SHEEP. 283 



COTSWOLDS. 



THIS is one of the largest English breeds, and the most popular of the long-wooled 

 class in the United States ; it is also a breed of great antiquity. The improved race 

 is slightly smaller than the original, owing, as is supposed, to the influence of the 

 Leicester element in its amelioration. They were formerly called (i Glo sters,&quot; or &quot;New 

 Oxfords,&quot; and have been greatly improved during the last half century, by careful breeding. 

 The qualities for which they are prized are the excellence and quality of the fleece for combing 

 wool, their hardiness, docility, aptitude to fatten, and the great weight to which they attain; 

 their chief defect, according to some English writers, being that the mutton is apt to possess 

 an undue proportion of fat, and is not marbled (or has the fat distributed amongst the lean 

 meat) like the Southdowns and some other breeds; still, other equally good authorities claim 

 that the mutton produced by this breed is second to none in any respect. 



The Cotswolds produce a heavier fleece than the Leicesters, though not of so fine a fibre; 

 the ewes are prolific breeders and good mothers, generally having an abundant supply of 

 milk for their lambs, which are large-framed and hardy. This breed makes a marked 

 improvement when bred to the common sheep of the country, the first cross with a Cotswold 

 ram often resulting in trebling the weight of the fleece, and at the same time greatly increas 

 ing the size and improving the form of the native stock; for this reason they are in great 

 demand by those who, not having thoroughbred stock, wish to combine, as far as possible, 

 both wool and mutton qualities in their flocks. They are also particularly valuable for cross 

 ing with the Downs and other short-wooled sheep. 



Mr. Joseph Harris, the well-known breeder and agricultural writer, has found by experi 

 ment, that the cross produced by the use of the Cotswold ram on his Merinos has proved 

 most satisfactory, and he highly recommends Cotswolds to those farmers who wish to produce 

 a grade from a Merino flock. 



The Cotswolds are considered by many breeders to be the hardiest of all the English 

 breeds of sheep, as they are also the largest of all the well-established breeds. 



The celebrated experiments of Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert have proved beyond doubt 

 that the Cotswolds gain more rapidly, both in fleece and flesh, than any other breed, and also 

 gain more in proportion to the food consumed than any other breed. 



Description. The Cotswold breed and the Leicesters are so nearly alike in external 

 appearance, that to a novice in matters pertaining to sheep husbandry the distinction is diffi 

 cult. The Cotswolds are larger, and usually have considerable wool upon the forehead, while 

 the Leicesters have but little, being nearly bare-faced. 



Gen. C. P. Mattocks, of Portland, Me., an extensive breeder and importer of thorough- 

 bred stock, says respecting this point: 



&quot; In a Cotswold the inimitable foretop is an index of purity as well as of the wool-produc 

 ing qualities. In fact the foretops in some of the best specimens of shearling rams are so 

 heavy as to absolutely obscure the eyes, and remind one of the graceful foretop of a well- 

 bred Morgan horse. Bare heads in Cotswolds should be discarded. There is a popular 

 impression that a gray or mottled face detracts from the value of a Cotswold and is an indi 

 cation of impurity, while many claim that sheep with such faces are hardier and better in all 

 respects than the white-faced. Some of the best Cotswolds ever brought to this country were 

 gray-faced. The sweepstakes ram of the St. Louis Exhibition of 1872, afterwards owned 

 and successfully used by the writer, had a gray face. He reached the enormous weight of 

 445 Ibs., and his offspring were worthy of him.&quot; 



The following translation from a recent French publication of high authority contains a 

 good description of this breed. 



