A SOUTHDOWN FARM IN ENGLAND.
— The excellence of English farm stock is owing, more than to anything else, to the perfect adaptation of locality and soil, and the raising of the most suitable fodder crops. This is strikingly apparent in a description of a Southdown farm, on a farm devoted to Southdowns, belonging to Mr. Wm. Ridgen of Hove, near Brigton— one of the most successful breeders of this favorite class of sheep. This estate of seven hundred acres has been managed by tbe present occupant for thirty-three years; it is supplied with gas, and with water from an adjacent reservoir. There are twenty cows kept for milk, which are fed in stalls the year round. Large crops of grain and straw are grown for sale for feeding to fattening bullocks in stalls. The flock, which numbers 300 ewes, ' is, however, the main feature of the farm. For them large quantities of roots, cabbages, kohl-rabi, -scarlet clover, rape, and other green crops are grown, so that there is a Constant succession of fresh feed. Djzring the day the; sheep are folded upon these crops, and at night are penned upon stubble fields. The situation of the farm is such that green crops are always to be had. It is a gently sloping chalk "downs;" or smooth expanse bordering upon the southern shore of England. Thus the' sheep have a very equable climate, with mild sea ' breezes and pastures eyer fresh and green.
No ewe over tour years old is retained, and great care is exercised in choosing rams and selecting ewes for breeding. There are no fences upon the farm, and a pbepherd with his dog accompanies the fl->ck at all times The male lambs are castrated when ten days old, fifty of the best being reserved for rams i for breeding. This flock is renowned for its excellence, and rams from it are " let" for a yearly , sum of LSO. The secret of this excellence is, however, acknowledged to be simply a frequent change ot food, and this conclusion is the most notable part of the whole story.
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Bibliographic details
Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 5, 6 August 1874, Page 5
Word Count
349A SOUTHDOWN FARM IN ENGLAND. Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 5, 6 August 1874, Page 5
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