The breeds, management

Preface

This Treatise has been compiled and composed principally with a view to the diseases and management of sheep. In this work, quotations have been made from the works of Messrs. Youatt, Spooner, Blackiock, McKenzie, Livingston, and various other authors. In many cases they hava been quoted directly ; in other cases, for the sake of brevity, no marks of quotation are used. On many subjects, it is impracticable to write much which is entirely new ; therefore, a careful compilation of those materials which are most useful, together with the elucidation of many other things which have not heretofore been explained, I trust, will be satisfactory to the reader, and will need n© apology.

Canfield, Mahoning County, Ohio, October, A. D., 1848.

Entered according to Act ot Congress, in the jear 1848, by th* author, in the Clerk's office of the District Co«rt of the United States for the District of Ohio.

Table Of Contents

I. Origin of the Sheep, 9 Asiatic Argali, 9 American Argali, 10 Musmon or Mouflon, H The Domestic Sheep, 12

II. Ancient Management of Sheep, 14 HI. Asiatic and African Sheep.

The Fat-Ramped Sheep, 18

Contents

Sec.

XV.

The bones of the Body,

Index To Illustrations

The Fat-Rumped Sheep, 18 The Broad-Tailed Sheep, 20 Iceland Sheep, 27 Cretan or Wallachian Sheep, 30 The Shepherd's Pipes, 42 Diagram of the different Qualities of Wool, 56 An Escurial (or Saxon) Ram, the property of Mr. Thomas Noble, of Massillon, Stark county, Ohio, 61 A Guadaloupe Ram, the property of the Society of

A Ewe of the Black-faced Heath Breed, 68

A Ewe of the Cheviot Breed, 70

The South Down Ram, 73

The Dorset Ewe, 77

The Romney Marsh Ewe, 83

The Cotswold Ewe, 85

The New Leicester Ram, 87

Skeleton of the Sheep, 115

The Skull of a Polled Sheep, 117

The Incisor Teeth of the Sheep, 128

Internal View of the Stomach, 134

External View of the Stomach and Intestines, 142

Microscopic View of Wool, 170

Points of the Sheep, 190

Ear Marks, 206

Box for Condiments, 276

Section of the Intestinal Tube, 303

The Itch Insect Magnified, 344

A section of the Sheep's Foot, 348

The Fluke Worm, 35$

The Gad Fly, 359

Entrance to a Sheep Stall, and Sheep Gates, 387

Sheep Barn and Manger, 388

Section I. Origin Of The Sheep

The Sheep is classified by naturalists as belonging to the Order Rumen anti a ; the Tribe Caprid^.; and the Genus Ovis. Of the Ovis, there are three varieties ; the Ovis Ammon, or Argali ; the Ovis Musmon ; and the Ovis Aries, or Domestic Sheep. This last variety will form the subject of this work.

[1st.] ASIATIC ARGALI,

Professor Low observes that " the Asiatic Argali is somewhat less than the size of a stag. He has enormous horns, measuring more than a foot in circum fern nee at the base, and from three to four feet in length, triangularly rising from the summit of the head, so as nearly to touch at the root, ascending, stretching out laterally, and bending forward at the point. He has a coat of short hair, covering a coat of soft white wool. The color of the fur, externally, is brown, becoming brownish grey in winter. There is a buff colored streak along the back, and a large spot of a lighter buff color on the haunch, surrounding and including the tail. The female differs from the male, in being smaller, in having the horns more slender and straight, and in the absence of the disc on the haunch. In both sexes, the tail is very short, the eye-lashes are whitish, and the hair beneath is longer than on any other parts of the body. The Argalies inhabit the mountains and elevated plains of Asia, from the Caucasus northward and eastward to Kamschatka and the Ocean. They are very agile and strong, but very timid, shunning the least appearance of danger. Their motion is zigzag, and they stop in their course to gaze upon their pursuer, after the manner of the domestic sheep. They are usually found in very small docks, and at the rutting season, the males fight desperately, using their horns and forehead, in the manner of the common ram* They aro

10 ORIGIN OF THE SHEEP.

hunted by the people of the country for their flesh, which is esteemed to be savory, and for their skins, which are made into clothing. In autumn, after having pastured during summer on the mountains and in secluded valleys, they are fat, and in high request; but as winter advances, they are forced to descend from the mountains in search of food. They then lose their plumpness, and are sought after only for their skins. When young, they are easily tamed ; but the old ones never resign their natural wildness. The Argali of America, or, Rocky Mountain Sheep, is nearly allied to, or is identical with, the Argali of Asia. — It is described by Spanish writers as the sheep of California, and is familiar to the Indians and fur traders of Canada, and is called by them the ahsata, or big-horn. It surpasses the Asiatic Argali in size, and is consequently larger than the largest of our domestic sheep. It is described by Captain Bonneville as follows : " The dimensions of a male of this species are, from the nose to the base of the tail, five feet : length of the tail, four inches : girth of the body, four feet: height, three feet eight inches : the horn, three feet six inches long, one foot three inches in circumference at the base ; and the horns are twisted lower than the muzzle. It has the head and horns of a sheep, and it is said to be de- I licious mutton." Its horns are very large, approaching, j but not touching at the base. The horns of the female are small, and slightly curved. Their coat is hairy, and is of a reddish brown color, but becomes paler in winter; and in spring, the old rams are nearly white. The face and nose are white, and the tail and buttocks present the buff colored .disc which distinguishes the male of the Asiatic species. — They collect in flocks under the guidance of a leader. They pasture on the steepest parts of the mountains, and on the approach of winter, descend into the plains. They are wild and timid, betaking themselves, on the least alarm, to the summits of the mountains. They are pursued and killed by the Indians for their skins and flesh. They have never been subjected to domestication. The Argali abounds in the Kocky Mountains, from the fiftieth degree of north latitude, quite down to California, generally in the highest regions capable of vegetation. Major Hamilton Smith remarks: " If the American species be the same as the Asiatic, which appears very probable, it can have reached the

ORIGIN OF THE SHEEP. 1 1

New World only over the ice by Behring's Straits: And the passage may be conjectured as comparatively of a recent date, since the Argali has not spread eastward beyond the Rocky Mountains, nor to the south farther than California. "

[2d.] THE MUSMON, OR MOUFLON,

Still inhabits the islands of Crete and Cyprus, and the mountains of Greece. It is found in Corsica and Sardinia, where it is familiar to the mountaineers of the interior. It formerly abounded in Spain, and even yet it is said to be seen in the mountains of Murcia. It is also abundant in the mountain ranges of southern Siberia, where it is subject to a cold rather than to a temperate climate. Everywhere, however, it preserves its own characters without alteration, while in its domesticated defendants, the common sheep, (if such they be, and which has yet to be proved,) we see a perpetual series of variations — a multitude of breeds presenting diverse characters.

Wilson, the naturalist, describes the Musmon as follows : "It is usually about two and a halt feet in height, and three feet and a half from the nose to the commencement of the tail. The horns never exceed two feet in length : they are curved backward, and the points are turned inwards: the roots of the horns are very thick and wrinkled : the ears are of a middle size, straight and pointed: the neck is thick: the body round : the limbs muscular, and the body short. The color is generally of a dull or brownish grey, with some white on the fore part of the face and on the legs : a tuft of long hair beneath the throat : a dark streak along the back; and the upper part of the face black, with black streaks along the cheeks. The forehead of this sheep is particularly arched. The females are generally without horns, and where they do appear, they are considerably less than those of the male."

The Musmon is smaller than the Argali, and its horns turn in at the points; whereas, those of the Argali turn out at the points. The coat of the Musmon consists of a brownish grey hair of no great length, concealing a short, fine, grey colored wool, which is full of spirals, and which covers the whole body. W. C. Spooner remarks that, "the Musmons resemble the Argalies in several characters ; but

I 2 OXIGIN OF THE SHEEP.

they are less powerful and hardy, and inhabit lower ranges of mountains. They are gregarious, assembling in large herds in the summer; but at the rutting season, fierce contests take place between the rams, and the herd divides into smaller bands, consisting of a male and several females. The Musmon is with difficulty domesticated, and is less docile and sensible to acts of kindness, than the domestic sheep."

[3d.] THE DOMESTIC SHEEP.

" It has been considered by some naturalists that the Musmon was the parent stock of the domestic sheep; and in support of this opinion, it is stated that the Musmon has been known to breed with the domestic sheep, and their progeny is fruitful, will reproduce, when copulated together. Pliny mentions such alliances as common, and states that the progeny were termed UmhrL Sheep and goats, also, when copulated together, produce a progeny, which will reproduce ; * and the only essential differences between them are, that the skin of the sheep is of a loose texture, and in temperate climates, is generally covered with wool, with a small proportion of hair; whereas, the goat has a thick, firm skin, which, in the same climates, is most commonly covered with hair, and has also a beard under its chin, an ornament seldom found upon the sheep. The goat of Cashmere and the Rocky Mountain goat, are exceptions to the general rule, as to the covering of the goat.

These circumstances show a near relation in the characters of the sheep, the goat, and the Musmon. Nevertheless, the domestic sheep, particularly the large, straight horned breeds, if left to themselves, so as to become wild, as they very readily wMl do, are quite as capable of defending and sustaining themselves, as the goat or Musmon.-— And, therefore, it seems most rational to suppose that the domestic sheep has ever been a species distinct from the goat and Musmon, and such it should be considered until the contrary is proved.

The sheep is subject to extraordinary changes in its structure and covering, or coat, from the varied influences of soil, food, and climate ; and, therefore, it is impossible to

• Blacklock.

0B1GIN OF THE 8HESP. IS

trace the character of the primitive breed of sheep. " No animal," says Blacklock, M varies more than the sheep, and none adapts itself so speedily to climate. It would almost appear that nature, convinced of its great utility, had bestowed upon it a constitution so pliant, as to enable it to accommodate itself to any point, in a wide scale of temperature. For though its natural situation as a wool bearing animal, like that of man, appears to be the wine countries, yet with him it has spread to every quarter of the globe, bocoming impressed at every change with some peculiarity, alterable only by a change of situation, and varying, w« might affirm, with the weather. Changes, occasioned by climates, are always limited to the fleece, horns, and disposal of the fat, and never extend to those parts on the permanence of which the animal depends for its station in the scale of being, as the teeth, feetf, and the digestive organs." Under such circumstances, it cannot be expected that wa can trace the origin of <he different breeds of sheep. And as to the qualities and management of any of the ancient breeds, we know only what is furnished by the Bible, and by Roman and Greek writers; and so meagre are the accounts which they furnish of the different breeds, that any thing like a regular history of the sheep is entirely out of the question. But as the sheep has been widely disseminated throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa ; as its young are easily tamed, and its milk, flesh, and pelts were extremely valuable to man in all ages, we may well suppose that it was one of the first quadrupeds which was domesticated. And as there is no animal which contributes mora to the welfare and comfort of man than the sheep, so, also, there is no one which requires more care and attention from hirn.

Section II. Ancient Management Of Sheep

In early ages, flocks of sheep constituted a large proportion of the wealth of the people. It is stated in the Scriptures that Job possessed 14.000 sheep, besides oxen and camels; and Solomon otlered 120,000 sheep at the dedication of the temple. The King of Moab rendered a yearly tribute of 200,000 sheep to the Jews, &c. Travelers assert that numerous flocks are still kept up in Western Africa. — Sir John Chardin saw flocks in the neighborhood of Aleppo, of immense numbers ; and Dr. Shaw states that several Arabian tribes, who can bring no more than three or four hundred horses into the field, are possessed of more than as many thousand camels and oxen, and treble the number of sheep and goats.

In Western Asia, the customs of these nomadic shepherds have been much the same from the most remote ages; and as scriptural descriptions of the management of sheep by the Patriarchs, are very similar to those which are given by travelers among the Arabs, as to the management of sheep, a few quotations from these writers may be interesting.

It is recorded that, " Abraham and Lot dwelt in tents : that Abraham pitched his tent upon a mountain : and that he often changed his place of residence." D'Arvieux, a French traveler, says, "the Arabs commonly encamp on the tops of some little hills where there are no trees to hinder them from discovering, a great way off, all that come and go, that they may not be surprised, having nothing else to fear. The}' set themselves down wherever they find springs of water, or rivulets in the valleys, and pasture for the subsistence of their cattle, and then decamp as soon aat that is gone, and g > and post themselves in another place, every fortnight, or, at most, every month.

" They live all the summer upon these hills, always advancing towards the North; and when winter begins to come ,on, they go by degrees to the South, as far as Cegsurea, of Palestine, and on the outside of the mountains of* Carmel. They have no other lodgings but their tenta, which they call their houses. They are entirely made of black goats' hair, which is an employment of the women. They spin and weave them. They are strong, of a close texture, and so stretched, that the longest and heaviest rains cannot penetrate through them. Their whole families, and all that they have in the world, even to their stables, are there, particularly in the winter. The tent of the Emir is of the same stuff, and differs from that of his subjects only in bigness." Hence, the figure in the song of Solomon, (i-5,) " black as the tents of Kedar," which is the name of an Arabian Nomade or Bedouin tribe, frequently mentioned in the Oid Testament. This tribe dwells in tents, with a similar covering, to the present day.

The Prophet, in speaking of the Messiah, says : " He shall feed his flock like a shepherd, he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and shall carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those which are with young." The same care and humanity are manifested by the Arabs of the present day. Parsons, the traveler, in speaking of them, says : *' It was entertaining enough to see the horde of Arabs decamp. First went the sheep and -goats, in regular divisions : then followed the camels and asses, loaded with the tent, furniture, and kitchen utensils. These were followed by the old men and women, and the boys and girls on foot. The children that could not walk, were carried on the backs of the young women, and the boys and girls, and the smallest of the lambs and kids were carried under tha arms of the children. The procession was closed by the chief of the tribe, mounted on the very best horse."

Greek, Roman, and Biblical writers inform us, that anciently the milk of sheep and goats was in common use; and Homer, in his Odyssey, relates that one half of the milk was first drawn from the ewe for drink, and for the purpose ol making cheese, and the remainder was left for the lamb.

The milk of sheep and goats is used by many of the uncivilized, and, to some extent, by the civilized nations of the Eastern Continents, at the present day, as a beverage, and for making butter, cheese, and curds.

The milk of sheep, in appearance, is like that of the cow, but is generally thicker, and yields a pale yellowish butter, which is always soft, and soon becomes rancid. Culiey remarks, " the cheese from their milk is exceedingly pun* gent, and for that reason is preferred by many to that from the cow." In Wales, sheeps' milk is mixed with that of the cow, and makes a tart, palatable cheese.

The Syrian Arabs, of the present lime, milk their ewes and goats; but they manufacture principally butter from their milk.

Mr. Burckhardt gives the following account of their practice : "The sheep and goats are milked during the three spring months, morning and evening. They are stmt out to pasture before sunrise, while the lambs or kids remain in or near the camp. About two o'clock the herd returns, x and the lambs are allowed to satiate themselves; after which, the ewes belonging to each tent, are tied to a long cord, and milked one after another. The same process occurs at sunset. From a hundred ewes or goats, (the milk of which is always mixed together,) the Arabs expect, in common years, about eight pounds of butter per day, or about seven cwt. in the three spring months.

The system of cotting was known and adopted, when necessary, by the Israelites, and also by the Greeks, Romans, and Germans. In a very ancient Anglo-Saxon manuscript, (says Turner,) a shepherd is represented as saying : ** In the tirst part of the morning I drive my sheep to their pasture, and stand over them, in heat and in cold, with dogs, lest the wolves destroy them. I lead them back to their folds, and milk them twice a day ; and I move their folds, and make cheese and butter." — (Turner's Anglo-Sax., ii— 540.)

In olden times, as now in Spain, and in many other parts of the world, sheep-shearing was a time of feasting and rejoicing; it was the harvest of the shepherd.

The shears used for shearing are a very ancient invention. They were termed forfex by the Romans. In a collection of antique gems at Berlin, (Germany,) called the " Stosch Collection," is a gem bearing a representation of a newly shorn lamb and the shears, which are exactly similar to those now in use.

The sheep- hook was used from the most remote period, as at the present time, among the nations of Europe and Asia, to seize the sheep, by laying hold upon its legs.

Music was a common amusement of the ancient shepherds ; and the instrument most commonly used, was called the fistula, or shepherd's pipes. It is made of seven or more pieces of reed or cane, of unequal length and thickness, joined together, side by side. The hollow parts of each tube, being of different sizes and depths, make sounds corresponding to the different notes.

They are played upon by applying the mouth, and blowing into the ends of the reeds, and moving the instrument back and forth, from side to side, with great velocity, so as to touch the desired notes. " In many parts of the Alps, and even in France, (says Goldsmith*,) the shepherd and his pipes are still continued with true antique simplicity. — The flock is regularly penned every evening, to preserve them from the wolf, and the shepherd returns homeward at sunset, with his sheep following him, and seemingly pleased with the sound of his pipe, which is blown with a reed, and resembles the chanter of a bagpipe. Before I had seen them trained in this manner, I had no conception of those descriptions in the old pastoral poets, of the shepherd leading his flock from one country to another, As I had been used to see these harmless creatures driven before their keepers, I supposed all the rest was pure invention."

This mode of using the shepherd's pipes is mentioned in Homer's Iliad, (Book 18th, line 526 ;) and they are, doubtless, one of th© most ancient of all musical instruments.

ASIATIC AND AFRICAN SHEEP.

Section III. Fat-rumped Sheep

This breed of sheep is described by Dr. Anderson, the traveler, as follows: "The flocks of all the Tartar hordes resemble one another, by having a large yellow muzzle, the under jaw ofien projecting beyond the upper; by having long hanging ears, and by the horns of the adult ram being large, spiral, wrinkled, angular, or bent in a lunar form. They have slender legs in proportion to their bodies, a high chest, large hanging testicles, and tolerably fine wool mixed with hair. The body of the ram, and sometimes of the ewe, swells gradually with fat towards the posteriors, where a solid mass is formed on the rump, and falls over the anus in place of a tail, divided into two hemispheres, which take the form of the hips, with a little button of a tail in the middle, to be felt by the finger."

There is, also, a hornless variety of the fat-rumped sheep. The annexed cut is a correct portrait of a hornless fat-rumped Persian ram, which belonged to the Zoological Society of London. Sheep of this breed oft:m weigh as much as 200 pounds : and this may be considered as the largest of the unimproved breeds. The soft, oily fat, which forms on the rump, often amounts to from 20 to 40 lbs. In the neighborhood of Caucasus and Taurida, the hind quarters of the sheep are salted as hams, and sent in large quantities to the northern parts of Turkey.

It appears from the above description, that the fat-rumped sheep, in some parts of Russia, bears a fineish fleece; but generally it is coarse, and is much mixed with hair, and is only fit tor inferior manufactures. They are very hardy, notwithstanding their bad forms.

This breed of sheep is found, in its purest state, in the deserts of Great Tartary — no other variety being near to contaminate its blood. It reaches far into the interior, and northern parts of Russia, and is much disseminated in China, Persia, Thibet, Hindos:an, Aski Minor, and Eastern Africa. It is found in Palestine in greater numbers than any other breed — the largest proportion of the sheep of Northern Asia being of this description.

It is supposed by some persons, and it is not impossible, that this breed may be the same which was bred by the Patriarchs injhe days of Abraham and Moses. It is said that, " Moses took the fat, and the rump, and all the fat which was upon the inwards, and burnt them upon the altar, for a burnt offering." And these words seem to indicate a similarity in the shapes of the ancient and present breeds of Western Asia.

The causes of the peculiar deposition of fat upon the tail and rump of different breeds of sheep, will probably ever be a mystery. Fat is a secreted tissue which intermingles with, and surrounds the muscular pans, and envelopes the viscera within the body. Ordinarily, it is dispersed throughout the body; but in many of the sheep of the above mentioned countries, it accumulates principally upon the rump or tail. Professor Pallas conjectures that this character arises, in the fat-rumped sheep, from their feeding upon the to

ASIATIC AND AFRICAN SHEEP.

bitter and saline plants, found upon the borders of the Caspian and Black seas. And he asserts, that when they are removed from the places where these plants grow, the fatty excrescence becomes less. But, as the fat-tailed and fat-rumped sheep are varieties which are widely dispersed, it seems more probable that they may have been produced by accident, and may also have been perpetuated by accident, design, or fancy.

ISM ft mm

W

BROAD-TAILED SHEEP.

" This race of sheep is more extensively diffused than any other; it is found throughout Asia and a great part of Africa, as well as through the north-eastern parts of Europe. They differ as the ordinary European race, in the nature of their covering. In Madagascar, and in some other hot climates, they are hairy ; at the Cape of Good Hope, ihey are covered with coarse, hard wool ; in the Levant, their wool is extremely fine. These sheep are generally larger than those of Europe, in which circumstance only, and the form and size of their tails, they differ from them."

" The broad-tailed sheep are of three species: In the one species, the tail is not only broad, but long." Dr. Russel, in his history of Aleppo, gives the following account of it, as it appears in Syria : " The dead weight of one of these sheep will amount to 50 or 60 lbs., of which the tail makes up 15 or 16 lbs.; but some of the largest, that have been fattened with care, weigh 150 lbs., the tail alone composing one-third of the whole weight. This broad, flattish tail is mostly covered with long wool, and becoming very small at the extremity, turns up. Animals of this extraordinary size, (150 lbs.) are, however, very rare, and are kept up in yards, so as to be in little danger of hurting their tails from the brushes. The shepherds, in several places in Syria, fix a thin piece of board to the under part, which is not like the rest, covered with wool, and to this board are sometimes added small wheels,"

This necessity of carriages for the tails of African sheep, is mentioned by Herodotus. Rudolphus, and others; and, from this circumstance, it appears that this is a very ancient breed of sheep.

'• Another species have the tail broad and flat, but not very long, covered with wool above, but smooth below, and divided by a furrow into two lobes of flesh. These are also said to weigh (in some cases) above thirty pounds."

'* In a third species, a small, thin tail projects from the centre of this fleshy excrescence." " The composition of this excrescence (of the tail), is said to be a mixture of flesh with a great proportion of fat, and to be very delicate food. But the animal has little other fat, the tail being in him the repository of that fat which lays about the loins of other sheep. In cold climates, the fat of the tail resembles suet ; but in warm ones, as at the Cape of Good Hope, Madagascar, &c, it is so soft that, when melted, it will not harden again." — (Livingston.)

Dr. Russell says : M It is entirely composed of a substance between marrow and fat, serving very often in the kitchen instead of butter, and cut into small pieces, makes an ingredient in various dishes."

Mr, Wilde, in his narrative, makes the following observations upon a variety of this breed of sheep, and thtiir management in Palestine : " These sheep are of a peculiar, and very handsome breed : are mostly low sized : the fore parts of their bodies are of a fawn color, the hinder parts white : they have long, pendent, silken ears, and sweeping tails : their faces more oval and longer than the species in these countries, and they have altogether a more pleasing, docile, and mild expression.

" It is almost incredible, the influence that the shepherds of Palestine possess over .heir flocks. Many of them have no dogs, but a word is sufficient to make them understand and obey the will of their shepherd. He sleeps among them at night, and in the morning leads them to pasture, always walking before them, guiding them to those places where they can enjoy the best food, and resting, when they have obtained a sufficiency; or, during the heat of the day, in some cool, shady place, where they all immediately lie down around him.

" Shortly after leaving the city, we met several flocks of sheep, preceded by their shepherds, walking towards Jerusalem. These Arabs, clad in the turbans and simple abbas worn by their class, and carrying a wooden crock in their hands, walked in front. After the sheep came some young goats and lambs, and the whole procession closed with about two dozen patriarchal looking goats, which brought up the rear. These goats have long horns, and pendent ears, that hang almost to the ground ; and their hair is a glossy black of the finest grain. These shepherds are often to be seen about sunset, slowly approaching the city from all sides, to seek shelter for their flocks, during the night, in some of the deep vallies with which it is surrounded, carrying the iambs in their bosoms. He has generally two or three favorite lambs, which do not mix with the flock, but follow close at his side, frisking and fondling about him like dogs. Indeed, the degree of intelligence that exists between the Arab and his flock, is truly astonishing. M They know his voice and follow him," and " ho careth for the sheep." It was probably to such shepherds as these, that the angel announced the glad tidings of the Saviour's birth. And as I met them walking towards Jerusalem, the full force of all the beautiful imagery, «cmd the many touching similes, derived from such scenes and associations, and so often alluded to, came vividly before me."