HOW TO SELECT A RAM.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 255, 13 March 1875, Page 2

HOW TO SELECT A RAM.

(From the Wanganui Herald.) Caheful breeders prefer this season for selecting rams to any other, as they can now view them in their wool, there being a better opportunity of comparing the relative merits of a sheep while they are unshorn. For a long time to come the quantity and quality of wool a sheep carries will be considered the main points in our flocks. This iscTearly owing to the abundance of feed; the extent of our pastures, and the comparitively low price of meat. At home it would not pay to keep a sheep for the sake of its wool, while here the sheepowners look to the fleece as the principalreturn derivable from their flocks. In selecting sheep, W'ool will therefore be the principal consideration. As the Lincoln is the breed most valued in this district, our remarks will be confined to that breed. In looking over a flock of Lincolns it will generally be found that there are two easily discernible stamps of sheep in it, only a very few of the best stud flocks at Home consisting entirely of one or the other. The one has long coarse wool which apparently hangs heavily on the sheep. Almost from the day these sheep are shorn this class of wool has a tendency to part on the back. One of its characteristics is that it is very often matted—a peculiarity that is, however, not nearly such a drawback as people would imagine. The wool in appearance is very white while the curls in it are very decided but rather long. . A microscopic examination will also prove that the serrations are widely set. The fibre is very opaque, and owing to being thick, appears more lustrous, than the other class we are about to refer to. The second has a staple not nearly so long as the former. The wool is close, and in some instances it will not part on the back, even when the sheep carries a twelvemonth’s growth. On examining the wool closely, it will be found that the w-00l does not hang in strands, but the whole fleece appears to hang together very evenly. This wool will very rarely mat. The curls are not so decided as in the firstmentioned, but are far more numerous. The serrations are also much closer. The wool does not look quite so white and lustrous as the former, owing principally to its being mors transparent. A trial of strength will generally result in favour of the latter. There is very little if any difference in the weight of the fleeces, but in carease the fine wooled sheep will generally be found the heaviest. Experiments have also shown that the wool of the latter will bring a higher price than the former. What is perhaps the best proof of the relative value is all the prize sheep lately imported from Home belonging to the latter class. On this point Mr. Miller’s paper, read before the Agricultural Society of Hawke’s Bay, although otherwise a very valuable one, is very misleading, as he states that by breeding from the sires of the former stamp, a flockowner would obtain ewesjand wethers with the wool of the latter. AVe will now point out a few of the principal qualities to be looked for, and defects to be avoided, in choosing a ram. It will be found that a pure Lincoln has the finest wool on the breast, from where it gradually gets coarser towards the hind quarters, the middle of the ribs supplying the samples usually sought for in the shoulder. If a sheep has the wool differently distributed it is not pure. The less difforence there is in the wool from the different parts, the better.

Woolly legs indicate that the fleece is soft, as does also a welkwoolled head. The hind-quarters should be carefully examined, and all kempy sheep condemned. A sheep that stands well apart with both fore and hind legs, can carry more wool as well as mutton. The back should be straight, although in a Lincoln it is never found as straight as in a Leicester. The rump drooping a little is not considered a drawback but too much should be avoided. Small blue-black patches distributed all over the skin are signs of good blood, and a sheep that has not got them may be put down as doubtful. The head of a Lincoln should be smaller than that of a Leicester. A short almost square head, with a great breadth across the eyes, is a desirable point in any and especially in a Lincoln. A ull dark and prominent eye, a rather targe ear, well covered with soft down like hair, and wide nostrils, should never be overlooked. If a breeder attends to these directions when selecting rams, he will find no reason to complain of his sheep not turning out as he expected.