24 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



CHAPTER IV. 

 THE BORDER LEICESTER. 



THE Border Leicester sheep is full of interest to north 

 country farmers. Not only has it achieved an independent 

 position as a breed, but it has out-rivalled in its distribution, 

 as well as in its value, the original Dishley stock from which 

 it is descended. It is not too much to say that the Border 

 Leicester is the mainstay of Border counties' farming. It is 

 constantly crossed both with Cheviots and Blackfaces for the 

 purpose of breeding wether lambs, and it is also well main- 

 tained as pure-bred stock over many large districts, while its 

 improvement has been, and is, carried on with great enthu- 

 siasm and judgment. 



At the Windsor Show the Border Leicester breeders 

 appeared in equal force with the Leicester men seven to 

 seven and those who stopped to converse with the shep- 

 herds and masters of the Scotch contingent must have been 

 struck with their keen appreciation of points and their love 

 of the race which they tend. Up to 1869, the year of the 

 Manchester meeting, all Leicesters, whether belonging to the 

 Midlands or to beyond the Tweed, competed in the same 

 class an arrangement which was found to be unfair, and 

 since then they have been ranged under different banners. 

 The great importance of the breed cannot be shown better 

 than by the fact that at the annual Kelso sales upwards of 

 2,000 rams are disposed of, a muster which the Midland 

 breeders would find it difficult to surpass. 



History is always interesting, especially when it reveals the 



