I So 



OUR DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



A SoiTHDOWN Ram 



it does not make an agreeable impression be- 

 cause of its stupid, heavy, coarse liead. 



Tlie Oxford Down is a double cross, the 

 blood of the Hampshire and Cotswold hav- 

 ing been used in establishing the breed. The 

 animals of this breed are of a very superior 

 quality, being heavier than the other breeds 

 in the group and possessing excellent quality 

 for the production of meat. They rank well 

 as farm sheep, and are commonly 

 found on the ranges of the West. 

 The head is in great part covered 

 with wool. 



The Suffolk breed is lighter in 

 form and color than any of the pre- 

 ceding ; its head and feet are dark 

 brown, and while not so compact in 

 form as the Hampshire it somewhat 

 resembles it. So far only a few in- 

 dividuals have found their way across 

 the water to us, and it is unlikely that 

 the breed will ever become popular 

 in this country. 



Sheep with short wool have, as a 

 rule, less power of resistance and less 

 ability to adapt themselves to differ- 

 ences in climate, soil, nourishment, and general 

 regimen than the various races of long-haired 

 sheep. 



VI. The Mouxt.mx Sheep 

 OF Gre.at Brit.ain 



Besides the foregoing, other 

 races of sheep which have 

 come under the ennobling 

 hand of man are finding their 

 way to the United States from 

 Great Britain. 



The Dorset breed as we 

 know it, with its heavy horns, 

 its coarse and horny head, its 

 strong legs, and the undeni- 

 able defects of its conforma- 

 tion, still keeps the type of 

 other days. It is distinguished 

 besides by its fine, short wool, 

 and by the extraordinary fe- 

 cundity of the ewes, which 

 may give birth to lambs twice 

 a year if rightly managed. Many breeders are 

 profiting by this phenomenon and are raising 

 winter lambs, which are fed and fattened in 

 houses, — hothouse lambs they are called, — 

 and in the dead of winter make their appear- 

 ance as spring lamb on the tables of persons 

 rich enough to pay a great price for it. For 

 this purpose the Dorset is the sheep par 

 excellence for winter-lamb production. This 



K \'euv Fine Steci-Mex oe a Dorset Ra.m 



breed, which is gaining favor so rapidly in 

 this country, is confined in England to the hill 

 country of Dorsetshire. 



