The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-02-27
individuality.

ram: 70 Luke Parish, Vt, 10 ewes.
individuality.
We give below the second part OF the
paper read at the annual meeting OF the
Vermont Merino Sheep Breeders asso-
citation by Secretary Ray of the New
York Sheep. Breeders association. The
first part was published week ago;
A further investigation of this subject
in our special department, which we
confine almost exclusively to the de-
scriptive list OF famous old stock rams
adopted BY the New York association,
in which we group the sheep according
TO their generally accepted pedigree,
placing these in a class of inbred ones
where bred within the flock where no
new avowed strain of blood had been
introduced to cover their breeding for a
few generations. Under this head we
place Sweepstakes, Deans Wrinkly and
Green Mountain, bred in the Hammond
flocks. and Golden Fleece. who was es
sentially of the same line of breeding,
and Fremont and Centennial, bred by
Sticknev & Sons. Robinson & rotting-
ham was the result of breeding be-
TIVE IN half brother and sister. Eureka
was inbred to Wooster. All Right
united the blood of the Jones and Sto-
we'll 1ocks, Sea Lion those of Ham
mond and Robinson. In Silver Horns,
Bismarck, Eureka 81 and Magnet there
is a trace of iubreeding with the blood
lines, kin somewhat remote; while
with Prince, Young Grimes, Bloom
field. Standard and Volunteer the union
of like blood lines is too far removed to
be considered in the count. AS one
swallow does not make a summer, so a
single event does not establish a prinCi-
pie. With this fact in view | have pre-
scented the long list of famous sires
above enumerated to prove the fact
that prepotency is not necessarily the
result of mountaineering or of out
crossing, but is the outgrowth OF har-
monious union of blood lines that have
an affinity for each other and free from
warning elements. The theory of in
mountaineering is to mate the best
specimens without regard to consan
guinity. The fact that there is scarcely
Merino breeder in the land who for the
past decade has bred strictly from rams
bred within his flock we accept as evi
dence that this theory does not carr!
with many of our breeders What degree
of consanguinity shall stand as a bar
Has experience established the line
My early impressions were totally a
variance with mating blood relations
and | read with amaZement the stor
told by Dr. Randall in the "Practca
Shepherd" and Moore's Rur0l Ne,
Yorker, that the Cabanas of Spain wer
Of in, anH in that no had ~
tain facts in his possession which lie,
him to the undoubted conclusion ths
Colonel Humphreys importation wa
from the flock of the Duke of Infants
do; that Stephen Atwood of Connect
cut purchased eve from Colon
Humphrey in 1913 for the sum OF Sl2l
and that he bred this eve and her d.
scendants to rams in his neighborhoG
that he knew to be of pure Humphrey
blood until about 1880, after which p
riod he uniformly used rams of his ow
breeding: that Mr.. Hammond mac
three considerable purchases of Mr.. A
wood from 1874 to 1876, and that
bred exclusively from Mr.. Atwood
stock sire and dam and rams bred wit
in the flock; that he mated sire
daughter and her eve progeny back
the SAINT sire WIFI eACclleul Itoui
Pardon me for giving IA chapter fro
my own experience. In 1872 X
Bros. flock was composed mostly
ewes, the get OF Bloomfield. We pu
posed to breed these to the ram Ian
Volunteer. lie got no lambs early
the season. As a last resort MAORI
OF these ewes were bred TO their si
We raised one ram and eight ew,
The ram proved fair sire but was nj
er in show condition. Some of
ewes grew to be about half the size
their dams. But two of them prov
breeders. One, whose z. dam was
related to her sire, has left benin,
valuable descent. The other was
dam of two very snowy and attract
rams. These were sold to head fiji
class thoroughbred focks, and b
were barren. We have not repea
that experiment. have seen most
cellent results from mating ewes "
the malt brother of their sire, VIII
there was no previous inbreedlng.
should not hesitate to couple ewes v
their half brother by the same sire |
yi6ed their dams were not related
also believe that every breeder
raise his own rams by breeding 81
of his choicest ewes to rams not relt
TO his flock and then breed back to
own strains again. Further than Il