OXFORD DOWN 617 



Oxford Down Record has existed in America since 1881. 

 Vol. i. of the English Oxford Down Flock Book did not 

 appear till 1889, the Oxford Down Sheep Breeders' Associa- 

 tion having been formed in 1888 at the annual Oxford Ram 

 Fair, held on the first Wednesday of August. 



The distinguishing characteristics of the ram is given as 

 follows in the Flock Book : " He has. a bold, masculine head, 

 well set on a strong neck ; the poll is well covered with wool 

 and adorned by a top-knot ; the ears are self-coloured, and of 

 good length ; the face is a uniform dark brown colour ; the 

 legs are short, dark coloured (not spotted), and placed well 

 outside him . . . ; the mutton is firm, lean, and of excellent 

 quality ; the fleece is heavy and thick on the skin." The 

 wool is longer and more open or loose than that of other 

 Down sheep in fact it ought to be classed as long-wool; 

 fleeces of ewes average 6 or 7 Ibs. each. 



Flocks of cross ewes are sometimes kept for breeding 

 fattening tegs. When they become light-faced, after frequent 

 crossing with the Cotswold, a pure Hampshire ram is turned 

 in for a year, and when rather dark a Cotswold is used in 

 preference. A Shropshire ram on such a cross ewe produces 

 a sheep with a better covering of flesh along the back than 

 the Oxford Down will do. 



Oxford Down rams were first introduced into the Border 

 district of Scotland by the late Walter Elliott, of Holly- 

 bush, Galashiels, about 1867, and in 1885 he wrote to the 

 Author: " This year there would be about 100 rams sold at 

 Kelso, and I consider them the most useful sheep introduced 

 into our country of late years." For a number of years they 

 were put to Cheviot and Scotch Blackface ewes, and their use 

 had almost been given up when it gradually became realised 

 that they have no equal in producing crosses for hogging by 

 the Leicester-Cheviot ewes, and that they also cross well with 

 Border Leicester ewes. The cross progeny of the Oxford 

 ram is slower in reaching maturity than the progeny of the 

 Border Leicester, but it can be fed to greater weights in 

 spring, 65 to 68 Ibs. per carcase, without becoming too fat 

 to be classed as finest quality. 



The following table of figures (from the Kelso Chronicle], 

 giving the numbers of rams exposed during eight years at 

 the annual sale, held under the auspices of the Border Union 



