284 MANAGEMENT AND FEEDING OF SHEEP 



SO trained they will not hesitate to follow the shepherd 

 through a crowd, however dense. Should the award be 

 adverse, the exhibitor should meet the situation calmly. 

 In the lottery of judging — for in close competition it is a 

 lottery, in a sense — the award, though in some instances 

 scarcely deserved, may go the other way. 



7. Should the suspicion arise in the mind of the judge 

 that the age of some of the animals before him has been 

 misrepresented, he can usually detect the same by examin- 

 ing the teeth. They do not always show equal advance- 

 ment in growth at similar ages, but the progress made is 

 so nearly similar in different animals that the liability to 

 mistake on the part of a good judge is reduced to a mini- 

 mum. The following rules relating to the age of show 

 sheep, as indicated by the teeth, have been adopted by 

 several of the leading fair associations of Great Britain : 

 Sheep having their central permanent incisors cut will be 

 considered as exceeding the age of 10 months. Sheep 

 having their central permanent incisors fully up will be 

 considered as exceeding the age of 12 months. Sheep 

 having their third pair of permanent incisors cut will be 

 considered as exceeding 19 months. Sheep having their 

 third pair of permanent incisors fully up and the tempo- 

 rary molars shed will be considered as exceeding 24 

 months. Sheep having their corner permanent incisors 

 well up and showing marks of wear will be considered as 

 exceeding 36 months. 



8. Stock rams which have been exhibited at the fairs 

 and are again to be exhibited must be managed with great 

 care if they are to retain their breeding powers. Ordina- 

 rily ram lambs shown at the autumn fairs should come as 

 soon as possible after January ist. To have them come 

 earlier would give them too much the appearance of a 

 shearling. A show lamb should not be permitted to serve 

 more than say 12 to 15 females while yet in the lamb form. 

 A shearling ram which is to be shown again should not 

 serve more than, say, 24 to 30 females while yet in the 



