Evenness of fleece is a point of the first importance. Many sheep exhibit good wool on the shoulder and side, while it is far coarser and even hairy on the thighs, dew-lap, etc. Rams of this stamp should not be bred from by any one aiming to establish a superior fine-woolled flock; and all such ewes should gradually be excluded from those selected for breeding.
The style of the wool is a point of as much importance as mere fineness. Some very fine wool is stiff, and the fibres almost straight, like hair. It has a dry, cottony look; and is a poor, unsalable article, however fine the fibre. Softness of wool—a delicate, silky, highly elastic feel between the fingers or on the lips, is the first thing to be regarded. This is usually an index, or inseparable attendant, of the other good qualities; so much so, indeed, that an experienced judge can decide, with little difficulty, between the quality of two fleeces, in the dark. Wool should be finely serrated, or crimped from one extremity to the other: that is, it should present a regular series of minute curves; and, generally, the greater the number of these curves in a given length, the higher the quality of the wool in all other particulars. The wool should open on the back of the sheep in connected masses, instead of breaking up into little round spiral ringlets of the size of a pipe-stem, which indicate thinness of fleece; and when the wool is pressed open each way with the hands, it should be close enough to conceal all but a delicate rose-colored line of skin. The interior of the wool should be a pure, glittering white, with a lustre and liveliness of appearance not surpassed in the best silk.
The points in the form of the Merino which the breeder is called upon particularly to avoid are, a long, thin head, narrow between the eyes; a thin, long neck, arching downward before the shoulders; narrow loins; flat ribs; steep, narrow hind-quarters; long legs; thighs scarcely meeting at all; and legs drawn far under the body at the least approach of cold. All these points were, separately or conjointly, illustrated in many of the Saxon flocks which have been swept from the country. Sufficient attention has already been paid to the points to be avoided in the fleece.
BREEDING MERINOS.
The first great starting-point, among pure-blood animals, is, that “like will beget like.” If the sire and ewe are perfect in any given points, the offspring will generally be; if either is defective, the offspring—subject to a law which will possibly be noticed—will be half-way between the two; if both are defective in the same points, the progeny will be more so than either of its parents—it will inherit the amount of defect in both parents added together. There are exceedingly few perfect animals. Breeding, therefore, is a system of counterbalancing—breeding out—in the offspring, the defects of one parent, by the marked excellence of the other parent, in the same points. The highest blood confers on the parent possessing it the greatest power of stamping its own characteristics on its progeny; but, blood being the same, the male sheep possesses this power in a greater degree than the female. We may, therefore, in the beginning, breed from ewes possessing any defects short of cardinal ones, without impropriety, provided we possess the proper ram for that purpose; but, where a high standard of quality is aimed at, all ewes possessing even considerable defects should gradually be thrown out from breeding. Every year should add to the vigor of the selection.
But, from the beginning—and at the beginning, more than at any other time—the greatest care should be evinced in the selection of the ram. If he has a defect, that defect is to be inherited by the whole future flock; if it is a material one—as, for example, a hollow back, bad cross, or thin fleece, or a highly uneven fleece—the flock will be one of low quality and little value. If, on the other hand, he is perfect, the defects in the female will be lessened, and gradually bred out. It being, however, difficult to find perfect rams, those should be taken which have the fewest and lightest defects, and none of these material, like those just enumerated. These defects are to be met and counterbalanced by the decided excellence—sometimes, indeed, running into a fault—of the ewe, in the same points. If the ram, then, is a little too long-legged, the shortest-legged ewes should be selected for him; if gummy, the dryest-woolled; if his fleece is a trifle below the proper standard of fineness—but he has been retained, as often happens, for weight of fleece and general excellence—he is to be put to the finest and lightest-fleeced ewes, and so on. With a selection of rams, this system of counterbalancing would require but little skill, if each parent possessed only a single fault. If the ewe be a trifle too thin-fleeced, and good in all other particulars, it would require no nice judgment to decide that she should be bred to an uncommonly thick-fleeced ram. But most animals possess, to a greater or less degree, several defects. To select so that every one of these in the dam shall meet its opposite in the male, and the contrary, requires not only plentiful materials from which to select, but the keenest discrimination.
After the breeder has successfully established his flock, and given them an excellent character, he soon encounters a serious evil. He must “breed in-and-in,” as it is called—that is, interbreed between animals more or less nearly related in blood—or he must seek rams from other flocks, at the risk of losing or changing the distinctive character of his flock, hitherto so carefully sought, and built up with so much painstaking. The opponents of in-and-in breeding contend that it renders diseases and all other defects hereditary, and that it tends to decrease of size, debility, and a general breaking up of the constitution. Its defenders, on the other hand, insist that, if the parents are perfectly healthy, this mode does not, of itself, tend to any diminution of healthfulness in the offspring; and they likewise claim—which must be conceded—that it enables the skilful breeder much more rapidly to bring his flock to a particular standard or model, and to keep it there much more easily—unless it be true that, in course of time, they will dwindle and grow feeble.
THE SCOTCH SHEEP-DOG, OR COLLEY.
So far as the effect on the constitution is concerned, both positions may be, to a certain extent, true. But it is, perhaps, difficult always to decide with certainty when an animal is not only free from disease, but from all tendency or predisposition towards it. A brother or sister may be apparently healthy—may be actually so—but may still possess a peculiarity of individual conformation which, under certain circumstances, will manifest itself. If these circumstances do not chance to occur, they may live until old age, apparently possessing a robust constitution. If tried together, their offspring—by a rule already laid down—will possess this individual tendency in a double degree. If the ram be interbred with sisters, half-sisters, daughters, granddaughters, etc., for several generations, the predisposition toward a particular disease—in the first place slight, now strong, and constantly growing stronger—will pervade, and become radically incorporated into, the constitution of the whole flock. The first time the requisite exciting causes are brought to bear, the disease breaks out, and, under such circumstances, with peculiar severity and malignancy. If it be of a fatal character, the flock is rapidly swept away; if not, it becomes chronic, or periodical at frequently recurring intervals. The same remarks apply, in part, to those defects of the outward form which do not at first, from their slightness, attract the notice of the ordinary breeder. They are rapidly increased until, almost before thought of by the owner, they destroy the value of the sheep. That such are the common effects of in-and-in breeding, with such skill as it is commonly conducted, all know who have given attention to the subject; and for these reasons the system is regarded with decided disapprobation and repugnance by nine out of ten of the best practical farmers.