572 . SHEEP 



The prolific quality of the Oxford Down has long caused favor- 

 able comment among the breeders of this class. Twins are fairly 

 frequent, and the ewes usually make good mothers and furnish 

 ample milk to the lambs. The ewes, however, do not rank with 

 the Shropshire in producing twins. Craig states l : 



One of the leading agricultural societies of the country has offered prizes 

 to the shepherd who shall rear up to the first of May the greatest number of 

 lambs from the ewes put to the ram. In 1886 the winner reared 198 lambs 

 from 130 ewes, slightly better than one and one-half lamb from each ewe in 

 the flock previous to September. The next year in the same flock, 132 ewes 

 gave a return of 2 1 3 lambs reared by the first of May. 



Approximately a lamb and a half to a ewe may be estimated for 

 carefully selected ewes. 



The Oxford Down as a wool producer is in special favor to-day. 

 Shearing a heavy fleece of quarter-blood combing wool, three to 

 four inches long, which tends to coarseness and length of staple, 

 it satisfies the demand of the farmer for weight. There is consid- 

 erable variation, however, in the quality of the Oxford wool, those 

 sheep with open fleeces having much coarser and longer staple 

 than those of a more compact sort. In 1860 Lawrence Smith of 

 Massachusetts stated that his flock of store and breeding ewes 

 usually sheared from 5 to 7 pounds, with his rams' fleeces some- 

 times weighing 10 pounds. Thirty years later an Ohio breeder 

 wrote that his Oxford Down flock sheared an average that year 

 of ii pounds 14 ounces per head. In the Iowa breed test the 

 Oxford wether lambs in one trial sheared 1 1 pounds and in another 

 8 pounds, the fleeces bringing $1.44 and $1.16 respectively, 

 materially excelling all other middle-wool breeds. This is in fact 

 the heaviest shearing of any of the Down breeds, and instances 

 are reported of fleeces weighing as much as 20 pounds. A 

 weight of 10 to 12 pounds unwashed wool may be expected in 

 the case of well-bred sheep given proper care. 



The prices paid for Oxford Down sheep have not ranged very 

 high. In 1860 R. S. Fay had. a sale at Lynn, Massachusetts, 

 when the prices ranged from $7.50 to $51 a head. In 1876 

 T. S. Cooper of Pennsylvania showed the ram Freeland at the 



1 John A- Craig, Sheep Farming in North America (1913), p. 124. 



