CHAPTER XXVII 



SHEEP SHORT-WOOLS, INCLUDING THE DOWN BREEDS 



Homed White-faces The Merino Dorset Horn Western Sheep 

 Hornless White-face The Ryeland. Hornless Dark-faced Down 

 Breeds South Down, or Sussex Shropshire Dorset, or West 

 Country Hampshire Suffolk Oxford. 



HORNED WHITE-FACED SHORT-WOOLS 



THE Merino. In the matter of wide distribution, this 

 breed occupies among sheep the position held by the 

 Shorthorn among cattle. By far the largest number of sheep 

 in the Australian Colonies, in the Argentine Republic, in the 

 United States of America, and at the Cape of Good Hope, 

 belongs to this breed, or to crosses which are nearly related 

 to the Merino. All are believed to have sprung from the 

 Spanish Merino, 1 though there are many distinct types 

 known by specific names as, for example, the Vermont 

 Merino, the highly bred American sheep ; the Rambouillet, 

 or French Merino ; the Negretti, to which the German 

 Merino belongs ; the Saxon Merino ; and the various off- 

 shoots of these varieties to be found in the colonies of 

 Australia and Tasmania. 2 



Description. The breed is white in hair, hoof, horn, and 

 wool ; 3 the bare portion of the muzzle is of an orange fleshy 



1 Probably introduced into Spain by the Phoenicians or Carthaginians 

 about 1 1 co B.C. 



2 For details of the different strains of Merino blood, see the Author's 

 work on the Rural Economy and Agriculture of Australia and New 

 Zealand ( 1 89 1 ). See also, Sheep Breeding in Australia^ by George A. 

 Bruni (Walker, May, & Co., Melbourne). 



3 A black flock of pure Merinos was established by the late Hon. W. 

 Allen, of Braesides, Dalveen, Queensland, in the early eighties of last 

 century. It once numbered 2000, but it was at a later date reduced to 

 about 650. Black ewes mated with a black ram breed true to colour, the 



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