Southern live-stock journal. (Starkville, Miss.) 1876-1891, 1879-08-16
Cotswolds and Cotswold Crosses.

which he gives his views of Cots
void sheep in the following terms:
The sheep are thoroughly accli-
mated. They have not been fore
ed; they are kept for use for real
value, and not for show. They
are not housed in winter; they
have sheds to run under, but spend
most of the time in the open air.
If we'll fed, and provided with dry
quarters under foot, there are no
sheep that will stand exposure to
our severe winters better than the
Cotswolds. The ewes are good
breeders and good nurses. They
frequently have two strong lambs
and occasionally three at a birth.
| have never had a pure-bred
Cotswold eve in the flock that
would not breed. We let the ewes
have their first lambs when two
years old, and they frequently
continue to be good breeders till
ten years old. The Cotswolds are
the hardest of all the English
breeds of sheep. Of all well estab-
lished breeds the Cotswolds are
the largest. The celebrated ex
periments of Laws q Gilbert, PROV
ed beyond all question that the
Cotswolds produced mgf6 mutton
and more wool than any other
breed. In other words, they gain
ed more rapidly, both in fleece
and carcass than any other breed.
And not only this, but they gained
more in proportion to the food
consumed than any other breed.
l am decidedly of the opinion
that the Coming sheep" Of this
country will be what l will take
the liberty to call American Cots
wolds." | have, hitherto, called
these sheep "Cotswold- Merinos."
This designates their origin. But
the time has now arrived, when
the name loses its significance
For instance, / have Cotswold-
Merino lambs with three and four
crosses of pure Cotswold blood in
them. In other words these lambs
have 93f per cent. of pure Cots
void blood in them, and only G4
per cent. Of the native or Merino
sheep. The next cross will have
only 81 per cent. of native or Me-
rino blood, and the next only lit
tie over u per cent.
A few years hence, American
Cotswold sheep will be shipped by
thousands and tens of thousands
every week to the English markets.
There is no reason why they are
not now shipped in large numbers,
except-the fact that they cannot
be found. We do notraise enough
of them or feed them well enough.
Our beef cattle are better than our
mutton sheep. The intelligence
and skill of the American sheep
breeder has been largely directed
to the perfection of the Merino
sheep. Wool and yolk have been
the objects aimed at, and great
success has attended their efforts.
There are no better fnc-wooled
sheep in the world to-day, than
can be found in the United States.
There are many sections where
Merinos are the most profitable
breed Of sheep to keep. But rail
roads and steamboats, lead to rap
id and wonderful changes. There
was a time when l thought Cots
void or mutton sheep could not
be raised with profit in the far
West. 1 thought it was too far
from market, but, if cattle can be
raised and shipped with profit to
England, long-wooled mutton
sheep can be raised and shipped
with still greater profit.
EXPERIMENTS WITH COTSWOLD-
MERINOS.
In the autumn of 1869, | went
to the cattle yards in Buffalo. I
bought q lot of common Merino
sheep that were brought in from
Michigan. They were intended
for the butchers. 1 did not select
them. l took the whole lot of
205 sheep | gave three cents per
pound for them live weight. On
running them on to the scales
they averaged exactly so pounds
each, so that the sheep cost me
81, 40 per head in Buffalo. [ put
them in the cars and brought them
home. | selected out 145 wetherS
to fat. The remaining 60 ewes |
put 60 a pur6-bred Mapleshade
Cotswold ram.
These ewes were fed we'll during
tie winter, and in the spring pro-
duced 73 lambs, and we raised 72
Of them. Stronger, healthier and
thriftier lambs could not be de-
sired. Ihad feared that by using
large Cotswold ram on such
small ewes, we should have trouble
in lambing. | had been told "you
can use small South Down ram
on Merino ewes, but the Cots
wolds are too large. The cross is
too violent. may say, hOwev-
er, that not only the first year,
but in all my subsequent expert
ence, there has never been the
least difficulty. One reason for
this is, that q well-bred COtSwold,
though such q large sheep, has a
remarkable small head. 1t is very
narrow between the eyes.
The ram lambs | sold to the
butchers at good price. The
o,,ro Io ,,,ho 7 Ivo,,t 70 broo6 from o.