The Florida agriculturist., 1884-08-13
The Improved Kentucky Sheep.

FOrty-SlX wears ago Mr. Scott, not
finding any sheep suitable for the West
and South, resolved to produce one by
iudicious crossing Accordingly in the
beginning OF 1884 he selected about 80
ewes from flock of common or native"
sheep, and bred them to very large
Saxon NIerino ram, the object being to
give IN the offspring more thickness to
the fleece and more fineness to the fibre
OF the wool before uniting the coarse
Aeeces of the native sheep with the
coarse and still more open fieeces Of the,
large imported breeds. The eve lambs
Of this cross, when one year old, were
bred TO an imported Bakewell Leicester
buck, of large, full, round carcass and of
heavy fleece of long wool. In due time
the eve lambs of the latter cross were,
in turn, bred to an imported South-Down
ram of large size and high form, the OBJ
iect now being to infuse into the progeny
the active, sprightly and thrifty dispo-
sition and the highly favored and beau
tifully marbled mutton for which the
SouthDown is celebrated. Here again
success was achieved, the flesh of the
weathers being highly priced, while the
value of the wool was increased as much
by the greater number of fibers to the
square inch, as il was lessened by the
cross was by a ram possessing many of
the good qualities it was desired to per-
petuate in the flock He was three
fourths Cotswold and one-fourth South
Down--a large, hardy, active sheep,
with thick and heavy tleece-qualities
which he transmitted to his progeny to
an eminent degree. The next two cross
es We're made by pure-blood Cotswolds
and the next by a full-blood Oxford ram
of remarkable sOftness and sickness of
fleece. All these animals had short
necks, round barrels, broad backs and
full briskets These increased the
weight of the carcass and fleece of the
flock Every one of the crosses, Mr..
Scott says, was perceptible in the flock
in the character, as well as in the car
cass and the fleece, though in some par
ticular cross predominated.
In 1853 the flock was divided between
two full-blood Cotswolds, and in the fol-
lowing year it was bred to five select
rams of Mr. SCOTS own breeding, in or
der to produce more uniformity. For
the same object in the Fall of 1865 the
ewes were bred chiefly to ram whose
pedigree showed a mixture of Cotswold, 4
Oxfordshire, Teeswater and SOuthDown
blood In 1856 Mr.. Scott says he bred
chiefly to a large Cotswold buck, and III
1857 he bred to the same and to another
ram of mixed blood the ewes being so
mated as to produce more uniformity in
the flock-those with more marked
South-Down and Merino characteristics
being bred to the Cotswold and those
with Cotswold qualities being mated
a1T,sis6 the mixed-blood ram. In 1858 tltoi
laf4e La pas saf .sIli= .sswn hra,ss1;e-s were
used III the same way and Tor the same
object. In 1889 about 100 ewes were
picked out and bred in the same manner,
for the same end, about half of them be-
ing bred to fine mixed-blood ram which
had gained Il premium at the State fair,
previous year, and the rest to a choice
ram of what had now become known as
the Improved Kentucky" breed.
By this time the sheep We're essentially !
uniform and impaired their qualities to |
their progeny as certainly as do other |
breeds ofEheep. They had also become |
well known, having been successfully |
exhibited at many State and County |
fairs, and some of them had been sold in |
nearly every State of the West and South. !
Since 1860 iudiciously selected rams of |
his own breeding, and others of Leices-,
ter and Cotswold blood, have been used !
so as to impart some desirable quality to !
the carcass or fleece, or to strengthen |
the constitution of the progeny. Only |
the most healthy, finely-formed and we'll |
wooled ewes are kept as breeders, and |
great care is taken to select rams of like |
character. The fieeces of Mr.. SCOTS |
flock OF over 100 breeding ewes have |
averaged over eight pounds of merchant
able wool, free from burs, ETC., and tho |
it was not washed on the sleeps back, |
still he thinks it was clean enough for |
domestic manufacture. The weight of |
the Aeeces varies from eight to fifteen |
pounds. The wool, he says, is exceeded |
in length only by that of the Cotswolds, |
while it greatly exceeds that OF the latter
in lineneSs and softness OF fiber and in |
the number OF tibers to the square inch |
on the sleeps back. Although the |
f1eeces are not quite uniform in length, !
thickness and fineness of fiber, still there
is as close a general uniformity as in most
other breeds. The entire body, except
the face and legs below the knees, is
covered with a close and compact fleece,
which, when full grown, leaves no open
line along the back, but gives a perfect
protection and a smooth, handsome and
portly appearance. Though the fleece
has sufficient yolk to preserve its soft
ness, 1t has not enough to produce
dirty appearance. Mr. Scott saws that
the wool has generally commanded from
three to five cents per pound more than
any other combing wool in the neighbor-
ing markets.
Mr.. Scott's flock never have any arti-
fetal shelter in Winter or Summer, vet
they have always thriven well and been
always almost entirely free from disease,
especially from coughs, snuftes and foot
rot. In Winter short grass is all they
need, and in its absence they are content
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