The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-02-27
SHEEP IN ENGLAND.
Communities Specialize in a Single
Breed-DeveIOpment of the Flock.

bteeu-beVeiopmenL OF the FLOCK.
The most striking thing about the
sheep industry Of Great Britain is that
the breeds are confined to definite local.
tiles, writes Prof. w. G. Coffey in the
Farmers Review. Salisbury is nearly
all Hampshire, Shrewsbury all Shrop-
shire, etc. One cannot imagine what
these communities specializing in a GER
tain breed are like He must see them.
A visit helps him to realize as never be
fore that these communities, concentrate
ing their efforts upon certain breed.
are powerful influences for building up
a great industry. 1t matters not how
they arose. whether through John Bull
conservation or the necessity occasioned
by hard conditions. What they have ac.
complished is sufficient justification for
their being.
The English breeder has implicit faith
in his breed. He sees great things in
il, and he is sure others will in time.
He firmly believes that no other breed
would flourish so well in his community.
To him the adoption of another breed is
useless because he Is convinced he can
never make it succeed in his community
to the same extent as it does in its
native home Such convictions make the
breeder stick TO his own" with a stead
mess of purpose charaeterizing the
true breeder His ambition is to breed
better individuals from the parent stock
with which he is familiar. He has no
incentive to take up with something new
and strange to his locality. With him
the love of novelty is akin to weakness
He is an aggressive breeder. but he
proposes TO attain his ends through a
steady progression Again, the English
breeder feeds his sheep In his fold the
best individuals have an opportunity to
develop and to show their superiority
Have you really ever stopped to think
what this means If you surround your
sheep with nothing but mediocre condi-
tions, in the end it will be the mediocre
individuals that will breed far best.
The best individual, as we understand ii,
is intended for best conditions, and par.
ticularly his shepherd, needs no advice.
Were the wealth of Croesus spent
for feed In an English flock, the shep-
herd would still complain that his lambs
had to put up with mighty poor keep.
Down around Salisbury. where the mag.
imagine these Hampshires feed chiefly
the poorest land in England But il yon
imagine these Hampshides feed chiefly
on scenery you are wrong. Liberal feed
ing has been large factor in the de-
yelopment Of this great breed, and in
the meantime on infertile soil has been
spared from poverty The visitor cannot
help but be impressed by the care which
the English breeder uses in the selec-
ton of his breeding animals He will
pay price for sire. and he will re-
fuse to sell the ewes he has reserved
for breeding purposes. Reserve breeding
ewes in many focks cannot be bought
at any price. This fact has been mat.
ter OF comment for many years, and
the selection of these reserve ewes is con-
Quoted on sane and safe lines
When the breeder shows the ewes set
aside for his breeding flock he often re-
marks that he can hardly tell you why
certain individuals have been kept, as
their makeup is not so pleasing as some
that are offered for sale. He explains
himself by saying that he knows the
line from which these less attractive
ewes have come, and that it is line
which can be depended upon While he
studies the individual in the
selection Of females, he not only takes
into consideration her individuality, but
also that of the individuals in the line
from which she comes. We may say he
considers the past and the now as his
guides for the future Too many of
US consider no more than the now.
The above are few Of the impress
sions which / feel any sheepman win re-
ceive while visiting the British focks
Do / say these are striking impress
sions because we in America are not so
inclined TO develop communities OF
breeders, or to feed so that the best in
dividuals can come to their bloom, or
TO select our breeding animals
No. / do not say, but | ask you, my
fellow breeder, TO think it over Can
you make Improvement along any OF
these linesg