Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1882-01-05
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Various Breeds of Sheen.


The first thing, says the Canada
Farmer, that should be studied by the
farmer who intends to take up sheep
raising, or to make sheep play more
important part on his farm than for
merly, Should be to suit his breed to
his farm. # he has poor land or rocky
hills over which considerable travel
must be done by the sheep in order to
get meal, it will be useless for him to
try to make profit out of the heavy
breeds, such as the Cotswolds, Leices-
ters, and Lincolns. On the other hand
1t Is moi to be advised that the owners
of rich pastures should attempt to grow
the small breeds of sheep, such as
Southdowns, unless with some special
object, such as supplying particular
grade of wool. Other things being
equal, it may be taken for granted that
the largest breeds will make the best
return on rich land, for there is a
smaller quantity of food consumed in
keeping up the animal heat of one ami
NAL weighing two hundred pounds
than in two animals of one hundred
pounds each. Consequently the larger
breed is the most profitable, unless
some special climatic or other obstacle
intervene, because there is greater
proportion of the food goes toward
building up the frame, flesh and fat.
But when the land is poor a large,
heavy animal has to travel a great way
to get meal, and the consumption oi
food is diverted to improbable Use. A
smaller animal not only gets his meal
from a smaller surface of land. but the
travelling is less fatiguing to him as
well as being of less extent.
AS to breeds, sheep may be divided
INTO long woods, middle or short woods,
and the fine woods and another class
ought to be made of mountain sheep,
usually included among the short
woods. The long wool breeds are:
Cotswold, Lincoln, Leicesters, border
Leicesters, Cheviots, Teeswater, Rom
ney, Marsh, Derbyshire, etc. Only the
four first named breeds have much
reputation outside of Britain. The
middle and short wool breeds are !:
Southdowns, Oxford Downs, Shropshire
Downs, Hampshire Downs. The fine
woods consist of American, French.
Spanish Among mountain sheep the
Welsh, Blackfaced Scotch, and Herd
wicks are best known.
The Cotswold is usually the largest
sheep of any breed, but occasionally a
Lincoln, Leicester or Border Leicester
attains rs heavy a weight as Cotswold.
The native country of the Cotswolds is
in the fine pastures of DEMONSTRATING.
The frames Of these sheep are large,
the homes small and well covered with
meat, which the animal is apt to lay
on in great quantities. The face of
this sheep is usually black, but some
times is mottled. The head should be
mottled, and the legs should be white
and we'll covered with WOOL The back
should be level, the ribs well sprung
the thighs of great substance, and the
chest full. They stand high on the
legs, and carry their heads up, which
gives them a majestic appearance.
Their wool Is SIX % eight inches long,
open and curly, coarser than Leicester
or Lincoln, and heavier, English
hocks average nine pounds all round
frequently The meat is rather soft,
and is not of the best quality. At four
teen months old Cotswold wethers may
be readily fattened up to twenty-five
or twenty-four pounds a quarter
The Lincolns are "a large breed, noted
in their own native country for the
beautiful lustre Of their wool This
lustre is partly lost on moving them
from home, even though for few miles
! only. On this continent the Lincolns
and IGicesters are SO much lntermixed
| that it is difficult to draw the line where
the sheep cease to be Lincolns and be-
come Leicesters. The Lincoln is prob
ably the Oldest of the British breeds. 1t
was once huge, ungainly beast, but it
has long since lost the roughness which
once characterized the breed. 1t is
now large framed, symmetrical sheep,
with bare, bony head, white face and
legs. The wool is long, glossy and wavy,
sometimes curly, and parts down the
back. The mutton of this breed is SUI
perior to that of the Cotswold, and
equal in quality and superior in guam
tity to that of the Leicester. The size
attained by the Lincoln is almost
that of the Cotswold
The Leicester owes its present per-
lection of form to the founder of the
breed, the great breeder, Blackwell.
Nearly all the other breeds have re-
ceived cross Of Leicester, from which
they acquired the early maturity and
and aptitude to fatten which Blackwell
first stamped on the breed. The Lei
cester is short-legged, fne-boned,
round barreled sheep, with wel-set-on
head, white face, thin nose, fiat fore
head sometimes bare Of wool, some
times lightly covered, and full, promi-
nent eye. The lines of this breed are
straight all over, the neck short and full
at the base, the shoulders sloping, the
bosom deep, and the fore flank full.
The wool is finer than Cotswold, short
er and less abundant, probably 20 per
cent. less. The quality Of the mutton
is excellent, but the Leicester is apt to
lay on 50 much fat as 10 make its meat
Objectionable on that account. The
Border Leicester is a large-framed and
more bulky animal than the Leicester
The Border breed has whittier face and
cleaner legs than the other breed; it
ST nds further from the ground and is