The first great starting-point, among pure-blood animals, is, that "like
will beget like." If the sire and ewe are perfect in any given points,
the offspring will generally be; if either is defective, the
offspring--subject to a law which will possibly be noticed--will be
half-way between the two; if both are defective in the same points,
the progeny will be more so than either of its parents--it will
inherit the amount of defect in both parents added together. There are
exceedingly few perfect animals. Breeding, therefore, is a system of
counterbalancing--breeding out--in the offspring, the defects of one
parent, by the marked excellence of the other parent, in the same
points. The highest blood confers on the parent possessing it the
greatest power of stamping its own characteristics on its progeny; but,
blood being the same, the male sheep possesses this power in a greater
degree than the female. We may, therefore, in the beginning, breed from
ewes possessing any defects short of cardinal ones, without impropriety,
provided we possess the proper ram for that purpose; but, where a high
standard of quality is aimed at, all ewes possessing even considerable
defects should gradually be thrown out from breeding. Every year should
add to the vigor of the selection.
But, from the beginning--and at the beginning, more than at any other
time--the greatest care should be evinced in the selection of the ram.
If he has a defect, that defect is to be inherited by the whole future
flock; if it is a material one--as, for example, a hollow back, bad
cross, or thin fleece, or a highly uneven fleece--the flock will be one
of low quality and little value. If, on the other hand, he is perfect,
the defects in the female will be lessened, and gradually bred out. It
being, however, difficult to find perfect rams, those should be taken
which have the fewest and lightest defects, and none of these material,
like those just enumerated. These defects are to be met and
counterbalanced by the decided excellence--sometimes, indeed, running
into a fault--of the ewe, in the same points. If the ram, then, is a
little too long-legged, the shortest-legged ewes should be selected for
him; if gummy, the dryest-woolled; if his fleece is a trifle below the
proper standard of fineness--but he has been retained, as often happens,
for weight of fleece and general excellence--he is to be put to the
finest and lightest-fleeced ewes, and so on. With a selection of rams,
this system of counterbalancing would require but little skill, if each
parent possessed only a single fault. If the ewe be a trifle too
thin-fleeced, and good in all other particulars, it would require no
nice judgment to decide that she should be bred to an uncommonly
thick-fleeced ram. But most animals possess, to a greater or less
degree, several defects. To select so that every one of these in the
dam shall meet its opposite in the male, and the contrary, requires not
only plentiful materials from which to select, but the keenest
discrimination.
After the breeder has successfully established his flock, and given them
an excellent character, he soon encounters a serious evil. He must
"breed in-and-in," as it is called--that is, interbreed between animals
more or less nearly related in blood--or he must seek rams from other
flocks, at the risk of losing or changing the distinctive character of
his flock, hitherto so carefully sought, and built up with so much
painstaking. The opponents of in-and-in breeding contend that it renders
diseases and all other defects hereditary, and that it tends to decrease
of size, debility, and a general breaking up of the constitution. Its
defenders, on the other hand, insist that, if the parents are perfectly
healthy, this mode does not, of itself, tend to any diminution of
healthfulness in the offspring; and they likewise claim--which must be
conceded--that it enables the skilful breeder much more rapidly to
bring his flock to a particular standard or model, and to keep it there
much more easily--unless it be true that, in course of time, they will
dwindle and grow feeble.
[Illustration: THE SCOTCH SHEEP-DOG, OR COLLEY.]
So far as the effect on the constitution is concerned, both positions
may be, to a certain extent, true. But it is, perhaps, difficult always
to decide with certainty when an animal is not only free from disease,
but from all tendency or predisposition towards it. A brother or sister
may be apparently healthy--may be actually so--but may still possess a
peculiarity of individual conformation which, under certain
circumstances, will manifest itself. If these circumstances do not
chance to occur, they may live until old age, apparently possessing a
robust constitution. If tried together, their offspring--by a rule
already laid down--will possess this individual tendency in a double
degree. If the ram be interbred with sisters, half-sisters, daughters,
granddaughters, etc., for several generations, the predisposition toward
a particular disease--in the first place slight, now strong, and
constantly growing stronger--will pervade, and become radically
incorporated into, the constitution of the whole flock. The first time
the requisite exciting causes are brought to bear, the disease breaks
out, and, under such circumstances, with peculiar severity and
malignancy. If it be of a fatal character, the flock is rapidly swept
away; if not, it becomes chronic, or periodical at frequently recurring
intervals. The same remarks apply, in part, to those defects of the
outward form which do not at first, from their slightness, attract the
notice of the ordinary breeder. They are rapidly increased until, almost
before thought of by the owner, they destroy the value of the sheep.
That such are the common effects of in-and-in breeding, with such skill
as it is commonly conducted, all know who have given attention to the
subject; and for these reasons the system is regarded with decided
disapprobation and repugnance by nine out of ten of the best practical
farmers.
The sheep-breeder can, however, avoid the effects of in-and-in breeding,
and at the same time preserve the character of his flock, by seeking
rams of the same breed, possessing, as nearly as possible, _the
characteristics which he wishes to preserve in his own flock_. If this
rule is neglected--if he draws indiscriminately from all the different
varieties or families of a breed--some large, and some small--some
long-woolled, and some short-woolled--some medium, and some superfine in
quality--some tall, and some squatty--some crusted over with black gum,
and some entirely free from it--breeding will become a mere matter of
hap-hazard, and no certain or uniform results can be expected. So many
varieties cannot be fused into one for a number of generations--as is
evidenced by the want of uniformity in the Rambouillet flock, which was
commenced by a promiscuous admixture of all the Spanish families; and it
not merely happens, as between certain classes of Saxons, that
particular families can never be successfully amalgamated.
If, however, the breeder has reached no satisfactory standard--if his
sheep are deficient in the requisites which he desires--he is still to
adhere to the breed--_provided the desired requisites are characteristic
of the breed he possesses_--and select better animals to improve his own
inferior ones. If he has, for instance, an inferior flock of
South-Downs, and wishes to obtain the qualities of the best Down dams,
he should seek for the best rams of that breed. But if he wishes to
obtain qualities _not characteristic of the breed he possesses_, he must
cross with a breed which does possess them. If the possessor of
South-Downs wishes to convert them into a fine-woolled sheep similar to
the Merino, he should cross his flock steadily with Merino
rams--constantly increasing the amount of Merino, and diminishing the
amount of South-Down blood. To effect the same result, he would take the
same course with the common sheep of the country, or with any other
coarse race.
There are those, who, forgetting that some of the finest varieties now
in existence, of several kinds of domestic animals, are the result of
crosses--bitterly inveigh against the practice of crossing, under any
and all circumstances. It is, it must be admitted, an unqualified
absurdity, as frequently conducted--as, for example, an attempt to unite
the fleece of a Merino and the carcass of a Leicester, by crosses
between those breeds; but, under the limitations already laid down, and
with the objects specified as legitimate ones, this objection to
crossing savors of the most profound prejudice, or the most unblushing
quackery. It is neither convenient, nor within the means of every man
wishing to start a flock of sheep, to commence exclusively with
full-bloods. With a few to breed rams from, and to begin a full-blood
stock, the breeder will find it his best policy to purchase the best
common sheep of his country, and gradually grade them up with Merino
rams. In selecting the ewes, good shape, fair size, and a robust
constitution, are the main points--the little difference in the quality
of the common sheep's wool being of no consequence. For their wool, they
are to look to the Merino; but good form and constitution they can and
ought to possess, so as not to entail deep-rooted and entirely
unnecessary evils on their progeny.
Satisfactory results have followed crossing a Down ram--small, compact,
exceedingly beautiful, fine and even fleeced--with large-sized Merino
ewes. The half-blood ewes were then bred to a Merino ram, and also their
female progeny, and so on. The South-Downs, from a disposition to take
on fat, manifested themselves, to a perceptible extent, in every
generation, and the wool of many of the sheep in the third
generation--seven-eighths blood Merino, and one-eighth blood Down--was
very even, and equal to medium, and some of them to good medium Merino.
Their fleeces were lighter than the full-blood Merinos, but increased in
weight with each succeeding cross back toward the latter. The mutton of
the first, and even of the second cross was of a beautiful flavor, and
retained, to the last, some of the superiority of South-Down mutton.
Results are also noted of breeding Leicester ewes--taking one cross of
the blood, as in the preceding case--toward the Merino. The mongrels, to
the second generation--beyond which they were not bred--were about
midway between the parent stock in size--with wool shorter, but far more
fine and compact than the Leicester--their fleeces about the same
weight, five pounds--and, altogether, they were a showy and profitable
sheep, and well calculated to please the mass of farmers. Their fleeces,
however, lacked evenness, their thighs remaining disproportionately
coarser and heavy.
A difference of opinion exists in relation to the number of crosses
necessary before it is proper to breed from a mongrel ram. Some high
authorities assert that it does not admit of the slightest doubt that a
Merino, in the fourth generation, from even the worst-woolled ones, is
in every respect equal to the stock of the sire--that no difference need
to be made in the choice of a ram, whether he is a full-blood, or a
fifteen-sixteenths--and that, however coarse the fleece of the parent
ewe may have been, the progeny in the fourth generation will not show
it.
Others, however--while admitting that the only value of blood or
pedigree, in breeding, is to insure the hereditary transmission of the
properties of the parent to the offspring, and that, as soon as a
mongrel reaches the point where he stamps his characteristics on the
progeny, with the same certainty that a full-blood does, he is equally
valuable, provided he is, individually, as perfect an animal--contend
that this cannot be depended upon, with any certainty, in rams of the
fourth Merino cross. They assert that the offspring of such crosses
invariably lack the style and perfection of thorough-bred flocks. The
sixth, seventh, or eighth cross might be generally, and the last,
perhaps, almost invariably, as good as pure-blood rams; yet pure blood
is a fixed standard, and were every breeder to think himself at liberty
to depart from it in his rams, each one more or less, according to his
judgment or caprice, the whole blood of the country would become
adulterated. No man, assuredly, can be authorized to sell a ram of any
cross, whether the tenth, or even the twentieth, as a full-blood.
It is of the utmost importance for those _commencing_ flocks, either of
full-bloods, or by crossing, to select the choicest rams. A grown ram
may, by methods which will hereafter be described, be made to serve from
one hundred to one hundred and fifty ewes in a season. A good Merino ram
will, moderately speaking, add more than a pound of wool to the fleece
of the dam, or every lamb got by it, from a common-woolled ewe--that is,
if the ewe at three years old sheared three pounds of wool, the lamb at
the same age will shear four. This would give one hundred or one hundred
and fifty pounds of wool for the use of a ram for a single season; and
every lamb subsequently got by him adds a pound to this amount. Many a
ram gets, during his life, eight hundred or one thousand lambs. Nor is
the extra amount of wool all. He gets from eight hundred to one thousand
half-blooded sheep, worth double their dams, and ready to be made the
basis of another and higher stride in improvement. A good ram, then, is
as important and, it may be, quite as valuable an animal as a good
farm-horse stallion. When the number of a ram's progeny are taken into
consideration, and when it is seen over what an immense extent, even in
his own direct offspring, his good or bad qualities are to be
perpetuated, the folly of that economy which would select an inferior
animal is sufficiently obvious.
It will be found the best economy in starting a flock, where the proper
flocks from which to draw rams are not convenient, to purchase several
of the same breed, of course, but _of different strains of blood_. Thus
ram No. 2 can be put on the offspring of No. 1, and the reverse; No. 3
can be put on the offspring of both, and both upon the offspring of No.
3. The changes which can be rung on three distinct strains of blood,
without in-and-in breeding close enough to be attended with any
considerable danger, are innumerable.
The brother and sister, it will be born in mind, are of the same blood;
the father and daughter, half; the father and granddaughter, one-fourth;
the father and great-granddaughter, one-eighth; and so on. Breeding
between animals possessing one-eighth of the same blood, would not be
considered very close breeding; and it is not unusual, in rugged,
well-formed families, to breed between those possessing one-fourth of
the same blood.
If, however, these rams of different strains are brought promiscuously,
without reference to similarity of characteristics, there may, and
probably will, be difference between them; and it might require time and
skill to give a flock descended from them a proper uniformity of
character. Those who breed rams for sale should be prepared to furnish
different strains of blood, with the necessary individual and family
uniformity.