Book VII. 



VARIETIES OF SHEEP. 



105! 



■&&?& 



7127. The Dorsetshire sheep [fig. 885.) are mostly horned, white faced, stand upon high small white 



legs, and are long and thin in the carcass. The wethers, three 

 go r years and a half old, weigh from 16 to 20 lbs. a quarter. The wool 



is fine and short, from 3 to 4 lbs. a fleece. The mutton is line 

 grained and well flavoured. This breed has the peculiar property 

 of producing lambs at almost any period of the year, even so early 

 as September and October. They are particularly valued for sup. 

 plying London and other markets with house lamb, which is brought 

 to market by Christmas, or sooner if wanted, and after that a con- 

 stant and regular supply is kept up all the winter. 



7128. The Wiltshire sheep are a variety of this breed, which, by 

 attention to size, have got considerably more weight ; viz. from 20 

 to 28 lbs. a quarter. These, in general, have no wool upon their 

 bellies, which gives them a very uncouth appearance. The varia- 

 tions of this breed are spread through many of the southern coun- 

 ties, as well as many in the west, viz. Gloucestershire, Worcester- 

 shire, Herefordshire, &c. ; though some of them are very different from the Dorsetshire, yet they are, 

 Culley apprehends, only variations of this breed, by crossing with different tups; and which variations 

 continue northward until they are lost amongst those of the Lincolnshire breeds. (Culley, p. 131.) 



7129. The Herefordshire breed (fig. 886.) is known by the want of horns, and their hsving white legs 



and faces, the wool growing close to their eyes. The carcass is tolerably 

 886 well formed, weighing from 10 to 18 lbs. a quarter, and bearing very fine 



short wool, from 1± to 2J lbs. a fleece : the mutton is excellent. The store 

 or keeping sheep of this breed are put into cots at night, winter and sum- 

 mer, and in winter foddered in racks with peas-straw, barley-straw, &-c., 

 and in very bad weather with hay. These cots are low buildings, quite 

 covered over, and made to contain from one to five hundred sheep, ac- 

 cording to the size of the farm or flock kept. The true Herefordshire 

 breed are frequently called Bye/and sheep, from the land formerly being 

 thought capable of producing no better grain than rye; but which now 

 yields every kind of grain. A cross between this breed and the merinos 

 was extensively cultivated by the late Dr. Parry, of Bath, an eminent 

 wool-grower, and promoter of agricultural improvement. 



7130. The South Dotrn sheep (fig. hS7.) are without horns : they have dark or black.grey faces and legs, 

 fine bones, long small necks; are low before, high on the shoulder, and 

 light in the fore quarter; the sides are good, and the loin tolerably broad, 

 back-bone too high, the thigh full, and twist good The fleece is very short 

 and fine, weighing from 2k to 3 lbs. The average weight of two years old 

 wethers is about 18 lbs. per quarter, the mutton fine in the grain, and of 

 an excellent flavour. These sheep have been brought to a high state of 

 improvement by Elman, of Olynd, and other intelligent breeders. They 

 prevail in Sussex, on very dry chalky downs, producing short fine herbage. 



7131. In the Norfolk sheep the face is black, horns large and spiral , the 

 carcass is very small, long, thin, and weak, with narrow chines, weighing 

 Z^^^^^^Skr^^Usj^r 1 ^^/ from 16 to 20 lbs. per quarter; and they have very long dark or grey legs, 

 '"*- ~~- — - ' and large bones. The wool is short and fine, from 1J to 2 lbs. per fleece. 



This race have a voracious appetite, and a restless and unquiet disposition, which makes it difficult to 

 keep them in any other than the largest sheep-walks or commons. They prevail most in Norfolk and 

 Suffolk, and seem to have been retained chiefly for the purpose of folding. As fatteners, they are not 

 profitable ; but the mutton produced is inferior to none A three or four year old Norfolk wedder will 

 produce a haunch, which, if kept two or three weeks, will vie with that of any animal excepting a buck. 

 7132. The Cheviot breed are without horns, the head bare and clean, with jaws of a good length, faces 

 and legs white. The body is long, but the fore-quarters generally want depth in the breast, and breadth 

 both there and on the chine; though, in these respects, great improvement has been made of late. They 

 have fine, clean, small-boned legs, well covered with wool to the hough. The weight of the carcass, 

 when fat, is from 12 to IS lbs. per quarter ; their fleece, which is of a medium length and fineness, weighs 

 about 3 lbs. on an average. Though these are the general characters of the pure Cheviot breed, many 

 have grey or dun spots on their faces and legs, especially on the borders of their native districts, where 

 they have intermixed with their black-faced neighbours. On the lower hills, at the extremity of the 

 Cheviot range, they have been frequently crossed with the Leicesters, of which several flocks, originally 

 Cheviot, have now a good deal both of the form and fleece. The best kind of these sheep are certainly 

 a very good mountain stock, where the pasture is mostly green sward, or contains a large portion of that 

 kind of herbage, which is the case of all the hills around Cheviot, where those sheep are bred. Large 

 flocks of them have been sent to the Highlands of Scotland, where they have succeeded so well as to 

 encourage the establishment of new colonies ; yet they are by no means so hardy as the heath or black- 

 faced kind, which they have, in many instances, supplanted. 



7133. Of those races of sheep that range over the mountainous districts of Britain, the 

 most numerous, and the one probably best adapted to such situations, is the heath breed, 

 distinguished by their large spiral horns, black faces and legs, fierce wild-looking eyes, 

 and short, firm carcasses, covered with long, open, coarse shagged wool. Their weight 

 is from 10 to 16 lbs. a quarter, and they carry from 3 to 4 lbs. of wool each. They are 

 seldom fed until they are three, four, or five years old, when they fatten well, and give 

 excellent mutton, and highly flavoured gravy. Diflerent varieties of these sheep are to 

 be found in all the western counties of England and Scotland, from Yorkshire north- 

 wards, and they want nothing but a fine fleece to render them the most valuable upland 

 sheep in Britain. 



7131. The Herdwick sheep (fig. 886.) are peculiar to that mrky 

 mountainous district at the head of the Duddon and Esk rivers, 

 in the county of Cumberland. They are without horns, have 

 speckled faces and legs, wool short, weighing from 2 to 2| lbs. per 

 sheep, which, though coarser than that of any of the other short, 

 woolled breeds, is yet much finer than the wool of the heath sheep. 

 The mountains upon which the Herduicks are bred, and also the 

 stock itself, have, time immemorial, been farmed out to herds, 

 and from this circumstance their name is derived. 



7135. The dun faced breed, said to have been imported into Scot- 

 land from Denmark or Norway at a very early period, still exists in 

 most of the counties to the north of the Frith of forth, though only 

 in very ■small flocks. Of this ancient race there are now several 



