M.— AGRICULTURE 241 



The Present Position of Sheep Farming in Great Britain. 



The rough survey of the history which we have made enables us to 

 summarise the present position very briefly, and Table VII enables us to 

 consider recent changes. Our sheep can be divided into three large 

 groups : 



(a) Mountain and hill flocks. 



(b) Flocks kept largely or mainly on arable land. 



(c) Lowland grass flocks maintained primarily for the production of 



fat lambs. 



Mountain Sheep. — In the Census of Production made in 1908 an 

 attempt was made to secure information regarding the numbers of each 

 breed of farm livestock in Great Britain. Even at that time the mountain 

 breeds included about half the total sheep population. Since 1908 they 

 have become of much greater relative importance, not so much because of 

 any great increase on their native grazings, but because of their invasion 

 of the lowlands, particularly to form temporary flocks for the production 

 of fat lambs. 



Table VII brings out the relative stability of the flocks in areas where 

 there is a great deal of hill or mountain land. Under present conditions, 

 even more than in the past, sheep farming is the only possible system of 

 utilising the greater part of such land agriculturally. At the same time, 

 there has been little, if any, increase in the number of sheep on the 

 mountains, although financial returns from sheep were satisfactory until 

 a year or two ago. In many cases the number is strictly limited by the 

 area of suitable winter grazing which can be secured within a reasonable 

 distance for the lambing ewes and the ewe lambs. In others, where this 

 consideration does not arise, the land was fully stocked years ago and has 

 probably deteriorated in recent years. In certain Highland counties 

 there has even been a substantial reduction in the numbers. This has 

 been discussed by Greig and King, and more recently by Watson. De- 

 terioration of grazings and, above all, the disappearance of the wether flocks 

 are probably the main reasons. In mountain flocks everywhere there 

 has been an important change in the type of sheep kept. Formerly 

 very large numbers of the wethers were kept until three or four years 

 old. Now there is no demand for such old mutton, and practically all the 

 wether lambs are sold off the hills in their first autumn. This has 

 enabled larger numbers of breeding ewes to be maintained, and has 

 provided the lowland farmer with a larger supply of draft ewes and 

 store lambs, but in many cases the clearance of the wethers has led to 

 deterioration. After the first winter they spent the whole of the year on 

 the mountains and ate down a good deal of the rough grass left over 

 from the summer, thus contributing to the growth of attractive nutritious 

 herbage in the following spring. Moreover, the weight of protein and 

 mineral matter annually sold off the grazing is now much greater than 

 formerly. 



