398 



Effective Farming 



199. Long-wool breeds. The breeds of long-wool sheep 

 are Leicester, Cotswold, and Lincoln. The animals are raised 

 chiefly for mutton. They are the largest sheep grown and 

 are large-framed and square-bodied with broad backs. The 

 fleeces are more open, coarser, and longer than those of the 

 other classes. On account of their size they are best suited 

 for level lands where feed can be obtained without much travel. 

 They stand wet weather well, the long wool shedding water 

 better than that of the middle-wool breeds. The lambs do 



not mature so rapidly 

 nor fatten so young as 

 those of middle-wool 

 animals. 



Leicester. The first 

 breed of sheep to be im- 

 proved by careful selec- 

 tion and breeding was 

 the Leicester (Fig. 174). 

 Robert Bakewell, one of 

 the early and foremost 

 breeders of live-stock in 

 England, used these ani- 

 mals in his work. Leicesters have a characteristic appearance 

 of head and face ; the head is bare of wool from the ears forward 

 and the face is lean and tapers toward the muzzle with a slightly 

 Roman nose and is covered with short, white hair with an occa- 

 sional black spot. The ears and legs, like the face, are covered 

 with hair. The form is square, the back wide and well covered 

 with flesh, and the rump prominent. The animals are the 

 smallest of the long-wool breeds, the rams weighing from two 

 hundred twenty-five to two hundred fifty pounds and the ewes 

 from one hundred seventy-five to two hundred pounds. The 

 fleece is long, white, and fine, and hangs in locks that are 

 smaller than those of the other long-wool breeds. 



Cotswold. The native home of these sheep (Fig. 175) is 



FIG. 174. Leicester ewe. 



