill will, preferred that others should take the bolder step of placing 

 the animal where it belonged. Some judges fear so-called press 

 reports, which in many cases mean nothing more or less than a 

 reiteration of the words used by the owner of the animal in con- 

 demnation of the judge, and are not, as they should be, those of a 

 reporter qualified by practical experience in the feed lot and show 

 yard to give a weighty, critical and impartial opinion, and who is 

 willing to give reasons why a certain animal should or should not 

 have met defeat. Too often when a judge has the courage to 

 turn down a worn out show animal the reporter describes the 



