CHAPTER XIII 

 THE OXFORD DOWN 



History. The Oxford Down or Oxford, as it is commonly called, 

 originated in the county of Oxford in central England. Oxford 

 County is the meeting ground of the strongholds of the Hampshire 

 just south, and of the Cotswold immediately west. The Oxford 

 sheep was made by crossing these two breeds. Mr. Samuel Druce, 

 of Ensham and several other Oxfordshire farmers began to breed 

 Cotswold rams to Hampshire ewes in 1833 or thereabouts. Druce 

 and William Gillet also used Southdowns to some extent in the 

 early days before the Hampshires were settled to a uniform type by 

 Humphrey, when Hampshire breeders, themselves, occasionally used 

 Southdown rams. Cross-breeding probably continued for a number 

 of years. Wrightson quotes C. S. Read as saying: "The (flock) 

 owner formerly divided his flock into three parts, putting the half- 

 bred ram to the ewes that were about right, a Cotswold to the small 

 ones, and a Down (Hampshire Down) to the coarser sheep/' Draw- 

 ing upon the words of someone else, Wrightson further says : (( Mr. 

 Druce early found that good qualities can better be secured by 

 employing the cross-bred animals on both sides than by using the 

 first cross." Gradually the breed type evolved from a more or less 

 heterogeneous group of cross-breds. After 1854 pure-breds from 

 either of the parent breeds or from any other breeds were no 

 longer employed (Fig. 86). 



Beginning in 1840, J. T. Twynam did much to draw the atten- 

 tion of the public to the new breed. It was given a place as a 

 distinct breed by the Royal Agricultural Society at its show at 

 Battersea in 1862. 



Description. Form and Size. The Oxford is a large, some- 

 what upstanding sheep with strong bone and a high, graceful car- 

 riage of head which it doubtless inherits from the Cotswold. The 

 top of the body is very wide and in contour approaches the rectan- 

 gular, rather than the oval characteristic of the Southdown and the 

 Shropshire. The head and ears are a trifle smaller and the face 

 profile less inclined to be Roman than in the Hampshire. Mature 

 rams in breeding condition weigh from 275 to 300 pounds and ewes 

 200 pounds or more (Fig. 87). 

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