It appears, therefore, that it is only by the help and care of man sheep have been preserved and that they could not have continued to subsist for themselves. The female is absolutely without resource, and without defence. The ram has but feeble arms; his courage is nothing but a petulance useless to himself, inconvenient to others, and which is destroyed by castration. The wedder is still more fearful than ewes. It is through fear that sheep gather so often in troops; the smallest noise to which they are unaccustomed, makes them get close together; and this fear is attended with the greatest stupidity, for they know not how to fly the danger, nor do they even seem to feel the hazard and inconvenience of their situation. They continue obstinately fixed wherever they are, and for neither rain nor snow will they stir. To oblige them to change their route, or situation, they must have a chief who is instructed to walk first, and whom they will follow step by step. This chief, however, would remain without motion if he were not driven off by the shepherd, or the dog which guards them, who, in fact, watches over their safety, defends, directs, separates, assembles, and in short, communicates to them every motion that is necessary for their safety.
Of all quadrupeds then sheep are the most insensible, and have the least resources from instinct. Goats, which in many things resemble them, have much more sagacity. They know how to conduct themselves, and to avoid danger, and are easily familiarized to new objects; the sheep neither knows how to fly from danger, nor to face it: let their wants be ever so great, they never come to man for assistance so willingly as the goat, and which in animals appears to be the last degree of timidity or insensibility, the female will suffer her lamb to be taken away without shewing any signs of anger, or trying to defend it, nor by the smallest difference in her bleating, expresses the smallest degree of sorrow[G].
[G] The veracity of this charge of indifference, will be doubted by all who have passed over the fertile plains of England, while these fleecy flocks were grazing in the spring, since, insensible indeed must be that breast, which has not felt the tender responses of the bleating ewe, and her distant lamb.
But this animal, so contemptible in itself, so wanting in sentiment and interior qualities, is to man the most useful of all animals. Of itself it at the same time furnishes us with food and clothing; without reckoning the particular advantages we have from the milk, the fat, the skin, the bowels, the bones, and even the dung. This animal seems to evince that nature has given it nothing but what is for the advantage and convenience of man.
Love, which in all animals is the most general and lively sensation, seems to be the only one which gives any vivacity to the ram. When he feels any such emotions, he becomes petulant, fights, and will sometimes attack even his own shepherd. The ewe, however, even at those times, does not appear more animated; and has only instinct sufficient not to refuse the approaches of the male, to chuse her food and to know her own lamb. Instinct is more certain as it is more mechanical. The young lamb, among a numerous flock, will search and find out its mother, and will seize its teat, without ever being mistaken. It is also said, that sheep are sensible to the pleasures of musick; that they brouze with more assiduity, are better in health, and fatten sooner when they hear the shepherd’s pipe; but it appears more probable that music serves to amuse the shepherd, and that it is to this solitary, idle life, that we owe the origin of the art.
These animals, whose understandings are so simple, are also of a very weak constitution. They cannot walk long; travelling weakens and exhausts them; and when they run, they pant and are soon out of breath. The great heat of the sun, is as disagreeable to them, as too much moisture, cold, or snow. They are subject to many disorders, the greatest part of which are contagious. Superabundance of fat sometimes kills them, and always prevents the ewes from having young. They suffer a great deal in breeding, have frequent abortions and require more care than any other domestic animal.[H]
[H] There appears in the text a degree of unusual asperity against this harmless animal, and all its imperfections seem pictured in glaring colours, but in this, as well as in several other particulars, some exaggeration is adopted, since scarce any domestic animal, at the time of bringing forth, requires less assistance than the ewe does in general.
When the ewe is near her time, she should be taken from the rest of the flock, and watched in order to be near to help her in delivery. The lamb frequently presents itself cross-ways, or by the feet; and, in this case, the mother’s life is in danger if she is not assisted. As soon as she is delivered, the lamb should be lifted on its feet, and the milk drawn out of the mother’s teats; this first milk being bad would do much hurt to the lamb, and therefore it is necessary to stay till the teats are filled again, before it is suffered to suck. The lamb is kept warm, and shut up for two or three days with the mother, that it may learn to know her. For a few days, in order to re-establish the strength of the ewe, she should be fed with hay, barley wetted, or bran mixed with a little salt. The water she drinks should be luke-warm, with some wheat or bean flour, or millet put into it. In four or five days she may again be used, by degrees, to her common manner of living, and may be put amongst the others, only observing not to take her too far, lest it should overheat her milk. Some time after, when the lamb begins to have strength, and to skip about, it may, with safety, be suffered to follow its mother into the fields.
It is usual to send those lambs which appear weak to the butcher, and to preserve those which are the largest, are most vigorous, and have the thickest fleece; the first lambs are scarcely ever so good as those of the following litters. If those lambs are wanted to be reared which are brought forth in October, November December, January, or February, they are kept in the stable, and only let out to suck mornings and evenings, until the beginning of April. Some time before letting them out they should daily have a little grass, for the purpose of accustoming them by degrees to their new nourishment. They may be weaned as early as a month old, but it is better to let them suck for six weeks or two months. Lambs which are all white, and without spots, are always preferred because white wool always produces the best price. Lambs should not be castrated before they are five or six months old at the earliest, and then the operation should be performed when the weather is moderate, either in spring or autumn: it is done two ways, either by incision, or by destroying the vessels, which terminate in them, by a tight ligature. Castration makes lambs sick and melancholy, and to prevent the disgust which generally succeeds, they should have bran given them mixed with a little salt for two or three days.
At a year old, rams, ewes, and wedders, lose the two fore teeth of the under jaw; they have no incisive ones in the upper; six months after the two neighbouring teeth fall out also; at three years of age they are all replaced, are then tolerably even and pretty white, but as the animal increases in years they become uneven and black. The age of the ram is also known by his horns; they appear the first year, and sometimes at his birth, and a ring is added to them every year after as long as he lives. In general the ewes have no horns, but in their places two bony prominences; nor withstanding there are some which have two and even four horns. These ewes are like the others; their horns are five or six inches long, but less twisted than those of the ram, and when they have four, the two anterior are shorter than the other two. The ram is capable of generating at eighteen months, and the ewe to produce at a year old; but it is better not to couple them before the ram is three and the ewe two; as before that period the young will be feeble and weak, which indeed is generally the case with their first productions. One ram is sufficient to attend 25 or 30 ewes; he should be chosen from the strongest and handsomest of his species; he should have horns, for there are some rams in our climate which are without, but they are less vigorous, and less proper for propagation[I]. A good and handsome ram should have a large thick head, a wide forehead, large black eyes, broad nose, big ears, thick neck, long high body, large loins and crupper, and a long tail. The best rams are the white ones, well covered with wool on the belly, the tail, the head, the ears, and quite up to the eyes. Ewes which have wool in the greatest abundance, most bushy, whitest, and most silky, are the best for propagation; especially if they are large, have thick necks, and walk nimbly. It has also been remarked, that those which are rather lean than fat are the most successful breeders.