564 SHEEP MOUNTAIN AND MOORLAND 



a clear pink skin, with a close, tight fleece of good wool 

 averaging from 5 Ibs. to 8 Ibs. per fleece, and a long bushy tail." 



A. Sparrow, of the "Butchers' Hide, Skin, & Wool 

 Company, Limited, Birmingham," writes : " Kerry wool 

 would be equal to the finest wool we have if it were not 

 for the Welsh cross in it which throws a thread of kemp, 

 especially in the britch." His estimates of the current 

 prices (February 1907) of the following related breeds of 

 sheep are: Shropshire, up to I3^d. ; Kerry, up to I2^d. ; 

 Clun, up to 1 1 Jd. ; Radnor, up to I id. 



The Flock Book of Kerry Hill Sheep, edited by William 

 Langford of Chirbury Hall, was first issued in 1894 by the 

 " Kerry Hill Sheep Breeders' Association and Flock Book 

 Society," but after a period of hesitation by the breeders, 

 was re-issued in 1899. It is intended to "preserve the 

 true character, quality, and type " of what it claims as " the 

 best of all 'Hill sheep.'" The objects of the Society are 

 to get the breed recognised among the breeds of the 

 United Kingdom, and to promote the breeding of first-class 

 rams, so that eventually it may be possible to secure 

 uniformity in quality and in colour of face. As the result of 

 the establishment of the Flock Book and the system of 

 registration, the Society increases yearly in membership, 

 and experiences a growing demand for the best sheep. It 

 is affiliated to the " National Sheep Breeders' Association," 

 and it had for the first time four classes allotted to the 

 breed at the Royal Show at Lincoln in 1907. 



" The ewes are easily kept, extraordinary sucklers, and 

 in addition to rearing or fattening their lambs, grow and 

 thrive rapidly when depastured on the lowlands." Halford 

 says that "more than sixty years ago, thousands of draft 

 ewes of Clun Forest and Kerry Hill sheep were taken into 

 Essex and other eastern counties for crossing, principally 

 with Leicesters, for the production of fat lambs for the 

 London Market The ewes were splendid nurses, the 

 lambs nice weights, not too large, and the dams fattened 

 off quickly after their lambs left them. The wethers kept 

 until five or six years old, when drafted, went into the 

 parks, home farms, etc., to make unsurpassed mutton for 

 the tables of the upper classes." Now the wethers are 

 fed to kill at a year old at an average live-weight of from 



