New Sheep for Old- Changesin Sheep Farming in Hampshire, 1792-I 879" By G G S BOWIE

URING the period I79Z-I879 an large an item, in the annual expenditure of his intensive system of sheep husbandry household, as butcher's meat; and milk and D was developed on the chalk down- vegetables . . . If he looks back for thirty lands of Wessex. This involved the extinc- years he will find that this difference has been tion of most of the traditional sheep breeds gradually increasing. With the great mass of which no longer suited the system of consumers, bread still forms the chief article husbandry and the creation, through of consumption. But in the manufacturing selective breeding, of a completely new districts where wages are good, the use of sheep, the Hampshire Down. The narrative butcher's meat and cheese is enormously on concentrates on changes in Hampshire the increase.'4 In 1878 it was stated that the because the county had been regarded as a price of beef had increased 32 per cent major 'breeding country of sheep' since at between 1853 and I873, and mutton 43 per least the late seventeenth century. I The date cent in the same period, s Indeed it has been 1792 is significant as the probable date of the suggested that this latter 'Golden Age' in introduction of the first Southdown flock in English farming was not so much under- Hampshire, and 1879 as a year when the pinned by a 'favourable trend in prices for cereal harvest failed, there was a severe wheat' as by a 'rising trend of livestock outbreak of sheep liver fluke, and the prices'. 6 sheep-corn 'mixed farming' system began to break down with the contraction of arable cultivation and in the acreage under roots. 2 I The main reason for the improvements in The traditional sheep breeds found on the sheep farming was an increasing demand for chalk downs were sturdy and active. At the meat, and mutton in particular. In I813 beginning of the nineteenth century the Old Thomas Davis stated that in Wiltshire 'some Hampshire was described as horned, tall, years ago' sheep had not been considered light and narrow in the carcase, with white eatable till 4-6 years old, but that now face and shanks; v the Old Wiltshire was said three-quarters were killed before 2 years old to be tall, Roman-nosed, with long curly to meet the supply 'for the increasing horns; 8 and the Berkshire Nott had a similar demand for mutton'.3 James Caird conformation but was hornless and emphasized the increasing consumption of generally dark faced. 9 These breeds were meat in England in 1852. 'The consumption of bread in a farmer's family is not half so 4j Caird, English Agriculture in 185o-51, 1852, p 484 . J A Clarke, 'Practical Agriculture',jRASE, ser a, XIV, 1878, p476; * I am grateful to EJ T Collins, M A Havinden, B AFton, M L Ryder for E L Jones, 'The Changing Basis of Agricultural Prosperity, their comments on earlier versions of this article. x853-73', Ag Hist Rev, X, 1962, ptos. "Jones, 1968, Ioccit, p 19. Edward Lisle, Observations in Husbandry, 11, t757, p t58. 7 A &Wm Driver, General View ofthe AgricuhureofHampshire, t 794, g " E LJones, 'Eighteenth Century Changes in Hamp.qfire Chalkland 23. Farming', Ag Hist Rev, VIII, 196o, p I6; 'The Development of s C Vancouver, General View of the Agriculture of Hampshire, x8 to, p English Agriculture, 18 x5-73', Studies in EconomicHistory, 1968, p 366; W C Spooner, 'On Cross Breeding',jRASE, XX, x859, p "99. 21. '; Wm Mavor, General ViewoftheAgricultureqfBerkshire, 18o9, p381; J Thomas Davis, General View of the Agriculture ofWihshire, 1813, P Wm Youatt, Sheep, Their Breeds, Mana~!ementand Diseases, 1837, p 207 . 24I. 15 I6 THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW

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PLATES I AND 2 Two of the traditional sheep of the Chalk Downlands, the Old Wiltshire with its long curly horns; and the hornless Berkshire Nott. Sources: ~ William Youatt, The Complete Grazier, I4th ed, ;9oo, fig ~~9; z William Mayor, General View... Berkshire, ~8o9, facing p 38~.

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PLATE 3 PLATE 4 Hampshire Down Fat Wethers A Hampshire Down flock feedingon trefolium, I920s Source: J Wrightson, Sheep Breeds & Management, 1895, facing p 62. (Museum of English Rural Life) noted for their 'hardihood of constitution', animal is docile, hardy, suited to folding, and folded well, possessed 'early maturity of capable of living on scanty pastures. 'I-" The growth' and were excellent as droving distinctive features of the breed were the animals. ~o The Dorset Horn breed was said ewes' ability to take the ram at any time of the to be superior to the Old Wiltshire and year, their excellence as mothers, their Hampshire sheep, being 'shorter in the legs, propensity to have twin lambs and their with a more compact frame and a rounder fitness for droving. X3 Their drawback was barrel', ix In I86o they are described as said to be the somewhat 'inferior character 'horned, both in male and female, the horns both of the mutton and wool', x4 Amongst of the male are especially twisted- the faces the first of the 'improved' breeds was the and legs are white, limbs long, shoulders Southdown or Sussex Down, pure flocks of low, and the loins deep and broad... The .2 j Donaldson, British Agriculture, 186o, p 462. '° Clarke, Ioccit, pp 562-3. z3 L H Ruegg, 'Farming ofDorsetshire',jRASE, XV, 1854, p 43 I. " Spooner, Ioecit, p 307. .4 Spooner, Ioc tit. NEW SHEEP FOR OLD B CHANGES IN SHEEP FARMING IN HAMPSHIRE, 1792-1879 17 which were established in Hampshire in the Old Hampshire and the Berkshire Nott were first few years of the nineteenth century. certainly extinct by 1837.~9 The Dorset From the beginning, owning a flock of Horn breed, because it has characteristics Southdowns implied a certain social status, which have been useful to the sheep farmer and the breed was 'in favour with gentlemen over the years, remains today. A type of farming their own estates, for the finer sheep known as the Hampshire West quality of the mutton', is There were other Country or West Down was being bred by considerations which favoured the South- 183o. They were something like the later down. It was an economical feeder, and Hampshire Down; but smaller, narrower at one-third more could be stocked on a given the fore-end and lighter in colour. 2° The acreage than was possible with the 'old Hampshire Down name appears to have breeds'. Some extravagant claims were been first used in print in I844, but the breed made in this respect, and in I792 William was not recognized by the Royal Agricul- Pawlett of Kings Somborne was said to have tural Society until I86I. "I The breed was changed from keeping less than 60o Old 'fixed' from diverse foundation stock, Wiltshires to 12oo Southdowns on his 8o0 although exactly how is not clear for two acres, i6 related reasons. First, many breeders were The main objections to the Southdown in secretive about their experiments because of the early nineteenth century, its relatively a natural desire to be one ahead of slow growth and small size at maturity, competitors and rivals, and second, because caused the more adventurous farmers and there were so many farmers and breeders in flockmasters to experiment with cross- Hampshire and surrounding counties who breeding. They were, 'with varying results were trying to improve the breed at this according to the different flocks crossed, and time. 22 the judgement exercised in selection and Nevertheless, three particularly influen- matching', united with the size, early tial breeders may be recognized. John maturity of growth and hardihood of Twynam of Manor Farm, near Whitchurch, constitution of the old Hampshire and Hampshire, began crossing his Hampshire Wiltshire breeds, t7 Contemporary writers flock, already improved by Southdown were uncertain about what was happening in blood, with Cotswold rams in about 1829. this respect in the first thirty years of the The resulting half-bred rams were compact nineteenth century. One writer said, 'It will and 'blocky' with something of the Cots- be difficult to trace the crossing which could wold fleece. From 1835-36 they were sold produce the short-legged, round-barrelled 'not only into Hampshire Down flocks animal that is now found, content with short generally, but into those of six or eight of our pasture and easily fattened,' and another first ram breeders'. 23 William Humfrey of contented himself with saying that the old Cold Ash near Newbury in Berkshire was flocks were bred out as a result of crossing said to be largely responsible for 'fixing' the 'again and again with Southdowns'.I8 The characteristics of the Hampshire Down. He last flock of the Old Wiltshire breed is said to formed his flock in 1834 by buying the best have disappeared in about 1819, whilst the West Down sheep that he could find. In 1842 he began to hire Southdown rams from Mr ,sj Wilkinson, 'The Farming ofHampshi're',jRASE, XXII; 186x, p 296. Jonas Webb ofBabraham, Cambridgeshire, '¢' Vancouver, op tit, p 367;Jones, 196o, Ioccit, p 16. ,9 Youatt, op cir. ,7 Clarke, loc cit, pp 562-3; see also J B Lawes, 'Report of ~oj Wrightson, Sheep Breeds and Management, Livestock Handbook Experiments on the Comparative Fattening Qualities of No. I, 1895, PP 54-5. Different Breeds of Sheep', jRASE, XII, 185x, p 415; these -" W H R Curtler, 'Agriculture', Victoria County History: sources are at variance with R Trow-Smith, A Histo~ of British Hampshire, V, Wm Page, ed, 19IZ, p 507. Livestock Husbandry, 17oo-19oo, I959, p z76. ..a Spooner, Ioccit, pp 3oo--m. ,s Youatt, op tit; Spooner, Ioccit, p 3oo. ~J Clarke, Ioccit, p 564; Trow-Smith, op tit, p 279. I8 THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW the leading Southdown breeder at the time. practice was to keep the sheep almost wholly During the next few years he bred in the most on hill pastures during the daytime through- masculine and robust of his own cross-bred out the greater part of the year, and at night to rams 'with the largest Hampshire Down fold them on the fallow land where, during ewes I could meet with that suited my the winter, they were given an allowance of fancy'. ~4 Writing in 1859 William Humfrey hay. These sheep were regarded as the best continues, 'It has succeeded hitherto beyond manure carriers for light lands, 'which were what I could have expected. My object has by this means alone kept in a state of been to produce a Down sheep of large size fertility'. 3° with good quality of flesh, and possessing Watermeadows, a feature of these chalk sufficient strength and hardiness to retain its downlands since the early seventeenth condition while exposed in rough and bad century, were closely linked with sheep weather to consume the root crops on our husbandry. 3t Their construction may be cold, dirty hills. ,=s William Humfrey's work said to represent the first effort actually to was continued by James Rawlence who grow food for sheep, and as such they were farmed at Bulbridge near Salisbury in regarded as an 'invaluable adjunct to every Wiltshire. Rawlence provided the founda- down farm'. Sheep were the link between tion stock for many famous pedigree flocks watermeadows and arable farming, and of Hampshire Downs as well as helping to flocks were generally folded on them from establish a flock book in 1890. 26 By this about Lady Day, 25 March, some six weeks period the Hampshire Down was the before grass was available for pasture on 'heaviest of all the Down breeds', and was ordinary dry meadows. 32 Flocks spent the noted for its 'extreme earliness of daytime on the watermeadows, and were maturity'. -'v It was short legged and 'blocky' folded on the fallowed arable land at night. with a good level back, and the shoulder, top They were kept on the watermeadows for and breast were wide. It had a big head with a only 6-7 weeks - if longer the sheep risked Roman nose, the snout was brownish black becoming, infected with liver rot. This was with dark flashing to the eyes, and the ears not a long period, but it was a critical time for were dark and long, gradually sloping away the stockbreeder, and Arthur Young extols from the head. ~8 The breed has retained these 'this spring eatage, which is often of such characteristics to the present day. vast importance to flockmasters, supplying them with plenty of food at the most II pinching season of the year'.33 The meadows Sheep flocks were the 'pivot of Chalkland were then repaired and again watered in husbandry' in the eighteenth century. 9 The order to provide a hay crop in June/July. greater part of the chalk downland soils of John Wilkinson effectively summed up the Hampshire, Wiltshire, Dorset and Berkshire advantages of watermeadows when he were poor in their natural state and were wrote: 'if it be spring the sheep are on the dependent upon sheep dung for "their watermeadows by day and on the arable... fertility. Without sheep the downland soils by night; if it be winter they are served with would have become rapidly exhausted and watermeadow hay night and morning'. 34 almost useless for arable farming. The usual J° Wilkinson, Ioc tit, p 295. -'4 Trow-Smith, opcit, p 305; Wrightson, op tit, p 54. .u j H Bettey, 'The Development of Water Meadows in Dorset :5 Spooner, Ioc cit, p 305. During the Seventeenth Century', Ag Hist Rev, XXV, pt I, a6 The Hampshire Down Flock Book, 1, E P Squarey &J E Rawlence x977, p 43; E Kerridge, 'The Floating of the WiItshire Water (eds), I89o, pp xii-xv. Meadows', Wiltshire Archaeological & Nalural Histor), Ma~azine, :v Wrightson, op tit, p 6L LV, no t99, 1953, p I 1 I; Wilkinson, Ioc tit, pp 288-9. :s Wm Youatt, The Complete Gtnzier, Wm Fream, ed, 14th ed, >" Vancouver, op oil, pp 269-70. t 90o, p 490. 33 A Young, Annals qfAgriculture, XXIII, 1795, p 266. a9 Jones, 196o, Ioc cit, p 5. a4 Wilkinson, Ioc cit, p 29o.

i _ i ...... NEW SHEEP FOR OLD ~ CHANGES IN SHEEP FARMING IN HAMPSHIRE, 1792-1879 19 The introduction and gradual general however, to provide feed for long after acceptance of new fodder crops was also Christmas, and during February and March important. One of these improvements feeding had to be based ola an expensive hay provided better, more succulent, grass in the diet.: This hindered an increased stocking spring than hitherto, and the option of rate until Swedish turnips were tried in about grazing or cropping into late summer. This 18oo. Swedes mature during late winter, was the idea of 'temporary grasses' or have a greater food value than ordinary short-term leys which were introduced into turnips, and have been linked with the spread Hampshire in the late seventeenth century, of Southdown flocks in Hampshire at that and for these the seeds of cultivated grasses time. Mangolds were grown from about such as sheep's fescue, 'ray grass', and 18 IO in Hampshire, and were suited to loams various clovers, including hop trefoil and and heavy clay soils. They had to be matured 'saintfoin', were sown and nurtured like an in clamps before being suitable for sheep ordinary cereal crop.Z5 Such short-term leys feed, but formed a welcome addition to the were either grazed by livestock or cut for ewes' diet in early spring. The problem of the hay, and after between one and about ten shortage of sheep food between November years the land was returned to the general and April was gradually being solved. This rotation. A clover ley appreciably improved was reflected in the decline during the the fertility of the soil by increasing the eighteen-thirties and forties in the practice of amount of nitrogen in it and so benefiting the overwintering downland sheep on good succeeding crop. Within this group the lowland pasture, a practice akin to trans- perennial sainfoin was particularly able to humance. Such overwintering involved the thrive on chalk downland soils, and by the 'great flockmasters in the down districts' in mid-nineteenth century its cultivation was sending their ewe lambs 'for six months regarded as a 'leading feature in chalk keep, from the beginning of October to the farming'. Indeed 'out of the reach of beginning of April' to areas such as the watermeadows, no flockmaster could Hampshire/Dorset Avon vale. Thereafter dispense with it'. It was said to be more the 'increase . . . on the downs of winter reliable for hay and summer feed than other feed, by means of increased turnip culti- clovers, and give a better yield. It was vation', encouraged the flockmasters to keep generally sown under barley, was good for their sheep at home. 39 up to four years, and was then followed by a There was an improvement in crop wheat crop. A seventh or eighth part of the rotations as the old summer and winter arable land was laid down to sainfoin, and it fallows were gradually replaced. In 181o was brought 'round again' in 8-I 5 years. 3~ Charles Vancouver described the 'old A wide range of fodder crops came into husbandry' of winter and summer fallow for general use during this time. The 'common wheat, then barley or oats, followed with white' turnip was tried as a field crop in grass for two years, as 'annually giving way' Hampshire in the early eighteenth century, to a short summer fallow for wheat followed and was seen to be very useful for feed during by 'turnips, barley and seeds, with wheat the late autumn and early winter. 37 It was not again upon the clover lay'. 4° This develop- sufficiently 'winter hardy' or frost resistant, ment was closely related to the enclosure of the open downland, and between 18oo and ss C Lane, 'The 13evdopment of Pastures and Meadows during 1820 over 5o,ooo acres of land was enclosed the 16th and 17th Centuries', Ag Hist Roy, XXVIII, t98o, pp 20"--7. 31, Lisle, op cit, l, 1757, pp 2o8-9; Thomas Hale, A Co,nplete Body of Husbandry, 1756, p 445; Lane, Ioc cit, pp 27-8; Wilkinson, Ioc tit, p 3s j M Wilson, Farmers' Dictionar),, If, nd, p 539. 294. 3,~ Jo,les, 196o, Ioc tit, pp 16-17; Wilkinson, Ioc tit, p 286. J7 Lisle, op cit, II, p 35. 40 Va,lcouver, op tit, p t39. 20 THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW in Hampshire through Acts of Parliament. 4t fertilize arable lands for cereal crops, but also Enclosure encouraged improvement by became increasingly important as producers allowing selective breeding which was of lamb and mutton. 'The mixed agriculture difficult with common flocks on common of the early eighteen-seventies was quite fields. 'The sturdy horned wether' of the old different in aim from that of thirty or forty breeds 'was thoroughly competent to take years earlier. Then, the livestock side had care of himself when the system of feeding in been considered supportive of the arable common prevailed, but when each farmer enterprises... Now... receipts from their could keep his flock separate, an animal of stock were already much valued by many superior quality was preferred'. 42 arable men. '4s One of the triggers for the James Caird describes the chief character- increased price was the severe outbreak of istics of this type of farming as 'the breeding liver fluke during the winter of I83o-q, and of sheep and the folding of them to enrich the the subsequent shortage of mutton. Farmers ground for the production of corn... The in the Whitchurch area of Hampshire were points chiefly considered are the production said to have made 'great improvements' of wheat and barley, and to promote these during the period I83o--5 because of the the breeding and management of sheep, and encouragement given to breeding sheep, and the other operations of the farm, are were stocking their land 'harder on account subordinate.'43 Another aspect of this was of the great prices sheep bring'. 46 Some years that landlords often specified in leases and later John Twynam expressed his 'convic- tenancy agreements that a sheep flock be kept tion that our improved system of arable on the farm to ensure that the tenant farming requires, and from its altered maintained the fertility of the arable land. character will support, an improved breed of Leases could be quite detailed and specific. In sheep, a breed which in a shorter space of r 84I Sir William Heathcote required that the time on a given quantity of food will produce incoming tenant on 923 acres near Twyford, more pounds of mutton'. 47 Winchester 'shall and will.., at all times Two other related factors led to increased during the said term.., keep a good full and returns on the chalk downlands. The first sufficient stock of sheep to consist of 94o was the introduction ofoilcake feed during exclusive of lambs in the Summer months this period, where the justification for • . . from the first day of May to the first day feeding it to stock was held to be 'in the of November ... and 79o during the greatly increased value of cake-based dung Winter months exclusive of lambs'. 44 over ordinary dung... If cake paid for itself in manure rather than the greater weight of meat raised, it followed that the returns were III seen in the succeeding cereal crops. '41~ The Between about I83o and I86O there was a second factor was the introduction of change of emphasis in sheep husbandry in 'artificial' fertilizers. John Wilkinson Hampshire which may be regarded as an remarked in I86I that farmers in the expression of High Farming and High Hampshire Avon Vale country used super- Feeding. Sheep were still looked upon primarily as 'manure carriers' necessary to 4~ Jones, 1968, Ioe eit, p 22. 4~, British Sessional Papers, House of Commons (BSP), Agricultural Distress, 1837, V, f36; G E Fussell, 'Four Centuries 4, Vancouver, op tit, p 374; W E Tate, A Domesday q]" English of Farming Systems in Hampshire, 15oo--x9oo', Proceedings of the Enclosure Acts and Awards, M E Turner (ed), Reading x978, pp Hampshire Field Club & Arehaeolq¢ieal Society, XVIII, pt 3, 1952, Iz5-8. p283. 4a Spooner, Ioccit, p 300. 4:j Twynam, 'Mr Twynarn's new breed of sheep - a challenge', 43 Caird, op tit, p 59. The Farmer's Macazine, ser 2, no I, vol 1,January I84x. 44 Hampshire Record Office (HRO) I8M54, Cot'. It, Box R, "~SF L M Thompson, 'The Second Agricultural Revolution, Heathcote Estate Papers. I85O--8o', Econ Hist Rev, 2nd ser, XXI, I, x968, p 68.

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NEW SHEEP FOR OLD ~ CHANGES IN SHEEP FARMING IN HAMPSHIRE, 1792-1879 21 phosphates, bones and ashes which were at 30 months old. s2 In 1853 the Hampshire 'drilled at the time of sowing' the root crops, Down wether averaged 15 lb at only 13-15 which provided higher yields than months, in 1869 16 lb at 9 months, and in hitherto. 49 The effect of this was to provide a 1878 2o--25 lb a quarter at 12 months. 53 These better quality of root crops for sheep feed, fattening rates compared very well with and oilcake feed, indirectly administered, other sheep breeds. The average for sheep in greatly enhanced the quantity of the Britain in 1878 was 18 lb a quarter at 2I succeeding cereal crop. months, and for the Southdown wether James Rawlence observed in 1869 that 'the 18-2o lb at 13-15 months, s4 Some other chief object of his system of farming was to breeds, such as the improved Leicester and obtain as large a quantity and as continuous a the Cotswold, fattened more rapidly, and on succession of sheep food as possible'. 5° less keep, but the quality of their mutton was Frequent changes of diet were considered inferior to that of the Hampshire Down. ss necessary to encourage the sheep to eat Wool was undoubtedly a useful and continuously and put on weight, and some sometimes valuable crop during this period, very intensive feeding systems were and breeders made determined efforts over developed during this period. William the years to improve the quality and weight Fream describes the 'enviable day' of a of fleece. However the downward trend of Hampshire Down wether lamb in July prices was hardly likely to encourage radical which involved a number of changes of food change. Shortwool prices declined 1820-32, beginning with night and early morning rose until 1836 and then gradually fell away which were spent on a fold of vetches. again to 1845.56 The quality may have been Breakfast consisted of a trough full of sliced improved, but the weight of the Old mangolds and a concoction of linseed cake Hampshire and the Hampshire Down mixed with split beans, peas and malt. 'The wether fleece remained fairly constant shepherd's voice is next heard calling the between 181o and 1878 at 4-5 lb. 57 wether to cabbage, and perchance as the day declines he rests amidst the grateful and cooling shade of rape leaves towering above IV his recumbent form, while ever and anon he The advances in the technique of arable nibbles playfully at the tenderest and farming, and the continuing efforts to youngest shoots.' The lambs might be run improve the Hampshire Down breed, over a clover aftermath before being allowed the sheep farmer a range of options returned to their fold of vetches for the night. in rearing and marketing his breeding flock, Fream ends with the comment that 'under all of which had a quick turnover and offered such treatment it is no matter for surprise the possibility of high profit margins. He that the young creatures should grow could concentrate on the production of rapidly'. 5t lamb, killing at about fifteen weeks, on the Most feeding regimes were nothing like as rearing of fat wether lambs, selling them in intensive as this, but the Hampshire Down the summer or autumn of the year in which wether certainly improved as a rapid converter of sheep food into meat. In 1810 5-" Vancouver, op tit, p 366. the weight of one of its forebears, the Old sJ S Druce, 'On tile comparative profit realised with different breeds of sheep', JRASE, XIV, 1853, p at,-; Rawlence, Ioc tit, p Wiltshire, was said to average 22 lb a quarter 506; Clarke, Ioc tit, p 564 . 54 Clarke, Ioc tit, pp 478 & 562. ~sj Wilson, 'Oil tile Various Breeds of Sheep in Great Britain', 4,~ Wilkinson, Ioc cit, p 284. .]RASE, XVI, 1856, p 225; Clarke, Ioc tit, p 560. 5°James Rawlence, 'Farm Reports: 7-Bulbridge and Ugford ur. 5e, B R Mitchell & P l)eane, Abstract of British Historical Statistics, Salisbury',JRASE, scr 2, V, t869, p 505. 1962, p 495. 5, Youatt, 19oo, op tit, pp 5to--t2. 57 Vancouver, op tit; Wilkinson, Ioc tit, p 297; Clarke, Ioc tit, p 564. 22 THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW they were born, or on the breeding of Another option was the rearing of fat pedigree rams. wethers. 'The management of Hampshire Lamb rearing has an interesting history in Down lambs offers one of the very best southern Hampshire during the first half of examples of judicious feeding that can be the nineteenth century when the area had the found. The primary object being to get the reputation of rearing the 'earliest lambs for lambs to the market in autumn, no expense is the London market', s8 This trade was based spared to provide frequent changes of on Dorset Horn ewes which were tupped in food.'64 A Hampshire custom spread in the their native pastures in Dorset and Somerset eighteen-thirties whereby breeders in in May or June. The in-lamb ewes were surrounding areas also began to sell their driven on the hoof to the autumn sheep fairs wether lambs in the late summer or early in Wiltshire and Hampshire, the largest and autumn instead of overwintering them, best known being at Weyhill near Andover which meant significant savings in pasture on IO October each year. To give an idea of and feed. 6s Normally these wethers were the scale of this activity, IOO,OOOsheep were bought and 'finished' by farmers from said to be penned per year at Appleshaw Fair, outside the chalk districts. For example, in three-quarters of which were Dorset Horn Essex in the eighteen-forties, Hampshire ewes 'heavy in lamb', s9 Hampshire farmers Down wether lambs were purchased in the were amongst the buyers of these ewes, autumn and kept 'either in the yards or which were driven south and lambed down pastures during the winter, and in the in November. The system depended on the ensueing summer either folded upon the relatively mild climate of southern Hamp- fallows or fattened upon the clover; in the shire, and the 'normal custom' was to fatten former case they were sold in the ensueing the ewe and lamb together and sell them both autumn or winter-fed upon turnips, oil-cake the following spring. The fat lambs were or beans'. 66 generally sold for the Easter lamb trade, and Ram breeding could also be lucrative, and the ewes sheared and sold by the beginning because first crosses often inherited the best of May. 6° In the early nineteenth century the qualities of their parents, both Hampshire profit, including the money for the fleece, Downs and Southdowns were favoured for was said to be 'double the first cost of the crossing with other breeds throughout the ewe'. 6~ Sometimes the ewes were put to a country. The resulting cross-bred lambs Southdown ram on their native pasture generally matured rapidly and provided 'which improved the quality and fatting good quality mutton, and the main predisposition of the lamb'. 62 James Caird advantage of the Hampshire was that it had a suggested that the trade was in decline in greater hardiness of constitution than the 1852. This was probably linked with the fact Southdown ram. 67 A feature of breeding that the Hampshire Down, bred on the Hampshire Down rams was that they were arable downlands rather than the mixed clay, heavy and robust enough for service in the loam and sand soils on which the Dorset summer of the year in which they were born. Horns were fattened, was being lambed These 7-8 month old prodigies were lambed about Christmas and provided a better early in January and subjected to an quality Easter lamb with fewer weeks of extraordinarily intensive feeding regime in feeding. 63 order to reach over 2o lb a quarter in 5H Caird, op tit, p 9 o. August. 68 Again, Hampshire Down ~'~ Cyclopedia of Agriculture, Praaical and Scietlt![ic, II, J C Morton, ed, p 836; Wilkinson, Ioccit. e,4 Clarke, Ioccir, p 52x. Wilkinson, loc tit, pp 273-7. e,5 Squarey, op tit. ~' Vancouver, op cil, p 370. ~'¢' R Baker, 'On the Farming of Essex',jRASE, V, t845, p 15. e'~ Spooner, loccit, p 307. *'v Wilson, Ioc cit; Squarey, op tie. '~ Wilson, loccit, p 235; Squarey, op cit, p xiv. as Wilkinson, Ioccit, p 297; Rawlence, Ioccil, pp 5o5-6. NEW SHEEP FOR OLD m CHANGES IN SHEEP FARMING IN HAMPSHIRE, 1792-1879 23 breeders enjoyed a rapid turnover, whilst the any newly formed fold. Meanwhile the ewe ram lambs of other breeds had to be lambs, breeding ewes and draft ewes only overwintered before they were fit for required a maintenance diet, and con- service. 69 John Wrightson summed up this sequently received no corn or cake allowance achievement when he wrote 'I have often and followed the ram and wether lambs by declared a Hampshire Down ram lamb, as he clearing up what remained in the fold. The appears in the sale-ring.., late in July or in full-mouthed draft ewes were sold at the July early August, to be one of the wonders of the sales or the autumn fairs. Good breeding world. ,7o ewes were sometimes kept on after this age, but generally they were worn out and beginning to lose their teeth through the V hard work involved in gnawing the root Considerable thought and effort was put crops in the fold. The ewe lambs were not into flock management, and a 'sheep to the regarded as mature enough to breed until acre all round' was considered to be essential they were .I 8 months old. 73 for good farming. Few other animals were There were various methods by which the kept except milch cows, the workhorses and fodder crops could be supplied to sheep. a few pigs, and the farmer therefore Some farmers were said to turn the sheep depended 'chiefly on his sheep stock for promiscuously into a large fenced-off manure and profit'. 7' The size of flocks section of field, which were then allowed to varied, but three to four hundred ewes was 'eat the roots at pleasure'. Another practice considered to be sufficient for one shepherd. was to enclose the sheep in as much space as The aim of many farmers was to avoid they could clear in one day, 'advancing overwintering any stock except the ewe progressively through the field until it was flock, and so reserve most of the feed for the cleared'. TM The latter was better farming as breeding ewes and early lambs. Hence of the sheep distributed their droppings and about 4oo lambs born January-February urine more evenly over the area being 'some of the best wethers (say Ioo), the manured, and meant that 'staking and farmer picks out for the lamb-fairs at setting the field hurdles' were part of the Stockbridge or Overton in July; the shepherd's daily business. The light wooden remainder he sells from time to time hurdles, usually made of hazel in Hamp- according to his supply of food or require- shire, had to be set and fixed in such a way as ments for money, at different fairs up to to keep the whole row steady 'against the Weyhill, IO October, or Andover on I7 action of strong winds and the abrasion of November, reserving always I4o chilver sheep'. 7s [ewe] lambs to replace the one-third of his Flocks were afflicted by a range of ewes, which, being full-mouthed, he drafts diseases, but the worst was sheep rot, caused out of his breeding flock year by year', v-" by the liver fluke parasite. The cause of the The various parts of the flock were disease, involving a freshwater snail at one generally kept separate throughout the year stage and the complex life cycle of the fluke as each had different feeding requirements. parasite, was not finally understood until the The flock was even further divided after the end of the period, in about I88O. 76 lambs were weaned in early M~y. The ram Nevertheless farmers and agricultural and wether lambs received a daily ration of commentators had a fairly clear idea about corn and cake, and were the first to be fed off 73 Rawlence, Ioccit; Wrightson, op cit, pp '42-5. "~ Youatt, 19oo, op cit, pp 489-90. 74 Youatt, op cit, p 52L 7o Wrightson, op cit, p 142. 75 Wilson, op cit, 1, p 741. 7, Caird, op cit, p 93. v~, A P Thomas, 'Report of Experiments on the Development of 7"~ Wilkinson, Ioc cit, pp 29(>--7. tile Liver Huke',jRASE, ser 2, XVII, I881, pp 1-29. 24 THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY REVIEW the conditions most likely to produce rot in the other in I879-8o, as well as innumerable sheep. In the early nineteenth century it was minor outbreaks. 8o said to be caused by 'the low grounds, The intensive system of sheep husbandry subject to autumnal floods'.77 In I862 the that has been described made many and point was made that 'it has long been varied demands not only on the downland ascertained that during a certain period of the farmer but also on the farm shepherd• He year sheep are sure to take the rot if placed on was normally responsible for moving and irrigated meadows, this being from about setting the fold each day, getting the cake and June to October'.78 Some farmers and corn rations for the feed troughs, providing flockmasters actually took advantage of this, veterinary care and keeping the sheep's feet as sheep 'when first touched with the rot sound and their bodies free from dirt. He was thrive mightily in fattening for ten weeks also responsible for lambing in January and • . . before falling away to nothing but skin February, weaning the lambs in early May, and bone'. 79 Success therefore depended on ensuring that the fat wethers were in the peak killing the sheep in time, and apparently the of condition when the farmer wanted to sell mutton was quite edible. During the them, and for organizing tupping in August nineteenth century there were two major and September. 8~ Between I792 and I879 outbreaks of sheep rot which decimated the farm shepherd became a highly skilled flocks in Hampshire and the surrounding worker who led a life so very different from area, one during the winter of i830- 31 and his forebears who, not so many years before, had moved their flocks slowly over the 7r Vancouver, op cit, p 374. sparse heath and open downs. 7sj B Simonds, 'The Rot in Sheep: Its Nature', jRASE, XXIII, I862, p 83. r~ Lisle, op tit, II, p 2o8. ~° Thomas, h,c eit, p 141. s' Youatt, op tit, pp 512-14.