280 Agricultural Revolutions and Change
management a rapid turnover of lambs was achieved through a system of internal
resource maximization. Sheep travelled daily between pasture and arable fields,
and were stocked at a rate of 1200 ewes and lambs per hectare at night. Early lamb-
ing in January–February based upon the early grass produced in watermeadows
meant that fanners could market when prices were high. Rotations of sainfoin,
leys, arable and fallow were locally adapted in an ‘infinite number of variations and
permutations’ (Bowie, 1990). The sheep were shortwools, hardy and economic
feeders, though not maximizers of meat. Flockmasters were continually experi-
menting with cross-breeding by bringing in rams from distant locations. William
Humphrey, for example, hired Southdown rams from Cambridge, and produced
large sheep with good flesh, and the strength and hardiness to consume root crops
on cold hills (Bowie, 1987a). By comparison, sheep on the physically similar Wolds
of Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire were relatively immobile longwools, yielding
3.5–5kg wool per fleece compared with 1.5–2.5kg for the shortwools (Bowie,
1990). Here farmers were oriented towards the rapidly developing northern mar-
kets, and relied heavily on external inputs and capital, buying bonemeal fertilizer
in particular, and did not value sheep manures so highly.
Formal experiments to compare different breeds were also common. The Duke
of Bedford compared four groups of 20 Southdown, Leicester, Worcester and
Wiltshire sheep over 16 months by feeding them the same amounts of turnips and
hay and, assuming the same grass consumption, found the weight gain best in the
Source: Mr Harper. 1806. Experiments in agriculture. Annals of Agriculture 44, 17–30
Figure 12.3 Experimental layout of a 4.5-hectare field by Mr Harper of Kirkdale,
Lancaster, to study the impact of different sowing treatments of wheat on yields and
net returns, 1805