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    On the Breeding, Rearing, and Fattening of Sheep - A Guide to the Methods and Equipment of Livestock Farming
    On the Breeding, Rearing, and Fattening of Sheep - A Guide to the Methods and Equipment of Livestock Farming
    On the Breeding, Rearing, and Fattening of Sheep - A Guide to the Methods and Equipment of Livestock Farming
    Ebook116 pages57 minutes

    On the Breeding, Rearing, and Fattening of Sheep - A Guide to the Methods and Equipment of Livestock Farming

    By William Youatt

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    This antiquarian book contains a detailed guide to the methods and equipment of livestock keeping, with information on the breeding, rearing, and fattening of sheep. Complete with a detailed illustrations, handy tables, and a wealth of useful and interesting information on breeding sheep, this text constitutes a must-have for discerning farmers, and makes for a great addition to collections of agricultural literature. The chapters of this book include: 'Introductory and Comparative View of the Different Breeds of British Sheep', 'On the Breeding and Management of Sheep', 'Feeding on Pastures', 'The Folding and Sheltering of Sheep', and 'The Shearing of Sheep'. We are proud to republish this vintage text, now complete with a new and specially commissioned introduction on sheep farming.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRead Books Ltd.
    Release dateSep 13, 2016
    ISBN9781473359567
    On the Breeding, Rearing, and Fattening of Sheep - A Guide to the Methods and Equipment of Livestock Farming

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      Book preview

      On the Breeding, Rearing, and Fattening of Sheep - A Guide to the Methods and Equipment of Livestock Farming - William Youatt

      farmer.

      ON THE BREEDING, REARING, AND FATTENING OF SHEEP.

      CHAPTER I.

      INTRODUCTORY AND COMPARATIVE VIEW OF THE DIFFERENT BREEDS OF BRITISH SHEEP.

      SO far as historical records extend, the sheep has always been known in a state of domestication. Its fleece has provided clothing, and its flesh food, for man from the earliest times, and in all ages of which we know anything the sheep has been recognised as property.

      The number of the varieties of sheep is remarkable, and is possibly in some degree a consequence of human cultivation for untold generations, under endless diversities of soil, climate, and circumstances. Naturalists differ widely in their classification. Some are content to divide the sheep of the world into three species, viz.:—(a) the Ovis Ammon or argali, the wild sheep of Asia and America; (b) the Ovis Musmon or moufflon, found in southern Europe and northern Africa; (c) the Ovis Aries or domestic sheep which abounds in Europe. Other naturalists treat as distinct varieties what under the foregoing classification are considered as sub-varieties, and in this way as many as thirty-two varieties are recorded, of which Europe has four, Asia fifteen, Africa eleven, and America two. The European varieties are (a) the Merino (Ovis Hispania); (b) the Common Sheep (Ovis rusticus); (c) the Cretan sheep (Ovis strepsiceros); and (d) the Crimean sheep (Ovis longicaudatus). In this work we are concerned mainly with the Common sheep, and, except for a reference to the Merino, it will be unnecessary further to allude to other varieties.

      There is no doubt that sheep were found in a domesticated state in England from the most remote periods of which we have any record, and several of our earliest writers testify as to the value of the wool of these original British sheep. Possibly, however, at the early periods we refer to, only the parent stock existed, whence have gradually arisen all those different breeds which divers crosses, and the effects of care, cultivation, and locality, have handed down to us in their present valuable forms.

      During the past century an immense improvement has taken place in British sheep, and as a consequence most of the old local breeds have either been supplanted by others, or have been so altered in character by means of systematic crossing and selection as to have little but their name in common with their ancestors. Over the greater part of England the breeds of sheep divide themselves naturally into two great sections, viz., the Longwools, which are found chiefly in the rich lowland pastures and marshes, and the Shortwools, which are kept especially on the Downs and uplands. The former generally have been to a considerable extent indebted to the new or Dishley Leicester, as perfected by Bakewell, and the latter to the Southdown as improved by Ellman.¹

      But, in addition to these two classes, and to a certain extent overlapping each, there are the Mountain breeds, some of which are longwoolled and some shortwoolled, some whitefaced and some blackfaced, some horned and some polled. Foremost among the Mountain breeds of sheep we may take—

      THE BLACK-FACED MOUNTAIN.—This is the most numerously represented breed in the British Islands. In Scotland the Black-faces form a large majority of all the sheep stocks of the country. It has been a matter of dispute as to whether the breed be of English or of Scotch origin, but the most likely theory is that they were originally natives of the southern and south-eastern counties of Scotland and of some of the northern counties of England. As early as the commencement of the eighteenth century, the village of West Linton in Peeblesshire was recognised as the principal market for black-faced sheep. It is a well-known fact that they have been the native breed in the south-eastern counties of Scotland and the northern counties of England from very early times, but at the present day the most prominent breeding stocks of Black-faces are to be found in the Midland Counties of Scotland.

      For a time their popularity was on the wane on account of their wool being coarser in texture than that of either the Cheviot or the Leicester, and at the period when the relative price of wool as compared with mutton was much higher than it is now, a good many black-faced stocks on the higher grounds were displaced by Cheviots. But the long succession of stormy seasons which began in 1860 worked sad havoc among the Cheviot stocks on the higher and more exposed regions, whereas the black-faced stock came through these severe winters with much less loss. The greater hardiness of the Black-faces as compared with the Cheviots, which was abundantly demonstrated during the disastrous seasons that followed 1860, made them the favourite sheep for all the higher grounds in Scotland and the North of England, and the immense fall since then in the price of wool as compared with mutton, has removed any temptation to risk the stocking of high and exposed districts with any finer-woolled class of sheep.

      The hardy mountain breed, as the Black-faces are called, can thrive on coarse and exposed grazings, where the other breeds are hardly able to pick up a living at all. Another potent cause of their popularity and wideness of distribution is the great improvement effected in the breed within the last forty years. Not only has the breed been modified for the better as regards symmetry of form, weight of carcass, and weight as well as character of wool, but the valuable property of early maturity has been considerably developed in them. In fact, it is no uncommon thing now to have them brought out fat at from 9 to 18 months old, where formerly they were rarely ready for the butcher till they were three years old. Black-faced mutton is equivalent to the prime Scots of the London market, and it always commands high prices in any market. Black-faced ewes are also frequently mated with Leicester rams to produce what are called grey-faced or cross lambs, and these are excellent, not only for fat lambs, but for fattening off as hogs, and like the Black-faces, they often command the highest price in the market.

      Fig. 101.—Black-faced Mountain Sheep.

      The points of the black-faced sheep are easily defined. The face should be broad and full and strong at the muzzle, the colour of the face and legs being clean black and white, with the black predominating. The horns should be low at the crown, with a clear space between the roots, and should come away with a wide circle sloping slightly backward and quite clear of the cheek. The eye should be bright and lively, the neck strong and full, the shoulder broad and deep, with the chest wide and full, and the point coming well forward. The ribs should be well arched and deep, the back broad and short, with full square quarters and strong thighs. The hocks should be turned slightly out when walking, and the legs should be flat and clean, with well-developed joints and broad full feet. The fleece should be deep, thick, and strong, of uniform quality all over the body, and of a kind to stand the wear and tear of age.

      A good average flock will yield a clip of from 4 1/2 to 5 lb. per head of unwashed wool. Tup hogs frequently clip from 8 to 10 lb. of wool, and the Overshiels ram Saul (fig. 102), which was first in the aged class at the Windsor Show, clipped 16 1/2 lb. of wool the week after that show. The ewes when fat will weigh from 15 to 18 lb. per quarter, and the wethers from 16 to 20 lb. per quarter.

      Fig. 102.—Black-faced Mountain Ram Saul.

      Winner of First Prize at the Jubilee Show of the Royal Agricultural Society at Windsor, 1889. Bred by Mr. John Archibald, Overshiels, Fountainhall, Midlothian.

      Among the breeders whose enterprise and skill have contributed in an especial degree to the improvement and popularity of the breed are the Messrs. Archibald, of Overshiels, to whose flock the ram Saul belonged. These gentlemen breed and sell some 150 rams every year, and they have rarely if ever been

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