Ihc  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
143 
The  Black-faced  Highland  Sheep 
N  OLD  BREED. —  The  Black-faced 
Highland  sheep,  one  of  the  oldest  of 
our  domestic  breeds,  which  have 
roamed  the  Hills  of  Scotland  for  ages, 
and  which  may  well  be  numbered 
among  the  very  best  for  some  farms 
in  America,  are  but  little  known  and  less  appre¬ 
ciated  by  many  who  are  at  this  time  in  a  position 
to  breed  them.  One  reason  why  these  sheep 
have  not  been  more  popular  in  our  country  is 
the  fact  that  there  have  been  but  very  few  specimens 
imported  into  the  Lhiited  States  in  recent  years,  and 
the  really  few  high-class  individuals  which  we  now 
have  are  direct  descendants  of  the  earlier  imported 
stock. 
PERSONAL  EXPERIENCE.— Since  a  small  boy 
the  writer  has  always  been  much  interested  in  any¬ 
thing  in  the  sheep  line  and  has  made  many  extensive 
experiments  with  various  breeds  and  crosses  in  an 
effort  to  determine  what  breed  was  best  suited  to 
our  local  conditions  and  climate.  My  findings  along 
this  line  have  been  very  interesting,  to  say  the  least, 
and  1  have  learned  a  great  deal,  some  of  which  I 
They  shed  rain  like  a  thatched  roof,  and  are  perhaps 
the  most  hardy  breed  in  existence.  Stomach  worms 
do  not  trouble  them,  and  in  our  own  flocks,  while 
running  with  other  breeds  and  crosses  which  have 
been  very  much  troubled  with  these  pests,  the  Black¬ 
faces  have  yet  to  show  a  sign  of  this  trouble. 
MUTTON  AND  LAMB.— While  their  extremely 
coarse  wool  does  not  sell  as  high  in  price  as  some  of 
the  finer  wools,  yet  from  a  mutton  standpoint  they 
are  unexcelled.  The  ewes  are  big  milkers  and  the  very 
best  of  mothers.  I  have  yet  to  see  a  Highland  ewe 
that  refused  to  own  her  lamb.  They  are  not  so 
prolific  as  some  other  sheep,  usually  having  but  a 
single  lamb  once  a  year,  although  twins  are  not  un¬ 
common.  The  little  lambs,  even  when  born  in  zero 
weather,  are  always  up  and  sucking,  and  we  have 
never  had  to  put  a  hand  to  one  of  them,  no  matter 
ar  what  season  of  the  year  they  made  their  appear¬ 
ance:  They  mature  very  quickly,  and  the  mutton 
is  classed  as  the  very  highest.  As  a  cross  the  Black¬ 
faced  Highland  ram,  on  native  or  grade  ewes,  pro¬ 
duces  a  wonderful  plump  body,  over  which  is  grown 
a  beautiful  fleece  of  medium  density.  They  are  so 
are  produced  in  this  country  from  both  a  purebred 
Karakul  ram  and  ewe.  The  raising  of  fur  sheep  in 
America,  while  not  at  this  time  a  staple  industry,  is 
surely  destined  to  become  very  popular.  Recent  in¬ 
vestigation  along  the  lines  above  referred  to  with 
the  Blackface  cross  in  the  production  of  fur  skins  is 
attracting  a  great  deal  of  attention,  and  there  is  no 
reason  why  it  cannot  yield  as  good  profits  as  other 
fur  bearers  which  are  being  bred  in  captivity  by  our 
fur  farmers  in  this  country.  The  skins  from  the 
purebred  Black-faced  Highland  rams,  if  taken  at 
one  year  old.  when  in  full  fleece,  readily  sell  for  a 
good  price,  since  they  are  used  for  throws  for  chairs 
and  also  for  baby  carriage  blankets.  When  colored 
these  skins  are  very  beautiful,  and  they  stand  any 
amount  of  durable  service.  Even  if  we  never  con¬ 
sider  the  skins  at  all,  these  wonderful  sheep  are  well 
worth  a  trial  from  a  farmer’s  standpoint. 
Warren  Co.,  N.  Y.  wili.kt  randaix. 
A  Woman  and  Her  Chickens 
l This  year  we  have  an  unusual  number  of  letters  from 
women  who  ask  if  it  is  possible  for  them  to  make  good 
on  a  farm.  Many  of  them  are  genuine  back-to-the- 
|P|§1 
A  Flock  of  Black-faced  Highland  Sheep  on  a  Farm  in  Warren  County,  N.  Y.  Fig.  35 
may  well  pass  along  to  others  who  are  interested  in 
the  same  lines  of  business  that  I  have  been,  namely, 
raising  sheep  for  wool  and  mutton. 
BLACK-FACE  VIRTUES.  —  With  a  decidedly 
bright  future  ahead  for  the  sheep  growers  (for  a 
few  years,  at  least)  and  the  fact  that  the  Eastern 
farm  flocks  have  grown  wonderfully  within  the  past 
year,  I  believe  the  Black-faced  Highlands  are  bound 
to  forge  rapidly  ahead  and  ultimately  reach  a  first 
rank  among  the  farm  flocks,  to  which  they  are 
especially  adapted.  While  I  do  not  believe  that 
these  sheep  should  be  classed  as  the  best  dual-pur¬ 
pose  breed  we  have,  yet  they  possess  in  a  most  re¬ 
markable  degree  many  points  which  very  strongly 
recommend  them  to  some  places  and  some  conditions 
where  other  breeds  would  not  so  well  succeed.  Take, 
for  instance,  the  hills  of  the  Adirondacks  of  Northern 
New  York,  where  thousands  of  acres  of  unused  lands 
could  well  be  turned  to  profit  by  grazing  the  Black¬ 
faces.  It  is  upon  such  soil  and  upon  rough  or  scant 
feed  that  they  are  at  their  best.  They  do  not  thrive 
on  wet.  soggy  soil ;  neither  will  any  other  breed. 
Their  wool  is  the  longest  and  coarsest  of  any  sheep 
known,  carrying  but  little  oil;  rain  and  snow  does 
not  affect  them  in  the  least,  and  their  long  flowing 
curls,  which  touch  the  ground  in  good  specimens, 
are  a  perfect  protection  against  all  kinds  of  weather. 
strong  in  their  blood  and  so  dominant  in  their  pow¬ 
ers  of  reproduction  that  when  the  cross  is  made, 
even  when  ewes  of  other  purebreds  are  used,  we 
note  that  the  sire  has  shown  himself  to  be  more 
than  “half  the  flock,”  since  we  see  in  almost  every 
case  the  handsome  black  face,  and  in  many  cases 
the  horns,  which  are  the  strong  points  in  the  High¬ 
land  breed. 
HORNED  SHEEP.— Both  rams  and  ewes  have 
horns.  The  rams,  when  mature,  often  have  three 
curls  of  horn,  which  is  very  beautiful  and  graceful, 
while  the  ewes  always  have  the  long,  symmetrical, 
spiral  horn,  outcurving  gently  from  the  head  and 
rounded  at  the  tips.  A  flock  of  purebred  Black¬ 
faced  Highlands,  such  as  is  shown  in  the  accompany¬ 
ing  illustration,  is  a  most  beautiful  sight.  These 
sheep  are  sought  for  by  the  wealthy  class,  or  what 
seme  may  term  as  “gentlemen  farmers,”  yet  they 
are  most  surely  adapted  to  any  farm  where  rough, 
scant  pastures,  with  little  water,  is  to  be  had. 
FUR  BEARERS. — American  fur  farmers  have 
proven  that  these  sheep  are  the  best  to  cross  with 
the  purebred  Karakul  buck  to  produce  the  finest  of 
fur  skins,  and  that  these  skins — those  resulting  from 
the  Karakul  ram  and  the  BlackTaced  Highland  ewe 
— rank  higher  in  quality  and  also  in  price  than  many 
of  the  purebred  skins,  which  are  either  imported  or 
landers,  with  very  little  knowledge  of  country  life.  For 
the  benefit  of  these  inquirers  we  expect  to  print  reports 
from  a  number  of  women  farmers.  The  first  one  fol¬ 
lows]  : 
HE  “short  course”  that  I  took  in  Cornell  was  in 
poultry.  To  be  quite  honest,  I  know  very  little 
about  any  other  “crop.”  We  started  with  a  20-acre 
farm,  and  three  years  ago  I  bought  a  12-acre  farm, 
so  as  to  have  more  range  for  our  chickens.  What¬ 
ever  crops  we  raise  are  ones  that  will  combine  well 
with  chickens,  so  you  see  we  are  somewhat  limited 
as  to  choice.  We  almost  always  raise  some  corn,  as 
much  for  the  sake  of  shade  for  young  chicks  as  for 
the  crop.  We  have  usually  had  a  good  or  fair  crop 
of  corn,  which  of  course  we  feed. 
We  always  raise  our  own  mangel  beets  to  use  for 
late  Winter  green  feed.  We  usually  plant  some  cab¬ 
bage.  The  years  when  the  market  is  low  our  cron 
is  good.  Since  we  had  our  additional  12  acres  wo 
have  raised  some  wheat.  Last  year  we  had  an  ex¬ 
ceptionally  good  crop;  this  year  it  was  not  worth 
thrashing. 
Ten  years  ago  we  set  out  raspberries  (Cuthbert). 
This  we  have  found  a  good  crop  on  the  whole. 
Almost  every  other  year  the  bushes  are  partially 
winter-killed,  so  that  the  crop  does  little  that  year. 
Our  good  years  have  netted  us  from  $200-$300  for  the 
half  or  three-quarters  of  an  acre  that  is  gel;  out  to 
