Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-12-15
coarse, narrow backed, long-legged

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type Of the old Leicester he changed
to a broad-backed. thick-fleeced,
e~asy-feeding, early-maturing breed.
The first pure-breds Of this breed
we're brought into Canada about 1900,
and into New Jersey five or six years
later. They are a large. coarse wool
ed sheep. rams weighing as high as
$50 pounds and ewes a little over 200
pounds. They have pure white faces
and legs and are bare of wool below
the neck and forward of the ears,
Their wool should be six or seven
inches long at %shearing time, and
they should shear from ten to twelve
pounds. They have been quite popu-
ar throughout the east, but have not
met with a great deal Of favor in the
| West, as they do not, herd well in
the rough treatment of the range.
The Cotswolds.
This breed comes from the county
of Worcestershire. England. The
climate of this section is temperate
and well suited to the growing of
sheep. The early specimens of this
breed were a rough. coarse, rugged
sheep. light in the quarters, that pro-
duced a heavy crop of coarse strong
wool. They were improved by a
cross of Leicester blood.
The first account we have of any in
the United States is in 1882 when a
small f1ock was brought to New York.
They are a little larger and a rougher
sheep than the Leicester and a little
heavier fieeced and stronger boned.
This is also noticeable about the head.
where it is coarser. The character
istic head Of this breed has a large
tuft of wool growing on top of the
head, down to a line of the eyes, and
when a sheep is in full fleece this
wool should reach almost to the point
of h nose. They should have pure
white faces and legs. and where size
is desired in flock. they can be used
to advantage. Mature rams will
weigh from. 275 pounds to 300
pounds. Their mutton. as might be
expected, is a little coarse in its grain.
If crossed with some of the medium
wool breeds, they make a very de-
sirable lamb for early feeding-one
that grows rapidly and makes good
gains. They are only fair as breeders.
In fact. nor of the large breeds are
considered as prolific as the smaller
breeds.
The Lincolns.
This breed comes from the county
land. The rich pastures and abaund-
ant vegetation of this region have
produced one of the largest breeds of
sheep that we have today. There has
long existed in this district the large,
coarse type of sheep closely re-
sembling the old Leicester. They
were improved by a cross of h
Leicester rams after Blackwell a
improved that breed. They were first
brought to this country in 1896, being
first taken to Massachusetts,. Like the
other long-wool breeds. they have
clear white faces and legs. and have
a tuft Of wool growing on top Of the
head, but differing from the Cotswold
in that the wool on their heads does
not grow down over the face as much.
while the Leicesters have a bare or
bald face. All three of the long wool
breeds are hornless, and they all
more or less resemble each other. AS
will be noticed, both the Cotswolds
and Lincolns carry more or less blood
of the Leicester.
The Lincolns are the largest of the
three breeds. Mature rams have
been known to weigh up % 400
pounds; a weight Of 800 pounds not
being uncommon. They are good
grazing sheep where food is abundant,
but are not we'll suited to a rough
region where vegetation is scarce.
They cross we'll with most other
breeds, and cross-bred lambs from
Lincolns have proven very profitable
feeders.
n. B.-The care and management
of the flock will be taken up. in a
succeeding article.