150 MANAGEMENT AND FEEDING OF SHEEP 



Such animals will not transmit the most desirable mutton 

 form. Ram lambs of highest excellence for breeding, as 

 also mature rams, should be compact, wide throughout, 

 strong in the back, full in the breast, level in the crops, 

 round in the ribs and heavy and shapely in the twist and 

 masculine in the head. 



Deficiency in the fleece that should be possessed by 

 rams kept for breeding may relate more or less to any of 

 the requisites of a good fleece, or in extreme instances to 

 several of them. The importance of correct wool char- 

 acteristics increases with increase in the relative value of 

 the kind of wool furnished and increase in the value that 

 the wool bears to the mutton produced by the same ani- 

 mal. Correct characteristics in the wool of the highest 

 type of Merino is of more relative value than the same 

 in a high type Southdown, but in no instance is it unim- 

 portant where the breeding is pure. Nor would it be cor- 

 rect to say that it is unimportant in the breeding of grades. 

 Here also the importance of correct wool furnishings in 

 the male increase in proportion to the relative value of the 

 fleece sought. 



Lambs may be lacking in size but so possessed of other 

 good qualities that there should be hesitancy about re- 

 jecting them for service, especially when high-class mut- 

 ton is sought. If the lambs are of good form and carry 

 the furnishings that indicate robustness, they may be 

 peculiarly valuable for the production of good mutton 

 from grade ewes ; especially when the ewes are somewhat 

 rough and lacking in quality will excellent results be 

 obtained from such rams, as the lambs begotten by them 

 will possess a combined compactness of form and refine- 

 ment of limb that would not result from the use of larger 

 sires though equally correct in form. In pure-bred flocks, 

 however, there should be hesitancy about using sires in 

 service that are under size, lest size in the average of the 

 flock should be too much reduced. In no instance should 

 such sires be used when lacking in robust vigor. 



