MOUNTAIN SHEEP.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4135, 22 June 1874, Page 3

MOUNTAIN SHEEP.

The writer on laud in the Hyditcy Mail refers to the above subject in the following remarks, which should interest our sheep-farmers:— The Armidiilc Chronicle suggests the propriety of introducing mountain sheep to the uplands of New England. The Merino being unsuitcd to them on account of its tenderness, the pastures are comparatively unoccupied; and the attempt to supply their lack of service by means of the Lincoln and Leicester do not promise well since these sheep like not to travel far after their food, which they must do in that region. The writer, therefore, recommends a mountain breed known in Westmoreland and Cumberland (England) as the Herdwicks. They are thus described:—"The breed is known as the Herdwick, and so ranch has it been improved in later years, that in point of weight of carcase or value of wool, it holds its own with any breed fed upon similar conditions. It is but of late years that it has attracted much attention; but a sudden impetus appears to have been given to the question of the value of the breed, and Mr. Speddiug, of Keswick, Cumberland, has furnished the Field with a very valuable paper on the subject. The origin of the Herdwick sheep is problematical. There is a vague tradition that the original parents of the breed were washed ashore at a place called Duddou on the West Coast of Cumberland, having been on board a Spanish ship which was wrecked there. It has now entirely supplanted all other breeds in the mountain districts above mentioned, and no wonder when we hear of its excellences. Unlike almost any other known breed of sheep, it is especially attached to the locality where it was bred ; and no matter what may be the spot it is removed to, it speedily makes its way back again to its old haunts, if possible. This, so far from being an evil, is a blessing, for it requires little or no shepherding ; and a Herdwick flock when turned loose is left very much to itself throughout the year, having no tendency to ramble. The sheep arc noted for their indomitable courage, and will resist enemies that other sheep would fico from. Swift of foot, and of exceedingly active habits, these sheep defy the roughest country, and will get their living where other sheep would starve. Fences such as are known in the fell lands of the North of England are useless to them, it seems, for Mr. Speddiug says—Their jumping powers must be seen to be believed. They run up dry walls like cats, and if they cannot run up they will leap immense heights.' No doubt much of this character is imparted, for the commons they run upon being almost public property (the neighboring land owners claiming so much by virtue of their freeholds), the sheep are hunted and dogged about by all and sundry. Amongst other good qualities the Herdwicks possess is a perfect immunity from foot rot, aud in spite of the numerous ills which " mutton in England is heir to," the Herdwicks seem to escape the majority. Those who know anything of the wretched pasturage on the mountains of the border country in England, and the severity of the winters, may form an idea of the hardihood of the Hardwicks when Mr. Spedding informs uh that they support themselves on the natural pasture in the severest winters, and as a ride they refuse artificial food of any kind until thoy near the point of actual starvation. Gifted Ivy nature with long and prominent teoth, they crop the closest posture, and seem perfectly indifferent to its character, whether coarso'or otherwise. A reference to the county wool sales gives the ruling price for Herdwick wool at from sixteen to eighteen ponce per lb. ; but as the sheep aro invariably salved or smeared with tar and fat ia the

autumn to protect them from the wet and cold of winter, and the flies in summer, which are a great nuisance, the wool is much injured in color by the process. The clip averages four pounds after cold water washing, and one flock last year averaged 4 jibs. Taken right off the mountains, four-year-old wethers usually weigh from 121bs. to 151bs. the quarter; but at the Kendal show, last Christmas, a pen of Jlerdwicks, which had been a week or two on artificial food, weighed 251bs. per quarter. The mutton is more valued than any other breed, and has all the flavor of the Welsh, while the quality is well nigh double. The Cheviot, of which the Herdwick is a variety, would also prove a valuable sheep, and perhaps there is none better than the beautiful quick-fattening, hardy little Downs of Dartmoor. We require here a mountain breed of sheep as well as a mountain breed of cattle. Doubtless, as benefit might attend the introduction of any of these varieties of mountain sheep, so might advantage be derived from such breed of cattle as the Highland breed of North Britain.