Buffon's Natural History. Volume 05 (of 10) / Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c

by comte de Georges Louis Leclerc Buffon

[I] This does not always hold good, since the Lincoln sheep are without horns, and are at the same time as fine and as large as any in England.

The ewes are commonly in season from the beginning of November to the end of April; but they conceive at any time if supplied with stimulating food, such as salted water, and bread made of hemp-seed. The ewes are allowed to go with the ram two or three times, after which they are separated from him; he invariably attaches himself to the oldest ewes, and despises the young ones. During the coupling season great care must be taken not to expose the ewes to rains or storms, for moisture prevents conception, and a clap of thunder often produces an abortion. A day or two after copulation they may return to their usual mode of living, for if the salted water, hempen bread, and other hot foods are continued, it will prevent their produce. They carry their young five months, and drop them at the beginning of the sixth. They commonly bring forth but one lamb, though they sometimes have two: in warm climates they produce twice a year, but in France, and those which are colder, never more than once. The ram is admitted to the ewes about the end of July, or beginning of August, for the purpose of having lambs in January; in September, October, and November, he is given to a greater number, from which we have plenty of lambs in February, March, and April; there are also quantities in May, June, July, August, and September; and it is only in October, November, and December, that they are scarce. The ewes have milk for six or seven months; it is tolerable nourishment for children and country people, and makes very good cheese, especially when mixed with cows’ milk. The time for milking the ewes is just before they go into the fields, or immediately after their return. In summer they may be milked twice a day, and once in winter.

Ewes fatten when they are with young, because they then eat more than at any other time. As they often hurt themselves they have frequent abortions, sometimes become barren, and often bring forth monsters; nevertheless, if they are well taken care of, they will produce through life; that is for ten or twelve years, though they commonly begin to grow old and useless by the time they are seven or eight. The ram lives till he is twelve or fourteen years old, but is unfit for propagation, after he is eight. He should then be castrated, and fattened with the old ewes. The flesh of the ram is always ill-tasted, that of the ewe insipid, while that of the wedder is the most succulent and best of our common meat.

Those who wish to form a flock with a view to profit, buy ewes and wedders from the age of eighteen months to two years, an hundred of which may be put under the care of one shepherd, and if he is careful and assisted by a good dog, he will lose but few. When he conducts them to the field he should always go first, accustom them to the sound of his voice, to follow him without going aside among the corn, vines, and cultivated lands, where they do considerable damage. Hills, or plains above hills, afford them the best and most agreeable pasture, and they should never be suffered to brouze in low and marshy grounds. In winter they should be fed in the stable on bran, turnips, hay, straw, lucerne, saintfoine, leaves of ash, elm, &c. and unless the weather is very bad they should be allowed to go out every day for the sake of exercise. In the cold season they should not be taken to the fields before ten o’clock in the morning, and remain for four or five hours; they should then be made to drink, and about three o’clock in the afternoon be reconducted home. In spring and autumn, on the contrary, they should be taken out as soon as the sun has dissipated the moisture and hoar frost, and not taken back again till near sun-set. It is sufficient in these two seasons if they drink once a day, and that just before they return to the stable, where there must always be forage for them, though in a smaller quantity than during winter. It is in summer alone that they ought to find all their food in the fields, where they should then be conducted twice a day, and taken twice to drink; they should be led out in the morning while the dew is on the ground, allowed to feed four or five hours, and after drinking led back to the fold, or some shady place. About three or four o’clock in the afternoon, when the excessive heat begins to diminish, they may be again taken into the fields and allowed to stay until the night comes on; and were it not for the danger of the wolf, it would be better to leave them out all night as they do in England, which would make them more vigorous and healthy. As violent heat greatly incommodes them, and the rays of the sun will give them the vertigo, they should always be kept, when brouzing, with their heads from the sun, so that their bodies may form a kind of shade. And it is also very necessary, to preserve their wool, that they should not be suffered to feed among thorns, briars, or bristles.

In dry and high grounds, where wild thyme and other odoriferous plants abound, the flesh of the sheep is of a much better quality than when fed on low plains and humid valleys; unless near the sea coast, where all the herbage having imbibed a degree of saltness, it renders the mutton superior to that fed on any other pasture; it gives also a pleasing flavour to the milk, and adds to its quantity. Nothing is more pleasing to the taste of these animals than salt, nor is there any thing more salutary for them when given in moderation; in some places they put a bag of salt, or salt-stone, into the sheep-fold, the which they will all lick by turns.

Every year those grown of a proper age to fatten should be picked out of the flock, as they require a different treatment. If in summer, they should be taken to the field before sun-rise that they may feed on the grass while the dew remains upon it. Nothing contributes more to fatten sheep than water taken in great quantities, and nothing retards it more than the heat of the sun; for which reason they should be taken into the shade by nine o’clock in the morning before the violent heat comes on, and a little salt should be given them to excite their appetite for water. About four o’clock in the afternoon they should be led out again to fresh and moist pastures. This care pursued for two or three months is sufficient to make them fleshy and fat; but this fat, which originates from the great quantities of water drank by the animal, is only a kind of pursy swelling, and would soon occasion the rot; it is therefore necessary to kill them immediately when they acquire this false fat: even their flesh, instead of having become firm and juicy, is frequently the more flat and insipid. If we would have good mutton, besides feeding them in the dew and giving them plenty of water, it is necessary they should have more succulent food than grass. In winter, nay in all seasons, they may be fattened by keeping them in stables and feeding them with the flour of barley, oats, wheat, beans, &c. mixed with salt to make them drink more frequently. But whatever mode is followed, it should be done quickly, and the sheep should be killed immediately, for they cannot be fattened twice, and almost all die with diseases of the liver.

We frequently find worms in the livers of animals; a description of those found in sheep and oxen is contained in the Journal des Savans of 1668, and in the German Ephimerides. It was thought that these worms were peculiar to animals who chew the cud, but M. Dauberton discovered some in the liver of an ass, and it is probable they might be found in those of many other animals. It has also been said that butterflies are sometimes found in the livers of sheep; and in confirmation of this M. Rouillé favoured me with a letter of M. Gachet de Beaufort, containing the following observations: “It has long been remarked, that our Alpine wedders frequently lose their flesh on a sudden; that their eyes turn white and gummy, that their blood becomes serous, having scarcely any red globules, their tongues parched, and their noses stuffed with a yellow purulent mucus. It is true this does not affect the appetite of the animal, but makes him extremely weak and terminates in his death. From repeated dissections it has been discovered, that animals so affected have always butterflies in their livers, which butterflies are white, and furnished with wings; their heads are nearly oval, hairy, and about the size of those of the silk-worm fly. Above seventy which I squeezed out of the two holes convinced me of the truth of this fact.” From this description of M. Beaufort I cannot admit myself as positively convinced of their being butterflies, because they have so near a resemblance to the common worms found in the livers of sheep, which are flat, broad, and of so singular a figure, as to appear at first rather leaves than worms.

It is customary for sheep to be shorn every year; and in warm countries where they apprehend no danger from leaving the animal quite bare, they do not shear the wool, but tear it off, and those frequently find a sufficiency to have two crops in a year. In France, and in colder climates, the fleece is shorn only once a year, and then a part of the wool is permitted to remain by way of preserving the animal from the intemperance of the weather. This operation is performed in the month of May, after the sheep have been well washed to render the wool as clean as possible. The month of April is too cold, and if delayed to July, there would not be sufficient time for the wool to grow to preserve them from the cold of the following winter. The wool of the wedder is generally better, and in greater abundance than that of the ewe or ram; that on the neck and top of the back, is much superior to that on the thighs, belly, tail, &c. and that taken from the bodies of the dead, or diseased animals, is by much the worst. White wool is preferable to grey, brown, or black, because in dying it will take any colour, and that which is smooth and sleek is better than the curled; it is even said, that sheep whose wool is curled are not so good as the others. Folding sheep is of great advantage to the land, and when it is wished to improve any by this means, the ground must be inclosed, and the flock shut in every night during the summer; the dung, urine, and heat of the animals, will soon enrich the most exhausted, cold, and infertile grounds. An hundred sheep in one summer will fertilize eight acres of land for six years.

The ancients have remarked that all animals which chew the cud have suet, but this is only true with the sheep and goat, and that of the sheep is more abundant, whiter, drier, and better than that of any other. Suet differs materially from fat or grease, as the latter remains soft, but the former hardens in cooling. The suet amasses in the greatest quantities about the kidneys, and there is always more about the left than the right; there is also a great deal in the epiploon, and about the intestines, but that is not near so firm and good as that of the kidneys, tail, and other parts of the body. Sheep have no other fat than suet, and this matter is so predominant in their bodies, that their flesh is covered with it; even their blood contains a considerable quantity, and their semen is so loaded with it, as to have a different appearance from that of any other animal. That of man, the dog, horse, ass, and probably of all animals which have not suet, liquefies by cold, and becomes more and more fluid from the moment it comes out of the body; but that of the ram, goat, and perhaps of all animals which have suet, hardens, and loses all its fluidity with its heat. I discovered these differences when examining their different liquors with the microscope. That of the ram fixes a few moments after it is out of the body, and in order to discover the living organic molecules, of which it contains great numbers, heat must be applied to keep it in a state of fluidity.

The flavour of the flesh, the fineness of the wool, the quantity of the suet, and even the size of the sheep, differ greatly in different countries. At Berri, in France, they abound; those of the environs of Beauvoise, and some other parts of Normandy, are the fattest, and have the greatest quantity of suet. They are very good in Burgundy; but the best are those which are fed upon the downs in our maritime provinces. The wool of Italy, Spain, and England is finer than the wool of France. In Poitou, Provence, in the environs of Bayonne, and several other parts of France, there is some sheep which appear to be of a foreign race; they are larger, stronger, and have a greater quantity of wool than those of the common breed. They are also more prolific, generally producing two lambs at a time. The rams of this breed engender with the common ewes and produce an intermediate race. In Italy and Spain there is a great variety in their races of sheep, but they should all be regarded as forming one species with our common sheep, which though so numerous does not extend beyond Europe. Those animals with large broad tails, so common in Asia and Africa, and which travellers have given the name of Barbary sheep, appear to be of different species from our common sheep, as well as from the pacos and lama of America.