548 



SHEEP 



this has been one of the best-known breeds. They graze well and 

 are equally hardy with most middle-wool sheep. 



The Southdown as a wool sheep occupies a subordinate place. 

 The fleece is short (averaging perhaps two inches long) and, 

 although the finest of the native British breeds, weighs light, an 

 average yield for a flock being less than for any other common 

 breed. Wallace gives the weight of fleece of a ewe from 3 to 4 

 pounds, and Shaw from 5 to 7. In 1891 General C. M. Clay, 

 who bred Southdowns on a large scale in Kentucky for over fifty 



FIG. 250. Rear view of the five grade Southdown wether lambs shown in Fig. 248 



consecutive years, wrote that he had " raised wool from three and 

 one-half pounds to seven on an average." Coffey estimates a 

 yield for twelve months of 5 to 8 pounds of wool, and the 

 government flock at the Morgan Horse Farm at Middlebury, Ver- 

 mont, has averaged approximately 7 pounds to the fleece in recent 

 years, one ram producing over 12 pounds. While the fleece is 

 usually very fine, often grading half-blood combing, its short 

 length, freedom from yolk, and small size of sheep combine to 

 produce a fleece not weighing much over 6 pounds. 



Notable prices for Southdown sheep have been paid since the 

 days of Ellman, though the figures are not so large as those derived 

 from Lincoln or Merino sales. In 1787 the first Southdown ram 



