A Treatise on Sheep:: The Best Means for their Improvement, General Management, and the Treatment of their Diseases.Blacklock, Ambrose
Science
A Treatise on Sheep:: The Best Means for their Improvement, General Management, and the Treatment of their Diseases.
Blacklock, Ambrose
Sheep
from "the constant and continued exertions of the two bloods, the one
endeavouring to overpower the other," there is no war waging in the
progeny between the blood of sire and dam; the secret lies in the
animal being unsuited for the pasture where it is produced. Place it
in a country possessing a herbage something between that of the
Highland and Cheviot hills, and it will do passing well; but do not
ascribe the want of success to a natural hatred of the breeds. Again,
do not fall into the error, that "the figure, wool, and other
qualities, of the Cheviot ram, are most conspicuous (in this cross) in
the smallest and feeblest of the progeny, while the properties of the
mountain breed are more fully exhibited in the strongest and most
robust lambs," a circumstance which, unfortunately, induced many of
the store-farmers "to throw aside the best of the lambs, and select
those to breed from, which had apparently most of the Cheviot figure;"
or, in other words, do not suppose, as Mr Hogg strangely enough
infers, that only the weak animals took on the Cheviot form, and only
the strong ones assumed the Highland character. The correct
explanation is, that such as had most Cheviot blood were sure to
become puny, from being unadapted to a herbage on which those that
resembled the mountain stock throve tolerably well. Strength and
feebleness were, in this instance, mere secondary matters.
(91.) _Things to be attended to in Crossing._--The fact is, that, if
you wish to have a _particular kind_ of sheep, you must first of all
be in possession of a pasture suitable for the new comers. You must
consider the influence of the individual parents on the progeny, the
size of the animals, their habits and dispositions, and their
peculiarities in regard to the time of their maturity, and fattening
properties; and, having anticipated these apparently trifling affairs,
you must see that the surface of your farm, its degree of exposure,
and the quantity and quality of its productions, are calculated for
the profitable maintenance of the animal in view. Far too little
attention is bestowed, at the commencement of such an undertaking, on
these all-swaying matters. Farmers enter upon this, the most arduous
of all professions, with the settled conviction, that nothing is so
simple as the engrafting of a race of animals on a particular part of
a country. They have read, or heard, of others who have gained fame,
and a fortune, by successful endeavours of the kind, and they think
that nothing is easier than to follow their example; but they forget
the thoughtful hours, and irksome duties, these men had to tolerate,
before they could speak of any thing like success. No animal can be
made to forego at once a long used food, an ancient locality,
peculiarity of clime and season, and the instinctive habits that have
been long nurtured by these, without both it and its progeny suffering
from the change:--Nature cannot thus be made to bend to human
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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