BREEDING OF FARM STOCK. 
287 
sheep, also, I remember a very striking instance of the loss 
of milk in a flock (previously celebrated for their supply of 
milk) being traced entirely to the use of a very well-formed 
ram, bred from a ewe singularly deficient in milk. In this 
case all his stock to the second and third generations pos¬ 
sessed or imparted this undesirable character. A large pro¬ 
portion of the losses in our flocks and much of the additional 
labour and expenses occasioned by ewes being short of milk 
may be traced to this cause. This deficiency of milk amongst 
our ewes is becoming a serious evil throughout the country; 
one, no doubt, which has accompanied the introduction of 
high-bred sheep—rather, let us hope, by oversight than as 
a necessary consequence. Amongst all classes of stock— 
cows, ewes, and sows —we find a great disposition for the 
accumulation of fat usually attended by a deficiency in the 
flow of milk; but there does not appear to be any reason 
why both of these points of character should not be combined 
in the same individual, as we shall subsequently consider 
more fully. 
The quality of the milk bears an important relationship to 
the quantity which an animal produces. The richness of 
milk depends upon the quantity of the fatty matter present, 
which is more familiarly known as cream and butter. The 
general structure of the animal body, together with its mode 
of living, also appear to control the value of the produce. 
For the production of a rich milk two qualifications are 
necessary in the animal. 
The first step is to separate and prepare the fatty and nu¬ 
tritious elements of food, so as to introduce it into the cir¬ 
culation with as little loss as possible. 
The second step is to separate a large proportion of these 
elements in the form of rich milk. 
Any circumstance which causes a waste of the fatty and 
nutritive iugredients in the food necessarily causes the milk 
to be of inferior value. It is exactly the same with the for¬ 
mation and preservation of the fatty matter of the blood, 
whether its subsequent appropriation be as the fat of milk or 
the fat of the body; for that animal which can most econo¬ 
mically convert the fat-producing matter of food into the 
fatty matter found in the blood has most successfully accom¬ 
plished the first step. In the fattening of a bullock, as well 
as in the feeding of a milch cow, the fatty matter of the food 
has to be taken up into the blood, and it depends upon the 
organism of the animal whether it shall be subsequently 
deposited in the form of fat or excreted as the cream of milk. 
It is, however, evident that an economical preparation of the 
