Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1899-02-03
SHEEP OF BLUE BLOOD
MERINOS OF LONG PEDIGREES
IN VERMONT.
They Are Ugly and Dirty, Wear Silver
Earrings and Have Commanded
$1,000 Aplece-How They Came from
Spain. v

Uo,OOO apiece Ihey Came from
Spain. v
1.-THE bluest blooded, most aristo-
cratic of all domestic animals in the
United States is the merino Sheep"
said Aaron Spencer, New England
stock breeder, land nowhere else in the
world, not even among the hills of
Spain-the original home Of the mer-
ino-is this valuable animal found in
such perfection and purity of breeding
as among the Green mountains Of YER
mont. There are merinos in that re-
gion,and particularly in Addison coun-
ty. whose pedigree is traced back with
out break in the record of blot in
the blood for more than century, di-
rectly to ancestral pastures in Spain.
ITO look at merino sheep, unless
you know all the points of one, you
would scarcely think it was worth
driving to pasture. Greasy, dirty and
uncouth, it's fleece, blackened by an
oozy, gummy substance, which, to put
it mild, is by no means fragrant, hang
ing to its body in rhinoceros-like folds
and wrinkles, the eyes barely visible,
and nothing but the nose showing
from the greasy, sticky, ill-smelling
mass, the royal-blooded merino is not
sight to cause much enthusiasm in
spectator who is looking for outward
beauty. But the blacker and GUNNER
and more rhinoceros-like it's fleece the
better it is. Breeders think so much
of that dirty gum on their merinos
that they carefully shelter them from
showers, and even heavy dews, to pre-
vent particle of it from being dissi-
pated. Members Of this aristocratic
family of sheep of the Vermont breed
have taken on this unprepossessing
and uncouth appearance and rank
smell to such degree that they have
easily commanded $4,000 apiece from
eager buyers. l knew an Addison
county flock of merinos, thirty in num-
Der, to be sold just as they stood in
the pasture for $4,000 cash.
For centuries the government Of
Spain prohibited under heavy penalties
the expectation of merino sheep, know
ing well the great value of that prod
uct of it's mountain slopes, and being
resolved not to share it with any other
country. In 1902 Col. David Hum
phrey of Connecticut was United
States minister to Spain, and he made
himself so popular at the court in Ma
drid that when he retired from office
In that year, his request to be permit
ted to fetch with him to America a
number of merinos Of known superior
fly of blood was granted by the Span
fish government. Those sheep were
placed on the Humphrey farm, near
Derby, and from that original stock
the present royal breed of Vermont
merinos sprang.
But there is an aristocracy even
among blue blooded merinos, and the
family known as the Atwoods may be
said to be the Mayflower stock of all
merinos in this country and the high
est in degree in any country except
Spain. They hold their heads above
the most aristocratic Of their kind, not
because their blood is any better than
other Vermont merinos, but simply be-
cause they are Atwoods and nothing
else. Two or three years after Col.
Humphrey brcAght that first flock Of
merinos from their native hills in
Spain, a young farmer named Stephen
Atwood agreed to work a whole year
on the Humphrey farm for just one
eve from the original importation Of
merinos. The contract was fulfilled.
and from that eve and Humphrey
merino ram the present Atwood me-
rinos originated. Atwood transferred
his sheep to Addison county, and there
the purity Of the blood has been sa-
credly preserved, an association of
breeders having been formed for no
other purpose than to maintain that
purity. Descendants Of Stephen At
wood controlled the flock until a few
years ago, when 1t passed into other
hands. A half interest in one Of the
rams brought $500. The flock was
separated. but the Atwoods remain the
ueTluOS OIL ulSuSsI uc6Itc. Wueu q
lamb of this ultra blue blood is born,
its ears are pierced and silver labels,
one with a number on it and the other
with the owners name, are attached to
them. The number and name are en-
tered on the books of the association
II the lamb is sold or transferred, the
owner must notify the association, and
the transaction is carefully noted on
the books. Any subsequent DISPOSE
ton of the lamb must also be reported
to the association, so that every move
ment of that lamb from its birth to it's
death is always known. No sheep has
any standing as a royal-blooded me-
rino which does not wear the earrings,
and can have no certificate of pedigree.
Today merino sheep are raised all over
the world, Australian breeders being
the largest owners; but even from
that garden spot of sheep
raising, as well as from every other
sheep growing country, the breeders
come to Addison county, Vermont, to
ohtain sciOns of the original stock |