THE MANAGEMENT OF BREEDING SHEEP, AND HOW TO GET 140 PER CENT. OF LAMBS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1813, 20 August 1886, Page 7

THE MANAGEMENT OF BREEDING SHEEP, AND HOW TO GET 140 PER CENT. OF LAMBS.

By D. M'Gbegor, Enfield, Oamaru. Editor Witness, — In ancient and modern timos the brightest intellects have been devoted to improving the symmetrical and fattening qualities of sheep together with their fleece, whereas their fertility has to a great extent been neglected. The breeding powers of tho animal are governed by one of the most important laws of nature. No law is less understood, and none bears so directly on the constitution of the offspring. People even though shrewd enough in busiuess matters appear to be seized with a fit of modesty when speakiug of^ the breeding powers or sexual spirit of the animal. The want of knowledge on this point is most detrimental to our domestic animals, and it is time that the false modesty which is to blame for this state of things should be cast aside. In penning this essay an attempt will be made to make it so plain that all can understand it, while at the same time nothing will be written that is not supported by science or which has not already been reduced to practice. It may be as well to premise that I purpose discussing the subject in four short chapters — viz. : — (1) The selection of the ewe ; (2) The selection of the ram ; (3) The management of tho ewe during the lambing season ; (4) The lambing paddock. I. — The Selection of the Ewe. When a large percentage of healthy lambs is the object to be gained, it is very important that the parents be of twin families, that they have completed their growth, and that the male be of a different variety, for reasons that will be referred to further on. The ewe I would recommend is the Leicester, because she is the largest of all, the strongest iv bone and inusele, and the easiest kept in that condition which is best suited to impart vitality to her blood. In addition to this she has tho advantage of being of a quiet disposition, and is a good milker. The ewe should b8 possessed of the following qualities : — Largo nostrils, black inside. This shows that the skin of the breathing tubs and luugs is strong and well developed, and capable of utilising a large quantity oil oxygen, and thus ensuring healthy blood. A dark, deep-set, large eye, with thick lips, show health and muscle. Moderate-sized ears, with a dense coat of hair, indicate that the heart is sufficiently strong to send blood to the uttermost extremities. This is the most important desideratum in animal physiology. Tho incisor teeth being placed well forward indicates early maturity. White skin is a sign of watery blood, and piuk skin, on the other hand, proof of healthy blood. The head being well covered with wool, and the horns as transparent as amber, show that the ewe's head is cold and moist. In contradistinction to this the ram is hob and dry, and consequently becomes bald-headed earlier than the ewe. The head of moderate size, and on a level with the rump, proves that the spine is strong ; while- a small back is a true sign of weak loins. Tho crost should be deep, having its strength in the up and down measurement, with the fore legs well underneath. Animals of this make are more thrifty and easier to lamb. Messrs Beats, Ellmau, and Buckland relate how it cost them years of labour to flatten down the shoulder blade so as to fill the cavity between it aud tho first rib ; and it is notable that to this day this is the shorthorn's weak point. The ribs should be deep and moderately well sprung, with a large abdomen to show that the animal has average fattening propensities. This point must not be allowed to influenco the breeder to too great an extent, however, as muscle must be retained. The balance of power lies forward for a good fattener, and behind for a good breeder. Wide hips with deep ribs indicate a great supply of milk in the vicinity of the udder, and strong sexual abilities. When ewes that have had lambs are being selected, care should be taken that the udder is well shaped and the teats small, for a great many of the best milk ewes are ruined for life by an overflow of milk before the lamb is able to make use of it. The walls of the udder are co much thinned down that they never regain their contracting power ; the teats become so large that the lamb cannot take them into its mouth ; while the milk is cooled down, and is much more difficult to digest. There is also a loss of watery matter from the udder that destroys the quality of the flesh, and no doubt injuriously affects the breeding powers. The sugar of the meat appears to ooze away through the teats ; consequently this class of ewes is rejected by the butcher, and should jbe avoided by the breeder. The general form of the animal must be proportionate with the bonss, the head, and legs, &c. ; and, whatever the quality of tho whole may be, it should be of one quality all over. The researches of Darwin, Fritz, Muller, and many other writers on natural history, clearly prove that the internal as well as the external organs are strengthened and influenced by slight changes from the ordinary mode of living. For instance, Hodgson, a traveller in and writer on the Himalayas, met with a domestic sheep with four teats. The same writer measured the intestines of two goats, and found that tho proportionate, length of the great and small intestines differed considerably. Dr Dauhenton discovered that tho intestines of tho domestic cat are one-third larger than those of the wild cat. Pietrement discovered that the ancient Indian horse had only seventeen ribs. Cuvier discovered that the length of the intestines to that of the body in the wild boar is as 9 to 1, nnd in the common domestic boar as 13 to 1. The intestines of the domestic sheep are considerably longer than those of the wild sheep. In highly-cultivated animals their young are born in a more developed state than the young of the wild species. Rich food given to pigs when young tends to make the head broader and shorter; starvation has an opposite tendency. Animals, fed upon food deficient in earthy phosphates or bone-producing principles grow sickly, and remain weak in the bone. •I \vill endeavour to show that instead of our assisting nature to permanently strengthen the breeding organs, we are doing almost everything in our power to counteract nature's wise provisions — with one single exception : that is, the culling of the dry ewes. The prevailing opinion in CHago is that the two-tooth ewe i£* nearly always in too high a condition when put to the ram to breed well. The great majority of people are so confirmed in this erroneous idea that immediately the half -grown ewe hoggets are shorn they are made the scavengers of the farm — following the harrow, and eating wild roofs and whatever weeds are within their reach. If they do get any grass, it is what prows to-night and is eaten to-morrow, and which in reality is very little better than fungus. If the pastures are old and worn-out there will be a deficiency of bone-forming material, which will cause the animals to drink large quantities of fermented water from stag-

nant pools, or anything that tends to satisfy nature's craving. The animal is composed of about 90 per cent, of water, that must principally be refined in the constitution of plants, and 10 per cent, of solids. When the animals fail to obtain their solids from the fungus-like grasses and stagnant water within their reach, growth will simply cease in some part of their organism. How many half- grown, crooked animals are to be scon daily on good pasture — the" result of a disproportionate supply of the compounds necessary to build up the frame of the young animal. Nature has so ordained that those parts of the animal that are required on the spur of the moment shall be supplied first ; what is left, goes to the parts that are less required. Where there is a deficiency of boneforming material the wool, horns, and bones cease to grow. The abdomen is still growing, it being required to manufacture sttfficient food to maintain life. To do this the whole digestive organs are thrown, out of gear, because tile rough material does not come through in the proper proportions to employ them actively; consequently a large quantity of undigested food passes through almost in its natural state. The stomach is contracted in order that it may gather round the small quantity of cold food it contains. Many of the glands, not being actively engaged, are left in a partly dormant state. Tile pores of the skin are closed, because the lungs and kidneys are sufficient to work off all the impurities. The heart, the arteries, and the veins have not sufficient vitalised blood to send to the outer surface of the animal— to give | the skin that delicate sense of feeling thatisneces--s>ary for good health and for the growth of wool. As a consequence the wool displays little or no vitality, and becomes a haven for parasites. On the great majority of farms the maiden ewes, both strong and weak, are put to the ram. If the farmer is breeding for wool only, the old, worn-out rams will be used ; if of the better class, a two-tooth ram, half-grown, deficient in bone, with the fattening propensities of a pig, will be used, and the ewes will be put in better pasture. Now the small, contracted stomach is called upon to stretch and make room for three or four times its usual quantity, and the whole system has to be speedily brought into a state of activity. Those which become pregnant have to supply bone-foriniug material for the embryo as well as for their own growth, and the womb is forced to stretch while it is actually growing ibself. The embryo is consequently in an analogous position of a vine in flower whose roots have been laid bare and supplied with the most powerful manure. When this system of mamagement is carried on for four or five years all i.he ewes on the place are more or less injured, for the propagation of a species demands on the part of both parents that they shall be fully and healthfully developed, because the propagating substance formed by the blood when taken from the auimal extracts from its body a corresponding proportion of the blood which, if left in the system, would go to nourish and complete its growth. When the animal is called upon to breed before its growth is completed there is a twofold demand on its resources — the providing nutriment for the embryo as well as for the increase and supply of the animal's own growth ; consequently the lambs from ill-grown, young owes are generally so mixed in character and quality that it is difficult to get two sheep exactly alike from many thousands. Some will have coarse wool about the crutch ; others coarse about the head. The external structure <"'f th« animals does not appear to be governed by any fixed law. Some of the ewes will have m muscular 'and the rams, on the other hand, a feminine appearance. It cannot be imagined i hat the difference is confined to the external parts alone, for we have proof that the internal organs govern the external ones. When a ram is castrated the horns and hoofs cease to grow, and the animal assumes a feminine appearance. When old ewes are served by young rams there uro a majority of female lambs. Young ewes served by old rams produce a majority of male Jambs. When strong, healthy rams are used on ill-grown ewes for many generations, the balance of power is inclined to go to the male sex, because the male has descended from a family that have had a fixed character for many generations, as well as having been supplied with that quantity and quality of food that was necessary to bring them early to maturity and develop every organ healthfully ; whereas the ewes are descended from a family that have not had a fixed character, while the mothers have been starved for many generations. Although the male is transmitting fertility through bis daughters, this' quality is not allowed to become permanently strengthened before the animal is put to breed. Ewes fail to breed in proportion as the soil becomes worn out, or by long-continued use of bad water. The same sheep put on rich soil will give 15 or 20 per cent, more lambs than will be effected by the use of rams from a different locality or of a different variety. No two varieties, nor indeed two sheep of the same variety, will take into the system from the same soil the same ingredients in equal proportions. Hence the necessity for different soils, waters, and grasses. When one of the parents has had all the advantages and the other all the disadvantages, the balance of sexual power will go to the parent that has had the advantages. When we use high-bred, well-developed males with illgrown, scrubby ewes, the female offspring will take too much nf the character and muscular appearance of the m;»le. The loss of the proper balance of power in the female cannot be completely counteracted by putting all the ewes that fail to breed away every year, unless the food is increased in proportion as Iho ewes increase in fertility, because the ewe thab has had to bring up two lambs on the same quantity of food as the ewe that lias had only one lamb is not so liable to breed the following year, for the simple reason that she must be but poorly supplied with blood, and coupling heat would consequently come on comparatively slowly, and indeed in most cases would fail to come on at all, as there would not be a sufficient amount of blood heat in the region about the ovaries to fully mature the ova and ensure impregnation. Those that should happen to produce twins could not bring them up properly, and consequently the twin lambs in their turn would fail to breed the first year, and would be put away as barren ; while the best breeders would become worn out earlier, and be culled on that account. This system of management is increasing infertility. Contrast our sheep with the Chinese or Nankin variety, which is so fertile that they frequently give birth to two or three lambs at a time, and breed twice a year. Their breeding organs have been permanently strengthened by a long continuation of breeding from twin families that had completed their growth before they were put to breed— care being taken that the characteristics of the male and female should be widely different, that the animals shoald always be supplied with the most nutritious fopd, aud that the lambs should not be weaned until the mother was ready to go to breed again. When the breeding organs are permanently strengthened the yield of milk is increased, because the source of embryo food and the milk glands are situated go closely together that whatever jnfluenees the one also in-

fluences the other. Taking the percentage of lambs at 100 under the present system of ma» nagement, with the exercise of the patience and sagacity of tho Chinese m the management of our flocks for three or four years, the lambing would bo increased at least by 20 per cent, on the part of the ewe alone. Present percentage, 100; inc-easeon the percentage, 20 ; total percentage, 120.