Many peaple not involved with farming have an interest with sheep, especially, the strong following of spinning and dyeing wool for making many wonderful items of clothing. Dyeing wool is an ancient, fascinating subject, which requires knowledge of plants and other medium for colouring and it seems the fun is with the experimentation to find that suitable colour before the spun wool is made into items of clothing,
Sheep in East Lothian, Late 18th century
The following is a marvellous account of sheep husbandry from the more northern parts of Britain which gives us a small insight into the flock-mastery of two hundred years ago.
From the account of the district of Lammermuir, in East Lothian, drawn up in 1794, from the communications of several farmers. (originally intended for the East Lothian agricultural survey, but was afterwards withdrawn).
“The dependence of the Lammermuir farmers is upon their sheep flocks, which engage their principal attention. The kind bred, and perhaps best adapted to the pasture and climate, are the black faced sheep, carrying wool of far superior quality to the Tweedale sheep…yet it is presumed the present hardy and active breed will be found most profitable upon such grounds as Lammermuir. At the same time, trials are making of the Cheviot breed, and it is said with a promising appearance of success.
It is always the wish of every Lammermuir farmer to have his sheep divided into three flocks, if the size of his farm will admit, and a distinct portion of ground set apart for each. 1st the ewe flock, for whom is appropriated all the lowest and best grass fields: at the same time, it is reckoned good management, to allow them once a day, to go to the heights, ’where the heather grows’, in which they seem to take great delight. The force of custom is so strong with these animals, that, when once used to this poor plant, they will of themselves draw off once a-day to it from the best grasses. Allowing them to do so, is supposed to rear the healthiest sheep, and best feeders.
2ndy, The hogs, or weaned lambs, demand the farmer’s next attention. These require a deep earthy field, covered with strong grass, which will stand a considerable degree of frost before it breaks down. This is provincially styled a hog-fence. and is saved from the middle of June to the middle of August, at which time the lambs are removed to it.
3dly the coarsest and lowest grounds are by these means reserved for the yeld sheep, viz. Dinmonts and wedders; and each of these flocks require an experienced shepherd to attend them.
About the 12th April is the time the Ewes generally begin to Lamb. At that time particular attention is necessary…When the lambs are three weeks old; the males are castrated, reserving a few of the best for Tups. About the end of June, the whole sheep are washed and clipped; and the lambs are weaned and sent to pasture upon a portion of ground saved from the Whit Sunday for that purpose, where they remain till removed to the ground reserved for their winter pasture. When the sheep are to be washed, great care is necessary not to overheat them when driving to the pool; as fatal effects are often occasioned to flocks by plunging them too warm into the water.
About the first of November is the time when the sheep are smeared; the salve used for that purpose, is 1 pint of tarr, and 2 pounds of butter, for 8 or 9 sheep. The farmer is attentive to have this operation carefully performed, from a dread of the hazardous consequences of an imperfect salving.
The draft ewes are sold sometimes in the month of October, but most generally during the spring months. Every farmer, who wishes to have good stock, pays particular attention to this business, and sells, alongst with his old ewes, all those he reckons ill shaped, or carrying coarse wool. By attention to this, and careful selection of proper rams, a few years perseverance produces great alterations in a flock.
The Wedders are likewise sold about the first of April, to make room for the hogs, which are then sent to the yeld flock; the ewes, requiring both the hog pasture and their own, while the lambs are upon them.
From the 10th May to the 10th October, the ewe flock is folded during the night, but the other flocks remain, the whole season, upon the open pasture of the high grounds. The ewes are milked, from the time the lambs are taken off them, till about the middle of August; which produces a considerable quantity of cheese and butter. The cheese is both used at home , and sold to the lower parts of the country. The butter is all needed, to mix amongst the tarr, for salving the sheep”.
The late 18th century was a great era for the improvement of better farming methods by the more learned agriculturalists, they were the landowners that probably had the time and money to do so. They also extolled their ideas and methods to their tenants, who probably didn’t have the time and money to progress as their ‘masters’ would have liked them to.
At the beginning of the 1800s, agricultural publications were more numerous, and it seems that most of Britain’s farmers could read about or keep in touch with the changing practices of British farming methods, especially in those areas, which for them, would have been, ‘far off’ places, around the British Isles.
One such farming correspondent, writing about the management of the short sheep, gives us a good indication, not only of the breeds of that era, but also the change of sheep farming methods, and more importantly, breeding of sheep to suit the land on which they were kept.
“Of all the animals which this country produces, none is of more public utility, or private advantage than the sheep. Considering the mountainous range , the coarseness, and otherwise uselessness of the pasture on which it feeds; and the little expence necessary in managing, and keeping up a flock, when compared to its real value, it may surely be reckoned the most valuable animal that these kingdoms can boast of…Such is the range for ameliorating the quality of wool…that a purchase is annually made of cheviot rams for crossing the ancient, or Forest breed; (The Forest breed, Linton breed, or short sheep, are all different appellations of one kind. They are called the Forest breed, from their being found in great plenty and perfection in the county of the forest-the Linton breed from the district around, and a weekly market held there in July, which is chiefly composed of that kind; and the short sheep, to distinguish them from the Cheviet Breed, that is much longer in the body) but it is not possible, considering the nature of the animal, soil and climate, that they can ever have a flock equal in healthiness, and hardiness, to that they are now resolved on the destruction of. I pointedly assert, that to lay the forest breed upon a farm where the soil is dry, and the exposure warm, argues as much ignorance in farming, as laying the Cheviot kind upon a high, wet, stormy pasture, indicates imprudence; for it is absolutely certain (though the current report, and opinion of the times says otherwise), that the Cheviot breed neither will, nor can feed upon such coarse pasture as the forest breed… The cheviot breed are remarkably fond of pasturing on soft tathy places, but have an unconquerable aversion to feeding upon strong coarse meat.- they are very indolent, and, when snow is upon the ground, their utmost exertion is to occupy such places as have been broken by the natives,- they shrink dispirited from the sleety blasts of spring, while the short sheep set out with great activity for the mosses, where they gather such clean and wholesome quick meat as soon re-invigorates their exhausted strength.
The lambs from which a stock is to be raised, should have the following qualities: They should be strong and well made, the face black, but not of a jet black, as this is apt to throw the offspring into spots; but when it is faintly intermixed with a dark white, it may be considered as the true forest breed. Faces that are clean white, or of a dun colour, are by all means tobe avoided; the former being allied either to the Cheviot breed, or to the old Scotch kind, the latter having a tendency to deteriorate the breed beyond that any can conceive. ( For example, a black or spotted ewe will have a lamb nothing discoloured; its produce again will still be white, but, in the fourth or fifth generation its propensity to throw after its black or spotted ancestor will be invincible, and will continue for a series of years, to the colour change to that of the rest of the flock) The greater the similarity in colour betwixt the face and legs, the truer is the kind, let it be of what description it will. The forehead should be rough, the horns should be well turned, and the ribs arched; and indeed the horns and ribs naturally bend in the same position…To have the sheep equally clothed is a principle article, as the wool is apt to turn short upon the shoulder; as it announces that such individuals and their offspring will degenerate into long-bodied small fore-quartered animals; and inclines me to think that this is their form in an undomesticated state, as it requires care and attention to keep them from reverting to it.
But as it is principally from the ram that a flock receives its general mould and shape, the selection of a right kind is far from being unimportant…If a farmer wishes to keep the forest breed entire, wool must not be even a subordinate consideration”
.
Other farmers were more in favour of the recent crosses and improvement of various sheep breeds, and one such farmer wrote in a popular agricultural magazine in 1802:
“The new Leicesters are very far from being a coarse grained breed: the old Lincolnshire breed is certainly so…I am firmly persuaded, that the mutton of the new Leicesters is equally as fine grained and marbled, as that of any mountain sheep whatever. I do not pretend to say that this mutton is so fine flavoured, but I presume, that the mountain sheep are indebted to the kind of herbage which they are depastured on, and also to the age they are kept to, for that particularity. Besides, I neither know how the farmers in England would be able to pay their much advanced rents at this time, nor how the numerous classes of coal-heavers, miners, or manufacturers, etc, spread through every part of Great Britain, would be supplied and supported with animal food, were it not for this invaluable breed of sheep, for which this island is so much indebted to the memorable Mr Bakewell…that the fat is frequently cut off from the surface of these animals, but not by the butchers before they bring it to the market, for the purpose of making soap and candles, but is taken from off the fattest parts by these said manufacturers , then shred and put into dumplings, a most nutritive, excellent, and I am persuaded, wholesome dish, of which I have eaten many a time with great pleasure, and with a natural, unvitiated appetite, produced by hard working. Nay I can tell him more, that the writer, when hungary from the plough, has frequently dipped toasted bread into the drippings of this delicious mutton, whilst roasting at the fire, and then eat the bread with pleasure and avidity”
Sheep in East Lothian, Late 18th century
The following is a marvellous account of sheep husbandry from the more northern parts of Britain which gives us a small insight into the flock-mastery of two hundred years ago.
From the account of the district of Lammermuir, in East Lothian, drawn up in 1794, from the communications of several farmers. (originally intended for the East Lothian agricultural survey, but was afterwards withdrawn).
“The dependence of the Lammermuir farmers is upon their sheep flocks, which engage their principal attention. The kind bred, and perhaps best adapted to the pasture and climate, are the black faced sheep, carrying wool of far superior quality to the Tweedale sheep…yet it is presumed the present hardy and active breed will be found most profitable upon such grounds as Lammermuir. At the same time, trials are making of the Cheviot breed, and it is said with a promising appearance of success.
It is always the wish of every Lammermuir farmer to have his sheep divided into three flocks, if the size of his farm will admit, and a distinct portion of ground set apart for each. 1st the ewe flock, for whom is appropriated all the lowest and best grass fields: at the same time, it is reckoned good management, to allow them once a day, to go to the heights, ’where the heather grows’, in which they seem to take great delight. The force of custom is so strong with these animals, that, when once used to this poor plant, they will of themselves draw off once a-day to it from the best grasses. Allowing them to do so, is supposed to rear the healthiest sheep, and best feeders.
2ndy, The hogs, or weaned lambs, demand the farmer’s next attention. These require a deep earthy field, covered with strong grass, which will stand a considerable degree of frost before it breaks down. This is provincially styled a hog-fence. and is saved from the middle of June to the middle of August, at which time the lambs are removed to it.
3dly the coarsest and lowest grounds are by these means reserved for the yeld sheep, viz. Dinmonts and wedders; and each of these flocks require an experienced shepherd to attend them.
About the 12th April is the time the Ewes generally begin to Lamb. At that time particular attention is necessary…When the lambs are three weeks old; the males are castrated, reserving a few of the best for Tups. About the end of June, the whole sheep are washed and clipped; and the lambs are weaned and sent to pasture upon a portion of ground saved from the Whit Sunday for that purpose, where they remain till removed to the ground reserved for their winter pasture. When the sheep are to be washed, great care is necessary not to overheat them when driving to the pool; as fatal effects are often occasioned to flocks by plunging them too warm into the water.
About the first of November is the time when the sheep are smeared; the salve used for that purpose, is 1 pint of tarr, and 2 pounds of butter, for 8 or 9 sheep. The farmer is attentive to have this operation carefully performed, from a dread of the hazardous consequences of an imperfect salving.
The draft ewes are sold sometimes in the month of October, but most generally during the spring months. Every farmer, who wishes to have good stock, pays particular attention to this business, and sells, alongst with his old ewes, all those he reckons ill shaped, or carrying coarse wool. By attention to this, and careful selection of proper rams, a few years perseverance produces great alterations in a flock.
The Wedders are likewise sold about the first of April, to make room for the hogs, which are then sent to the yeld flock; the ewes, requiring both the hog pasture and their own, while the lambs are upon them.
From the 10th May to the 10th October, the ewe flock is folded during the night, but the other flocks remain, the whole season, upon the open pasture of the high grounds. The ewes are milked, from the time the lambs are taken off them, till about the middle of August; which produces a considerable quantity of cheese and butter. The cheese is both used at home , and sold to the lower parts of the country. The butter is all needed, to mix amongst the tarr, for salving the sheep”.
The late 18th century was a great era for the improvement of better farming methods by the more learned agriculturalists, they were the landowners that probably had the time and money to do so. They also extolled their ideas and methods to their tenants, who probably didn’t have the time and money to progress as their ‘masters’ would have liked them to.
At the beginning of the 1800s, agricultural publications were more numerous, and it seems that most of Britain’s farmers could read about or keep in touch with the changing practices of British farming methods, especially in those areas, which for them, would have been, ‘far off’ places, around the British Isles.
One such farming correspondent, writing about the management of the short sheep, gives us a good indication, not only of the breeds of that era, but also the change of sheep farming methods, and more importantly, breeding of sheep to suit the land on which they were kept.
“Of all the animals which this country produces, none is of more public utility, or private advantage than the sheep. Considering the mountainous range , the coarseness, and otherwise uselessness of the pasture on which it feeds; and the little expence necessary in managing, and keeping up a flock, when compared to its real value, it may surely be reckoned the most valuable animal that these kingdoms can boast of…Such is the range for ameliorating the quality of wool…that a purchase is annually made of cheviot rams for crossing the ancient, or Forest breed; (The Forest breed, Linton breed, or short sheep, are all different appellations of one kind. They are called the Forest breed, from their being found in great plenty and perfection in the county of the forest-the Linton breed from the district around, and a weekly market held there in July, which is chiefly composed of that kind; and the short sheep, to distinguish them from the Cheviet Breed, that is much longer in the body) but it is not possible, considering the nature of the animal, soil and climate, that they can ever have a flock equal in healthiness, and hardiness, to that they are now resolved on the destruction of. I pointedly assert, that to lay the forest breed upon a farm where the soil is dry, and the exposure warm, argues as much ignorance in farming, as laying the Cheviot kind upon a high, wet, stormy pasture, indicates imprudence; for it is absolutely certain (though the current report, and opinion of the times says otherwise), that the Cheviot breed neither will, nor can feed upon such coarse pasture as the forest breed… The cheviot breed are remarkably fond of pasturing on soft tathy places, but have an unconquerable aversion to feeding upon strong coarse meat.- they are very indolent, and, when snow is upon the ground, their utmost exertion is to occupy such places as have been broken by the natives,- they shrink dispirited from the sleety blasts of spring, while the short sheep set out with great activity for the mosses, where they gather such clean and wholesome quick meat as soon re-invigorates their exhausted strength.
The lambs from which a stock is to be raised, should have the following qualities: They should be strong and well made, the face black, but not of a jet black, as this is apt to throw the offspring into spots; but when it is faintly intermixed with a dark white, it may be considered as the true forest breed. Faces that are clean white, or of a dun colour, are by all means tobe avoided; the former being allied either to the Cheviot breed, or to the old Scotch kind, the latter having a tendency to deteriorate the breed beyond that any can conceive. ( For example, a black or spotted ewe will have a lamb nothing discoloured; its produce again will still be white, but, in the fourth or fifth generation its propensity to throw after its black or spotted ancestor will be invincible, and will continue for a series of years, to the colour change to that of the rest of the flock) The greater the similarity in colour betwixt the face and legs, the truer is the kind, let it be of what description it will. The forehead should be rough, the horns should be well turned, and the ribs arched; and indeed the horns and ribs naturally bend in the same position…To have the sheep equally clothed is a principle article, as the wool is apt to turn short upon the shoulder; as it announces that such individuals and their offspring will degenerate into long-bodied small fore-quartered animals; and inclines me to think that this is their form in an undomesticated state, as it requires care and attention to keep them from reverting to it.
But as it is principally from the ram that a flock receives its general mould and shape, the selection of a right kind is far from being unimportant…If a farmer wishes to keep the forest breed entire, wool must not be even a subordinate consideration”
.
Other farmers were more in favour of the recent crosses and improvement of various sheep breeds, and one such farmer wrote in a popular agricultural magazine in 1802:
“The new Leicesters are very far from being a coarse grained breed: the old Lincolnshire breed is certainly so…I am firmly persuaded, that the mutton of the new Leicesters is equally as fine grained and marbled, as that of any mountain sheep whatever. I do not pretend to say that this mutton is so fine flavoured, but I presume, that the mountain sheep are indebted to the kind of herbage which they are depastured on, and also to the age they are kept to, for that particularity. Besides, I neither know how the farmers in England would be able to pay their much advanced rents at this time, nor how the numerous classes of coal-heavers, miners, or manufacturers, etc, spread through every part of Great Britain, would be supplied and supported with animal food, were it not for this invaluable breed of sheep, for which this island is so much indebted to the memorable Mr Bakewell…that the fat is frequently cut off from the surface of these animals, but not by the butchers before they bring it to the market, for the purpose of making soap and candles, but is taken from off the fattest parts by these said manufacturers , then shred and put into dumplings, a most nutritive, excellent, and I am persuaded, wholesome dish, of which I have eaten many a time with great pleasure, and with a natural, unvitiated appetite, produced by hard working. Nay I can tell him more, that the writer, when hungary from the plough, has frequently dipped toasted bread into the drippings of this delicious mutton, whilst roasting at the fire, and then eat the bread with pleasure and avidity”
Shepherds and shepherding is the most well known and romanticized subject in farming and animal husbandry. Knowledgeable sheep husbandry goes back many centuries, but it's not realy untill the eighteenth century that breeds were brought on to a higher level of perfection, producing a better quality wool and meat.
vermont merino 1890s
Shepherd Tom Jones on the Glamorgan hills
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Preserving rural bygones
Preserving rural bygones
Shepherding
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