Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1880-12-24
farm aud Aunsehnld.
Sheep Husbandry.
EXTRACTS FROM DIR. J. b. KILLEBREw's
ABLE WORK
MISUNDERSTANDING.

This subject has given rise to more
discussion than probably any other con-
nected with sheep raising. Many OBJ
;ect to it from religious or moral consid-
erations. Others contend that this meth
cd tends to weaken the constitution and
debilitate the sheep, and the general APP
pearance of the Leicesters originated by
Mr.. Blackwell, of England, by -and-in-in
breeding tend to confirm this objection
The small head, prominent, CLASSY eye,
small bones, we say attenuated, their
delicate skin, and general tendency to
scrofuious disease, would seem to be the
result of too close and too long continu-
ed in-breeding. Still, close breeding is
absolutely requisite to originate species.
This evil effect could be avoided to
great extent by adopting the rule to breed
from the same ram only for the second
generation, and by selecting another for
the grandchildren with as nearly as
possible the same form and general char
acter. 1t is said to have less deleterious
effects to breed ram to his. own get
than to breed brother and sister together.
The breeder could adopt safer course,
and one to attain the same ultimate re-
-ssal. by putting together animals Of the
same family, but less closely allied, as
father or brother. l am strongly of the
opinion that the same degeneration would
take place in animals Of lower order,
as is known to be the case with the high
er animal, man. The result of in-and-in
breeding in man is known to result in
the highest type of personal beauty, but
it is at the expense of the constitution
and mental faculties. Besides, inter-
marriages of families, long continued,
often result in physical deformities, and
this fact being so universally admitted
in man, must bear some relative proper
ton in brutes. To breed properly have
one well defined object, and keep that
object always before the mind. To do
this well it is absolutely necessary to
know every ram and eve in the flock,
and their general characters To do this
look to the record book already recon-
mended, without which nothing can be
remembered. Keep it also in mind that
the ram must have absolutely pure blood
as his character affects the whole flock
and the slightest faint in him affects the
whole flock. 1t is of the greatest i'm
portancc that the thoroughbred, it mat
tiers not whether the breeders object be
wool or mutton. So strong is the ten
dency of sheep to breed back" or to
return to the native scrub, that even
though ram be three-fourths thorough
bred, at least two-thirds of his progeny
will resemble scrubs more than thorough
breds. 1t will, in the end, cost less to buy
good ram from trustworthy breeder
than attempt to raise the rams at home,
as the admixture of new blood invigo-
rates the breed Bear it in mind, also,
that there is constant tendency to re-
PROCESSION to the original native breed
and it is therefore necessary to guard
against aud Gull out the offending ami
NAL Without good feeding it is useless
TO attempt fine display of sheep, as a
few generations of half-starved sheep
will quickly end where it begins. =
Want of food makes bad sheep, as with
out it the full development of the AMI
NAL cannot take place, and the want is
soon perpetuated in dimiuutive size
and inferior fleece 1t is, in other words,
easier to 60 down hill than rise an ascent.
Though the sheep, to all intents and
practical purposes, are considered full
hlooded after five crosses, which bring
them to ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, yet they
are not, and according to the rule Of
arithmetical progression, never can be,
and the lambs of some of those crosses
will show the ancestry. Therefore, in
breeding for thoroughbreds. the start
must be pupe. 1t may be proper here
TO state that a lamb, according to legal
decision, ceases to be lamb when the
first two permanent teeth appear, which
is at one year old