To Tell the Age of Sheep

Southland Times, Issue 10201, 5 July 1889, Page 4

To Tell the Age of Sheep

, «. Tbe procen ot dentition ia the ovii family it familiar to most shepherds, and mtny times when a specimen is on exhibition for a prize tke question arises aa to its isal age to be determined by the teeth. Not unfrequently do we find a sheep whose real age differs materially from that indicated by its monthIhe lamb usually at the age of one montk has eight temporary teeth in the front and three temporary teeth on each side of each jtw; at three months one permanent molar is added to these three ; at nine months the second molar appears ; at fear teen months the first two permanent incisors appear in the centre of the front lower iaw ; at eighteen months the third permanent molar appears ; at twenty-one months the second pair of permanent iacisors appear.makiDg bis sheepsbip two year* old when hisrealage it twenty one month". These second incisors come one on each tide of the firat pair. At twenty seven mouths the first temporary molars are exchanged for permanent oner, and at thirty months, when the sheep lacks six months of being three years old, he gets his third pair of incisors, and at forty months the fourth pair of permanent incisors appear. At this age the sheep has a full mouth, and is con■idered to be four yea s old. After this p rif d of the sheep's life there is no c 1 ft gt in ike teeth, only that the large, fan-shapeo, permanent incisors become worn off, the g imt wear away and the teeth appear to grow linger aid narrower, bat in fact it is the wearing away of the gums. At from six to eight years of age the sheep begins to shed its teeth, and it is then 'broken-mouthed.' An experienced shepherd can stand near a flock of sheep and point out the young and the aged sheep at a glance without eximining the teetb. These indications of a| c are only learned by years of experience, and cannot be taught by any stereotyped rales, — G, W, Franklin.