i6o WESTMORLAND AGRICULTURE, iSoo— iqoo 



Some of the older ewes are drafted each season and put to Border 

 Leicester rams, or what is now looked upon as even a better cross 

 by many shrewd farmers, a Wensleydale — though the lambs do not 

 fatten quite so early. Formerly the ewes were kept as long as they 

 would breed, 15 or 16 years if they lived so long, but now they are 

 drafted after four to six crops have been taken, and then sold to lower 

 situated fanns where they are put to Down, Leicester, Border 

 Leicester, or Wensleydale tups, and the lambs sold fat the following 

 autumn — lambs of the Leicester-Herdwick cross were sold fat during 

 August and September, 1872, for 25s. to 30s. each, but that was a very 

 favourable season. Some farmers keep such lambs till after they 

 are clipped, the fleece weighing 7 to 8 lbs., which was worth 1/6 per 

 lb. in 1874 — afterwards selling them fat for 38s. to 45s. each. 



Wethers were never sold before they were 4J to 5^ years old, 

 but now they go off as lambs and shearlings — but few being kept 

 till they are twinters, such is the fashion for early maturity and the 

 saving of keep, beside the lessened loss in the stock. The practice 

 of sending the hogs to lower lands as near the sea as possible for the 

 winter is still pursued ; the price which, when Pringle wrote, was 

 2/- per head for those that returned in the spring, increased to about 

 3/6 per head in 1850, and was from 7/- to 8/- in 1874 ; it is now 6/- 

 to 7/- per head, with the same conditions pertaining. The 5th of 

 April, on which they are returned, is known as " Hog Day." 



Many of the noted Herdwick breeders keep a large number of 

 rams, the price of which, in the eighties, ranged from £2 to £6, though 

 noted animals brought much more. Favourite rams are sometimes 

 hired for the season at from £7 to £io. At the Keswick Tup Fair, 

 held on November 5th, 1870, E. Nelson, of Gatesgarth, had 40 tups 

 on view, and sold or let all but three — -his famous tup, " Boggle," was 

 let for seven days at £1 per day, and for other ten days for £y. 136 

 Herdwick ewes, belonging to J. Pearson of Low Lorton, averaged 

 £1 19s. 7d. each in 1873, and his tups made up to £12 los. 



At a sale of Herdwicks at the Boot, Troutbeck, in 1876, the 

 following average prices were recorded ; — Ewes, 35/5 ; gimmer 

 twinters, 33/11 ; gimmer hogs, 23/8 ; 3 and 4 year old wethers, 

 31/10 ; wether twinters, 22/11 ; and wether hogs, 16/1. Higher 

 prices were recorded in 1869 at a sale of Gillbank's heaf-going Herdwicks 



