No country in the world is better calculated for raising sheep than the
United States. The diversity of climate, together with the abundance and
variety of the products of the soil, united with the industry and
perseverance of the agriculturist, renders this country highly favorable
for breeding, maturing, and improving the different kinds of sheep. The
American people, taken as a whole, are intellectually stronger than any
other nation with the like amount of population, on the face of the
globe; consequently they are all-powerful, "for the mind is mightier
than the sword." All that we aim at, in these pages, is to turn the
current of the American mind to the important subject of improvement in
the animal kingdom; to show them the great benefits they will derive
from practical experience in the management of all classes of live
stock; and, lastly, to show them the value and importance of the
veterinary profession, when flourishing under the genial influence of a
liberal community. If we can only succeed in arresting the attention of
American stock raisers, and they, on the other hand, direct their whole
attention to the matter, then, in a few years, America will outshine her
more favored European rivals, and feel proud of her improved stock. What
the American people have done during the last half century in the
improvement of the soil, manufactures, arts, and sciences, is an earnest
of what they can do in ameliorating the condition of all classes of live
stock, provided they take hold of the subject in good earnest. Let any
one who is acquainted with the subject of degeneration, its causes and
fatal results, not only in reference to the stock itself, but as regards
the pocket of the breeder, and the health of the whole community,--let
such a one go into our slaughter-houses and markets, and if he does not
see a wide field for improvement, then we will agree to let the subject
sink into oblivion. In order to show what a whole community can
accomplish when their efforts are directed to one object, let us look on
what a single individual, by his own industry and perseverance, has
accomplished simply in improving the breed of sheep. The person referred
to is Mr. Bakewell. His breeding animals were, in the first place,
selected from different breeds. These he crossed with the best to be
had. After the cross had been carried to the desired point, he confined
his selections to his own herds or flocks. He formed in his mind a
standard of perfection for each kind of animals, and to this he
constantly endeavored to bring them. That he was eminently successful in
the attainment of his object, cannot be denied. He began his farming
operations about 1750. In 1760, his rams did not sell for more than two
or three guineas per head. From this time he gradually advanced in
terms, and in 1770 he let some for twenty-five guineas a head for the
season. Marshall states that, in 1786, Bakewell let two thirds of a ram
(reserving a third for himself) to two breeders, for a hundred guineas
each, the entire services of the ram being rated at three hundred
guineas the season. It is also stated that he made that year, by letting
rams, more than one thousand pounds.
"In 1789, he made twelve hundred guineas by three '_ram brothers_,' and
two thousand guineas from seven, and, from his whole letting, full three
thousand guineas. Six or seven other breeders made from five hundred to
a thousand guineas each by the same operation. The whole amount of
ram-letting of Bakewell's breed is said to have been not less, that
year, than ten thousand pounds, [forty-eight thousand dollars.]
"It is true that still more extraordinary prices were obtained for the
use of rams of this breed after Mr. Bakewell's death. Pitt, in his
'Survey of Leicestershire,' mentions that, in 1795, Mr. Astley gave
three hundred guineas for the use of a ram of this breed, engaging, at
the same time, that he should serve _gratis_ twenty ewes owned by the
man of whom the ram was hired; making for the entire use of the ram,
that season, four hundred and twenty guineas. In 1796, Mr. Astley gave
for the use of the same ram three hundred guineas, and took forty ewes
to be served gratis. At the price charged for the service of the ram to
each ewe, the whole value for the season was five hundred guineas. He
served one hundred ewes. In 1797, the same ram was let to another person
at three hundred guineas, and twenty ewes sent with him; the serving of
which was reckoned at a hundred guineas, and the ram was restricted to
sixty more, which brought his value for the season to four hundred
guineas. Thus the ram made, in three seasons, the enormous sum of
_thirteen hundred guineas_.
"We have nothing to do, at present, with the question whether the value
of these animals was not exaggerated. The actual superiority of the
breed over the stock of the country must have been obvious, and this
point we wish kept in mind.
"This breed of sheep is continued to the present day, and it has been
remarked by a respected writer, that they will 'remain a lasting
monument of Bakewell's skill.' As to their origin, the testimony shows
them to have been of _mixed blood_; though no breed is more distinct in
its characters, or transmits its qualities with more certainty; and if
we were without any other example of successful crossing, the advocates
of the system might still point triumphantly to the Leicester or
Bakewell sheep.
"But what are the opinions of our best modern breeders in regard to the
practicability of producing distinct breeds by crossing? Robert Smith,
of Burley, Rutlandshire, an eminent sheep-breeder, in an essay on the
'Breeding and Management of Sheep,' for which he received a prize from
the Royal Agricultural Society, (1847,) makes the following remarks:
'The crossing of pure breeds has been a subject of great interest
amongst every class of breeders. While all agree that the first cross
may be attended with good results, there exists a diversity of opinion
upon the future movements, or putting the crosses together. Having
tried experiments (and I am now pursuing them for confirmation) in every
way possible, I do not hesitate to express my opinion, that, by proper
and judicious crossing through several generations, a most valuable
breed of sheep may be raised and established; in support of which I may
mention the career of the celebrated Bakewell, who raised a _new_
variety from other long-wooled breeds by dint of perseverance and
propagation, and which have subsequently corrected all other long-wooled
breeds.'"
We have alluded to the low price of some of the mutton brought to the
Boston market. We do not wish the reader to infer that there is none
other to be had: on the contrary, we have occasionally seen as good
mutton there as in any European market. There are a number of practical
and worthy men engaged in improving the different kinds of live stock,
and preventing the degeneracy to which we refer. They have taken much
interest in that class of stock, and they have been abundantly rewarded
for their labor. But the great mass want more light on this subject, and
for this reason we endeavor to show the causes of degeneracy, to enable
them to avoid the errors of their forefathers.
Mr. Roberts, of Pennsylvania, says, "Early in my experience, I witnessed
the renovation of a flock of what we call country sheep, that had been
too long propagated in the same blood. This was about the year 1798. An
imported ram from England, with heavy horns, very much resembling the
most vigorous Spanish Merinos, was obtained. The progeny were improved
in the quality of fleece, and in the vigor of constitution. On running
this stock in the same blood for some twelve years, a great
deterioration became apparent. A male was then obtained of the large
coarse-wooled Spanish stock: improvement in the vigor of the progeny was
again most obvious. A Tunis mountain ram was then obtained, with a
result equally favorable. In this process, fineness of fleece or weight
was less the object than the carcass. In 1810, a male of not quite pure
Merino blood was placed with the same stock of ewes; and a change of the
male from year to year, for some time, produced a superior Merino
stock. Wool of a marketable quality for fine cloths was now the object;
and it was not an unprofitable husbandry, when it would sell in the
fleece, unwashed, from eighty-six cents to one dollar. The Saxon stock
then became the rage, and the introduction of a tup of that country
diminished greatly the weight of the fleece, without adequately
improving its fineness. A male of the Spanish stock would give sometimes
nine pounds; and the marsh graziers say that they went as high as
fifteen pounds. Saxon males scarcely exceed five pounds, and the ewes
two and a half pounds. By running in the same blood, and poor keeping,
the fleece may be made finer, but it will be lightened in proportion,
and of a weak and infirm texture. There are few stock-keepers who have
mixed the Spanish with the Saxon breeds but what either do or will have
cause to regret it. In this part of the country, a real Spanish Merino
is not to be obtained. Sheep-raising has ceased to be a business of any
profit nearer to the maritime coast than our extensive mountain ranges,
whether for carcass or fleece. I sold, the last season, water-washed
wool, of very fine quality, for thirty cents per pound. At such a price
for wool, land near our seaports can be turned to better account, even
in these dull times, than wool-growing. Stock sheep do best in stony and
elevated locations, where they have to use diligence to pick the scanty
blade. Sheep on the sea-board region should be kept more for carcass
than fleece; and feeding, more than breeding, ought to be the object for
some one hundred miles from tide water. It is now a well-ascertained
fact, that health and vigor can only be perpetuated by not running too
long on the same blood. The evils I have witnessed were due to a want of
care on this head more than to any endemical quality in our climate.
Sheep kept on smooth land and soft pasture are liable to the foot rot.
The hoofs of the Merino require paring occasionally, for want of a stony
mountain side to ascend. It is no longer a problem that this is to be a
great wool-growing country, as well as a wool-consuming one. There is,
in our wool-growing country, land in abundance, held at a price that
will enable the wool-grower to produce the finest qualities at thirty
cents per pound, the cloths to be manufactured in proportion, and the
market to be steady. I have seen Merino wool, since 1810, range from one
dollar per pound to eighteen and three fourths cents, though I do not
recollect selling below twenty-two cents. The best variety of sheep
stock I have seen, putting fineness of fleece aside, was the mixed
Bakewell and South Down, imported by Mr. Smith, of New Jersey. The flesh
of the Merino has been pronounced of inferior flavor. This, however,
does not agree with my experience, as I have found the lambs command a
readier sale than any other, from being preferred by consumers."