The Sheep we Want and How to get It.

Otago Witness, Issue 1764, 12 September 1885, Page 6

The Sheep we Want and How to get It.

No. 2. — Long-woolled Varieties.

The Teeswater, doubtless originated from the same stock as the Lincolns. It is a tall, clumsy animal, with pale white face, and legs with bones uncommonly small compared with those of other large breeds, and altogether it is deficient in muscle, which makes it unsuited for our purposes. Before the Lincolns and Leicesters the breed has almost passed away. The Romney.— This is one of the oldest longwool families. They have coarse heads, narrow chests, and flat sides, with very large feet said to be proof against foot-root. They are seldom fit for the butcher until two or three years old, when the wethers will average about 1001b. They clip from 71b to 91b of long fine wool. They are used for crossing when a cross with the Leicester is considered too delicate. Away from that purpose the best that can be said for them is that they hunted the Leicester out of Northern Europe.

The Cotswold. — This is an ancient and celebrated sheep, its wool being spoken of very favourably by many old writers. Cotswold signifies a sheep-yard and a naked hill. Speed, writing two hundred years ago, speaks af the wool as similar to the Ryland and rivalling that of Spain. Markham, writing in the time of Queen Elizabeth, speaks of the Cotswold as having long wool. Marshall and other writers consider that they have always been a longwoolled breed. Mr Low inclines to the opinion that the Cotswolds were originally short-woolled. It is difficult to reconcile these differences of opinion. For my own part, lam inclined to think the Cotswolds have always been a' longwoolled breed. The following lines are taken from a poem by Drayton written in the time of Henry the Eighth : T' whom Sarum'a plaine gives place, though famous for its flocks, Yet hardly doth she tythe ouv Cotswold's wealthy locks ; Though Leicester him exceed in fineness of her ore, Yet quite he puts her down tor his abundant store. It is very difficult to describe the difference between this sheep and the Lincoln, it being sometimes shown in one county as a Lincoln and in the next as a Cotswold. It matures as early as the Lincoln, and comes to as great a weight ; but the fleece is light, clipping from 71b to 91b, while the product is of a very mixed character, being sometimes extraordinarily coarse about the neck and breech, long and coarse on the belly, and as fine as Leicester on the back. This shows that the wool-producing organs beneath the skin have not become so permanently changed as in the case of the Lincoln, and consequently we must give it second place for our purpose. This breed constitutes a large majority of the long-woolled sheep of France and America, and appears to be gaining ground rapidly in England and America. Leicester Sheep. — As there is considerable rivalry in 'Otago between this sheep and the Lincoln, it will be necessary to dwell longer on its merits than on those of the long-woolled breeds previously treated of. A document is quoted by Smith, a writer on British husbandry, which records the price of English wools in the year 1341 as follows (at per stone) : — Salap, 5s 9d ; do, stuffs, including Leicester, 4s 2d ; Fattinghan, 3s 7d; York and Rutland, 3s s&d ; Derby, 2s sd ; Westmoreland, 2s Id. Seeing that Leicester wool stood second in price at that date, when the highest price was given for fine wool, also judging from the stanza quoted from the history of the Cotswold, I am inclined to think that the Leicester was originally a short - woolled sheep. However, recent writers describe the old Leicester as a large, heavy, coarse-grained animal, the meat having but little flavour. The carcass was long and thin, flat-sided, and with large bones and thick rough legs ; the fleece heavy, long, and of coarse quality, weighing from 81b to 91b. Such were the characteristics of the stock upon which Bakewell was supposed to commence his improved system of breeding in 1755. The actual sources from whence Bakewell derived his breed cannot be accurately ascertained. The old Lincoln, the Teeswater, and the Ryland and Southdown have each been named, but it is probable that Bakewell was not particular as to the source so long as he obtained the desirable qualifications. He himself was very uncommunicative on this point, and the knowledge of the origin of the breed perished with him. Like all narrow-minded men, he did not 'believe that history would do him justice. As the result of Mr Bakewell's crossing we have the new Leicester varieties — not two families alike ; and we see some of them that have been so changed that at the present time they have small bones with not half enough muscle for their proper health,, or much nutritious food value left in them. The fat-forming tendency has increased till they are only lumps of tallow — the appearance of the small sharp faces with short lips indicating a reduced size of breathing tubes through the face bones, and reduced lung power ; and the size of the legs is so diminished as to be out of all proportion to their great bulk. Some are met with so overloaded with fat that they are hardly able to walk. They present the well-known bald head, prominent fishy eyes with no eyelashes, thin delioate skin, with a tendency to tuberculous diseases and other scrofulous affections, producing a feathery wool set very thin upon the pelt and falling very close together, which is so subject to dry-rot that many Leicester sheep will shear at nine months the same value of wool as they would at twelve months, as the wool rots from the outside in the same proportion as it grows from the inside. The closer this variety is studied the stronger is 'impressed upon us the fact that they have been inbred with the object of producing sheep with small lungs and fatty hearts. The balance of power is mostly always forward, which indicates barrenness through the urinary glands being filled with fat, and thus cutting off embryotic food. A consequence is delicate lambs, the natural result of weak blood circulation, whereby that delicate sense of feeling which more muscular animals possess is reduced, as is also the wool-producing organs underneath the skin. Such animals are always

short-lived, verifying the saying, " Early ripe, early rotten." From a close study of the career of the Leicester during the past few years, we find that people have awakened to the fact that the Cardinal rule in breeding should be to In* crease food value, and this can only be done by maintaining fullness of muscle. The natural result of this knowledge is that the Leicester, which had its headquarters in England, has been driven down to Scotland by the Lincoln 'and Cotswold and Down varieties. The Cotswold routed him from France, the RoMney froti Belgium and Holland, and the Down varieties from Germany. The Cotswold drove him out of the United States to Canada^ whero he Is only temporarily entrenched. The Lincoln i« driving him out of South America at the pre* sent time, and he most certainly owes his exist* ence in the Australian Colonies to the merino ewe, and that would be refused him had he not taken a dip of Romney or Lincoln blood. A pure Leicester clips as a hogget about 101b ; at four years, 71b ; at five years, 31b or 4lb, such as it is, for it crumbles down before the cards. I am aware that a few months ago many of the** Scotch and North of England papers were jubi-lant-over the fleece of a pure Border Leicester said to weigh 171b, shorn on a farm near Kelso. How this sheep was shorn before is not stated, which is all-important — For men will shear and men will lie, What men cannot shear men will weigh, And never repent in the morning. Leicester mutton sells for the smallest price in the London market, for the simple reason that it is composed of coarse-grained fat, having bat a very small percentage of red flesh, whereby the profitable cooking of it is reduced to boiling with cabbage or turnips. Very subject to abortion, on account of its gluttony in eating anything that comes before it without applying its senses, thus poisoning the embryo ; subject to ticks, and lice, on account of the small quantity of yolk it produces (Bakewell knew this, and advocated greasing) ; subject to getting lost and dying quickly, because the lungs are small ; —in addition, to all these disadvantages, its small delicate feet are more subject to foot-rot than those of any other long-woolled variety — the natural result of ' weak blood circulation, which' indicates bad blood. Blood and flesh are identical in their chemical constitution ; hence, if the blood is bad, the flesh which it builds up cannot be good. Neither can it transmit family likeness with the same force as the more healthy and muscular varieties, for fat has nothing to do with transmitting powers, as the animal will transmit in equal proportion fat or lean so long as the general health is not interfered with. I am sorry to be compelled to come to these conclusions after many years' acquaintance with the Leicester ; however, judging from the small number of families that are now kept in a pure state, and these only for breeding for crossing purposes, I have reason for believing there are many people of my way of thinking. This is what we naturally must expect so long as breeders continue to sacrifice muscle — the main* stay of the animal — for a few pounds of tallow. I hope the Clydesdale .breeders will not fall into this error.

The Lincoln Sheep. — Undoubtedly the Lincoln is the most valuable long-woolled sheep at the present time — cutting the heaviest and most valuable fleece, producing it more evenly all over its body, and carrying its wool to a greater age than any other variety (producing a good fleece at nine and ten years of age, which is a great advantage to those who wish to keep the best ewes as long as they will breed), and so fertile that it is not unusual to get 150 per cent, of lambs from flocks of 300 or 400 ewes. In the many experiments tried in England during the past few years the Lincoln has produced the greatest quantity of flesh for a given quantity of food of all other breeds, with the exception of the Shropshire. No doubt the Leicester comes to maturity earlier, but if we are getting mutton in proportion to the time the animal takes to fatten, surely there is nothing to complain of in this respect. That some of the best Lincoln sheep reached New Zealand will be seen from the following paragraph, which appeared in the Live Stock Journal in August 1873 : — « jj r rp Russei^ a flockmaster, of Auckland, New Zealand, purchased three Lincoln rams, Royal Agricultural Society first-prize winners — one at 200 guineas, the others at 150 guineas each ; nine ewes at the Ponton sale, which cost him 476 guineas ; and thirteen of the Biseathorpe rams for 477 guineas." These were the prices paid for Lincoln sheep in Englaad when the English and Border Leicesters were a drug in New Zealand markets at £5 each. Taking . into consideration fattening propensities and fertility, the permanence of the wool-producing organs underneath the skin, and also the muscularity upon which the general nourishment of the animal depends, the Lincoln sheep has no rival. To this add a pedigree that is second to no long-woolled variety — pedigree being of the greatest importance here, as the sheep will have to hold its own against the merino. It will be remembered that the best American merinos weighed live weight up to 2501b, and produced 301b of unwashed wool. The best Lincoln sheep in New Zealand weigh from 3001b to 4001b,, and shear from 201b to 281b of unwashed wool. It is only very lately that anything like a correct explanation could be offered for the various phenomena that attend the fattening of animals. Clyne has laid it down as an uncontrovertible position that the lungs should be large, Youatt expressed the same opinion. But later physiologists — Playfair and others — have been of opinion that the fattening propensity is in the ratio of the smallness of the lungs. It was formerly supposed that a large chest and lungstfc were necessary for the production of fat, and that its secretion depended in a great degree on the quantity of air that could be respired, whilst the researches of modern chemists have shown that nothing can be further from the truth ; and now that the fallacy has been exposed by chemistry it can also be readily shown by anatomy, for we find that while the horse and the camel have 18 ribs, the ox and the sheep have only 13. The absence of these five pairs of ribs must of course materially dimmish the cavity of the chest, and its greatest breadth necessary for another purpose does not by any means compensate it for its diminished length. Animals formed for speed have rarely a propensity to fatten. In greyhounds, foxes, hares, &c. we find that the chest is long and deep, though not wide ; whilst in pigs, sheep, and oxen an opposide conformation is characteristic. In animals having a propensity to fatten we find the chest of a circular form, and the ribs springing from the spine more horizontally than in others of an opposite tendency. This is observed in the ox in comparison with the horse, and still more so in the sheep. The effect of this conformation is in one respect to increase the width of ' the chest, but another important effect is to increase very considerably the size of the abdomen. The Southdown sheep has smaller lungs than the merino, the Leicester smaller still. The Chinese pig, again, has smaller lungs than the Irish, and will fatten in a shorter time on a less quantity of food, and arrives at maturity earlier. The liver is another important organ. When sheep- are first affected with fluke they

lay on flesh rapidly. The explanation of this is simple enough. The small fluke enters into the liver in an imperfect state, for the purpose of being perfested in the gall ducts of that orgau. When they first pass in, although perhaps in very considerable numbers, they simply act as a sort of stimulus to the action of the liver, and consequently call forth an increased secretion of bilei As there is no alteration in the character of the bile, the sheep now being fairly supplied with an ordinary amount of food will make relatively a larger quantity of blood out of that food. The liver being in a state of excitement through .being partly diseased, the sheep will lay on a larger quantity of flesh. Where is the shepherd who has not noticed something of the sort when preparing sheep for exhibition, by losing all the sheep that improve out of all proportion to the others ? This is a stoppage of the bile. It has gone through the system. Every change of food calls forth more bile, and the animal quickly lays on fat. Much less food is required after the animal is half-fat than is required to bring it to that condition. This is\in proportion as the heart becomes covered: with fat, which stops respiration to a certain extent and keeps in the heat. N Next week I shall treat of the necessity for obtaining a new variety of sheep. — I am, &c, Donald M'Gbegor.