CHAPTER XVII 



SHEEP 



TYPES AND BREEDS 



Types. — Sheep are kept for mutton and wool produc- 

 tion. Some breeds are specially adapted to the production 

 of wool and do not produce the best quality of mutton. 

 Other breeds are well adapted to the production of mutton, 

 but are not so well adapted to wool production. There are 

 two common ways of classifying sheep, one, on the basis 

 of wool, as fine wool, medium wool and long wool. The 

 other, as fine wool and mutton. By the last classification 



the mutton breeds include 

 the medium wool and 

 long wool breeds. 



Fine wool breeds have 

 been bred chiefly for wool 

 production. The wool on 

 these breeds is compara- 

 tively short, thick and 

 very fine, and very oily, 

 so that a great deal of 

 dirt sticks to it. Their 

 bodies are thin and irreg- 

 ular and their skins are 

 very much wrinkled. 

 These breeds are smaller 

 generally than the mut- 

 ton breeds. They have 

 white faces and the males 

 have horns and the ewes 

 are hornless. American and Delaine Merinos are the most 

 important breeds in this class. They were brought to 

 America from Spain more than a hundred years ago. They 

 have been generally recognized as American breeds. 

 The American Merino is very much wrinkled. The Delaine 

 Merino is wrinkled, but not so much as the former. Ram- 



Figure 95. — A Rambouillet, a fine wool type. 



