144 Sheep-Farming 



For the same reason, in those breeds that are wooled 

 about the head, the more complete and dense this 

 covering is, the better it is liked. The legs of the 

 ram should be straight and strong and short. In 

 movement the ram should be bold and active. 

 This is often influenced by the condition. A ram 

 should never be so heavy in flesh as to be useless 

 for service, as is too often the case in the show ring. 

 The flesh should be even and firm and not gathered 

 in masses or rolls at any part of the body. It is 

 very apt to gather at the fore flank, leaving the 

 back bare or raw. Excessive condition is likely to 

 make the ram unwieldy in action or result in broken- 

 down pasterns, which usually render a ram useless 

 for breeding purposes. 



The ewe. — The ewe should be rather long in the 

 face, with fine features. The neck should be slender 

 and without any of the thickness noticeable in the 

 ram. The body should be deep, round ribbed, and 

 specially long so as to provide room for the growing 

 lamb. The type of the good milking ewe verges 

 strongly towards that which is typical of the good 

 dairy cow. The ewe that milks well, and conse- 

 quently rears early maturing lambs, tends towards 

 the wedge shape, deep in the chest, large bodied, and 

 wide across the loins and the hips. The condition 

 of the ewe should not be such as to impair her breed- 

 ing qualities. Excessive fatness, as a rule, is in this 

 way injurious. The flesh should be evenly distrib- 



