460 MANAGEMENT AND FEEDING OF SHEEP 



All females should be rejected for future breeding that 

 are off in form, that have any physical defect, that have 

 proved shy breeders or poor nurses and that are begin- 

 ning to lose or are soon to lose their teeth through age. 

 Ewes apparently well chosen as lambs lose form to some 

 extent in some instances as they mature, and should be 

 discarded, as they so far mar uniformity in the flock and 

 may also transmit this same defect. Physical defects may 

 relate to such happenings as injury to the udder, which 

 may impair or destroy its function, to a tendency to cast 

 the uterus when the lambs are born and to some ex- 

 crescences on the skin that are unsightly, also to injury 

 to the limbs. Shy breeders are unprofitable, as when they 

 fail to breed the only return for the year is the wool, 

 and when they do breed, they may transmit the same 

 characteristic of shy breeding to their progeny. Ewes 

 that are aging are more expensive to feed than others, 

 produce less wool, do not feed their lambs as well and 

 mar the appearance of the flock. 



The weaning season is the best season to set them 

 aside for being turned off, as they may then be prepared 

 for market and disposed of before the closing in of the 

 winter. Where flocks are large, the plan of promptly 

 marketing ewes to be discarded as soon as the reason for 

 such action is first noticed is to be commended. If this 

 is not done, these ewes in some instances will be over- 

 looked and left in the flock. Any kind of mark that will 

 readily indicate such animals will, of course, suffice, as, 

 for instance, stamping coloring matter on some part of 

 the body. 



One would imagine at first thought that where the 

 culling is close and continued from year to year, the time 

 would come when culls would not appear and that the 

 necessity for culling the lambs at least would be no longer 

 necessary. This hope, should it be cherished, will never 

 be fully realized. The principle of variation is operative 

 as well as the principle that "like begets like," and some 



