Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/427

Rh SHEEP.] AGRICULTURE 393 are found in Lanarkshire and in the Lammermuirs, where consider able pains are now bestowed on their improvement. Their chief defects are coarseness of fleece and slowness of fattening until their growth is matured. In most flocks the wool, besides being open and coarse in the staple, is mixed with Tcemps or hairs, which detract from its value. Rams with this defect are now carefully avoided by the best breeders, who prefer those with black faces, a mealy mouth, a slight tuft of fine wool on the forehead, horns flat, not very large, and growing well out from the head, with a thickset fleece oflonf, wavy, white wool. Greater attention is now also being paid to their&quot; improvement in regard to fattening tendency ; in which respect we do not despair of seeing them brought nearer to a par with other improved breeds. Whenever this is accomplished we shall possess in the breeds now enumerated, and their crosses, the means of converting the produce of our fertile plains, _grassy downs, rough upland pastures, and heath-clad mountains, into wool and mutton of the best quality, and with the utmost economy of which the circumstances admit. In the higher grounds of Cumberland, and also in Westmoreland, Lancashire, and parts of Yorkshire, two varieties of the heath breed of sheep are found, viz., Herdwicks and Lonks which, witha general resemblance to the blackfaced Highland breed, differ from it in having a close-set fleece of fine soft wool. They are sometimes de scribed by saying that they have the fleece of a Cheviot on the car case of a Highlander ;&quot; but the Herdwicks are so small, and both breeds are so inferior to the blackfaced in aptitude to fatten, that they are losing ground in their native districts, where the blackfaces are spreading rapidly, being in great repute for breeding crosses to long-woolled rams. 4 th. Cross-Breeds. We have tlius enumerated the most important of our pure breeds of sheep, but our list would be defective were we to omit those cross-breeds which are acquiring increased importance every day. With the extended cultivation of turnips and other green crops there has arisen an increased demand for sheep to consume them. Flockmasters in upland districts, stimulated by this demand, happily be thought them of putting rams of the improved low-country breeds to their Cheviot ewes, when it was discovered that the lambs produced from this cross, if taken to the low country as soon as weaned, could be fattened nearly as quickly, and brought to nearly as good weights, as the pure low-country breeds. The comparatively low prime cost of these cross-bred lambs is a farther recommendation to the grazier, who finds also that their mutton, partaking at once of the fatness of the one parent and of the juiciness, high flavour, and larger proportion of lean flesh of the other, is more generally acceptable to consumers than any other kind, and can always be sold at the best price of the day. The wool, moreover, of these crosses, being at once long and fine in the staple, is peculiarly adapted for the manufacture of a class of fabrics now much in demand, and brings in consequence the best price of any British-grown wool. The individual fleeces, from being close set in the pile, weigh nearly as much as those of the pure Leicesters. On all these accounts, therefore, these sheep of mixed blood have risen rapidly in public estimation, and are produced in ever-increasing numbers. This is accomplished in several ways. The occupiers of uplying grazings in some cases keep part of their ewe flock pure, and breed crosses from another part. They sell the whole of their cross-bred lambs, and get as many females from the other portion as keeps up the number of their breeding flock. This system of crossing cannot be pursued on the most elevated farms, as ewes bearing these heavier crossed lambs require better fare than when coupled with rams of their own race. The surplus ewe lambs from such high-lying grazings are an available source of supply to those of a lower range, and are eagerly sought after for this purpose. Others, however, take a bolder course. Selecting a few of the choicest pure Cheviot ewes which they can find, and putting these to a first-rate Leicester ram, they thus obtain a supply of cams of the first cross, and putting these to ewes, also of the first cross, manage in this way to have their entire flock lialf- Ired, and to go on continuously with their own stock without advancing beyond a first cross. They, however, never keep rams from such crossed parentage, but always select them from the issue of parents each genuine of their respective races. We know several large farms on which flocks of crosses betwixt the Cheviot ewe and Leicester ram have been maintained in this way for many years with entire success ; and one at least in which a similar cross with Southdown ewes has equally prospered. Many, how ever, prefer buying in females of this first cross, and coupling them again with pure Leicester rams. In one or other of these ways cross-bred flocks are increasing on every side. So much has the system spread in Berwick shire, that whereas, in our memory, pure Leicesters were the prevailing breed of the county, they are now confined to a few ram-breeding flocks. The cross-breed in best estimation in England is that betwixt the Cotswold and Southdown, which is in such high repute that it is virtually established as a separate breed under the name of Oxford Downs. In Scotland the cross betwixt the Leicester ram and Cheviot ewe is that which seems best adapted to the climate and other conditions of the country, and is that accordingly which is most resorted to on farms a portion of which is in tillage. On higher grounds a cross betwixt the Cheviot ram and blackfaced ewe is in good estimation, and has been extending considerably in recent years. This cross-breed seems to equal the pure blackfaced in hardiness, and is of considerably greater value both in fleece and carcase. This cross-breed is known by the name of Halflangs. As in the case of the Leicester-Cheviot ewes, flocks are main tained by using rams of the cross-breed. Section 2. Management of Lowland Sheep, As the management of sheep is influenced mainly by thi&amp;gt; nature of the lands upon which they are kept, we shall first describe the practice of Lowland flockmasters, and afterwards that pursued on Highland sheep-walks. On arable farms, where turnips are grown and a breeding stock of sheep regularly kept, it is usual to wean the lambs about the middle of July. When this has been done, the aged and faulty ewes are drafted out, and put upon good aftermath or other succulent food, that they may be got ready for market as soon as possible. In many districts it is the practice to take but three crops of lambs from each ewe. A third part of the breeding flock viz., the four- year-old ewes is thus drafted off every autumn, and their places supplied by the introduction of a corresponding number of the best of the ewe-lambs of the preceding year s crop. These cast or draft ewes are then sold to the occu piers of richer soils in populous districts, who keep them for another season to feed fat lambs. Such parties buy in a fresh stock of ewes every autumn, and, as they phrase it, &quot;feed lamb and dam.&quot; In other cases the ewes are kept as long as their teeth continue sound, and after that they are fattened and sold to the butcher directly from the farm on which they have been reared. When the ewes that are retained for breeding stock have been thus overhauled, they are put to the worst pasture on the farm, and run rather thickly upon it. Attention is necessary, for some days after weaning, to see that none of them suffer from gorging of the udder. When it appears very turgid in any of them, they are caught and partially milked by hand ; but usually the change to poorer pasturage, aided by their restlessness and bleating for want of their lambs, at once arrests the flow of milk. The time of admitting the ram is regulated by the purpose for which the flock is kept, and by the date at which fresh green food can be reckoned upon in spring. When the produce is to be disposed of as fat lambs, it is of course an object to have them early ; but for a holding stock, to be reared and fattened at fourteen to sixteen I - 50