On the Breeding of Cattle and Sheep. 



23 



exists. The common but^ I believe, mistaken notion^ that the 

 offspring from the first cross is better than that from any subse- 

 quent one, probably arises from the improvement in the first in- 

 stance being so much more apparent than, for the reason given 

 above^ it is likely to be in any one generation afterwards. Now 

 it is known to all graziers that the attempt to fatten an animal, 

 who possesses no feeding propensities, produces loss instead of 

 profit. If the above observations are correct, the feeding propensi- 

 ties descend from the sire ; it is quite just, therefore^ to say that 

 a breeder of cattle or sheep, who considers it a matter of indiffer- 

 ence what sort of male animal he uses, does consider it a matter 

 of indifference whether he gains profit or incurs loss. 



The first object which any breeder of cattle or sheep must keep 

 in view^ whether he intends to breed bulls or rams, or whether his 

 aim is merely to breed oxen or wethers, is that the stock which he 

 breeds shall be healthy. The first thing, therefore, to be consi- 

 dered in the selection of a male animal are the indications by which 

 it may be possible to form a judgment as to his constitution. In 

 all animals a wide chest indicates strength of constitution, and there 

 can be no doubt that this is the point of shape to which it is most 

 material for any breeder to look in the selection either of a bull 

 or a ram. In order to ascertain that the chest of these animals is 

 wide, it is not sufficient to observe that they have wide bosoms, but 

 the width which is perceived by looking at them in the front should 

 be continued along the brisket, which ought to shew great fulness 

 in the part which is just under the elbows ; it is also necessary that 

 they should be what is called thick through the heart. Another 

 indication of a good constitution is, that a male animal should have 

 a masculine appearance; with this view a certain degree of coarse- 

 ness is by no means objectionable, but this coarseness should not 

 be such as would be likely to show itself in a castrated animal^ be- 

 cause it thus might happen that the oxen or wethers produced 

 from such a sire would be coarse also, which in them would be a 

 fault. Another point to be attended to, not merely as an indica- 

 tion of a good constitution but as a merit in itself, is that an animal 

 should exhibit great muscular poAver, or rather that his muscles 

 should be large. This is an usual accompaniment of strength of 

 constitution, but it also shows that there will be a good proportion- 

 ate mixture of lean and fat in the meat produced from the animal ; 

 the muscles being that part which in meat is lean. A thick neck 

 is in both bulls and rams a proof of the muscles being large, and there 

 can hardly be a greater fault in the shape of a male animal, of 

 either sort, than his having a thin neck. I am inclined to say, that 

 in the new Leicester breed of sheep, which is the breed to which I 

 am accustomed, a ram's neck cannot be too thick. Other indica- 

 tions of muscle are more difficult to observe in sheep than in cattle. 



