386 



THE BREEDS OF LIVE-STOCK 



FIG. 79. Ryeland ram. 



lines it is similar to the Shropshire and the Morfe Com- 

 mon sheep, being leggy, with light fleece and a speckled 

 black and white face. The Ryeland breeder selects the 

 lambs with the white faces and legs, and the Shropshire 

 breeder takes those with the dark faces and legs. The 

 Ryeland is a very compact and hardy sheep, and fattens 

 very readily. In form, it is thick and heavy in the 



hind-quarters, with broad, 

 level back, full round body, 

 a little inclined to be coarse 

 in the shoulders, short, well- 

 set neck, and broad head, 

 with some wool covering on 

 the head. Its legs are short 

 and straight. The Ryeland 

 is an active, vigorous sheep, 

 midway between the South- 

 down and the Shropshire in type and adaptability. Both 

 the lambs and the ewes of the Ryeland breed are hornless, 

 and the wool is finer in character, perhaps, than that of 

 any of the other medium-wool breeds. 



The first importation of the Ryeland sheep into America 

 was made by George McKerrow, of Pewaukee, Wiscon- 

 sin, early in the summer of 1907, for the Colorado Agri- 

 cultural College. The breed has been but a short time 

 in this country, but it is well adapted for the mutton- 

 producing sections of America. The lambs are dropped 

 very fat, and the ewes are wonderfully good mothers. 

 They seem to cross well with both the Southdowns and 

 Shropshires. The fleece of the Ryeland is not so heavy 

 nor so dense as that of the Shropshire, but it is longer 

 and finer in the staple. 

 477. Tunis sheep. By David McCrae. Tunis is a 



