THE DORSET HORN 



589 



covering of wool may prevail on the hind legs. The skin color is 

 generally pink and attractive, breeders seeking a good color and 

 especially objecting to spots. The hoofs, like the horns, should be 

 white. In comparison with a Southdown or Shropshire, the Dorset 

 is -a rougher, coarser sort of sheep, longer of neck, with a tendency 

 to prominent shoulder, high withers, uneven back line, and a lack 

 of thickness in the hind quarters from the rump to twist. One is 

 impressed with the Dorset as a strong, hardy sheep with consider- 

 able room for improvement in conformation, fleshing, and quality. 



FIG. 275. A Dorset Horn ram, champion at the 1918 Ohio State Fair. Exhibited 

 by L. R. Bradford, Rochester, Ohio. From photograph by the author 



The size of the Dorset Horn is from medium to heavy among 

 middle-wool breeds. Mature rams in fair flesh should weigh 

 about 225 pounds and ewes 165 pounds. In some cases, how- 

 ever, much larger weights are secured. Mr. T. S. Cooper selected 

 a large type in his importations. One two-year-old ram attained 

 a weight of 317 pounds and a yearling 287 pounds, while ram 

 lambs weighed 184 and 164 pounds at five months and one week 

 old. These were mostly first-prize winners. Three first-prize 

 yearling ewes at the 1889 royal show weighed at shearing time 

 262, 245, and 222 pounds respectively, and in August each 

 dropped twin lambs. These, however, were excessive weights. 

 Shaw and Heller credit the breed with considerable variation in 



