Farm Sheep 177 



many instances, made a flock famous. A ram, to be 

 worthy of being the head of either a pure-bred or grade 

 flock of ewes, must have considerable mascuUnity, or he 

 is not Ukely to transmit his quahties to his offspring. No 

 one can afford to use a ram that cannot easily be distin- 

 guished among a flock of ewes. The ram is expected to 

 carry all of the characteristics of the breed which he rep- 

 resents, together with a good constitution as indicated by 

 a large heart girth and a strong back, well formed feet, and 

 straight legs with plenty of bone. The fleece should be 

 typical of his breed and by all means uniform in density 

 and length and fineness. 



Prepotency is most essential. This is impossible to 

 determine in the case of an untried ram, but is usually 

 indicated by a good pedigree. In all cases, individuality 

 must be combined with good breeding. Over-fitted rams 

 are never desirable for breeding purposes and it is not 

 usually wise to take one directly from the show circuit. 

 Breeders often will make the statement that showing does 

 not hurt breeding stock. This, of course, is true where 

 the sheep are in the hands of a skillful shepherd. Few 

 men, however, have sufficient skill to fit and to reduce 

 show stock without materially damaging the breeding 

 properties of the same. An exception should be made in 

 the case of lambs, since it is almost impossible to get them 

 too fat, while the fitting produces more growth than would 

 otherwise be obtained. Unless the buyer is an experi- 

 enced sheep-man, it pays better to purchase field sheep 

 rather than show stock. By field sheep are meant sheep 

 that are in normal condition, not having been fitted or 

 pampered with the idea of showing. 



Rams should be examined carefully to see that they 

 have two testicles, and that they are free from goiter. 1 A 



