MODERN SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 2J 



into national repute at the Shrewsbury meeting in 1845. We may 

 suppose he alludes to what is now known as the Shropshire and 

 West Midland show. The following comment is from his pen: 

 "At the Chester meeting they beat the Hampshire Downs as old 

 sheep, but in their turn were conquered by the latter in the 

 younger classes. They present themselves to our notice in a more 

 compact form, though shorter they are wider, broader on the back 

 and deeper through the heart." 



The Shropshire was first recognized as a pure-bred sheep by 

 the Royal Agricultural Society of England at the Royal Gloucester 



Shropshire Wethers. Bred by Sir Richard Cooper, England. 



Show at Gloucester in 1853, where the attention of British sheep 

 breeders was called to them, who generally conceded them to be a 

 breed of very great merit. In the Royal Agricultural report of 

 the Gloucester meeting in 1853 they were commented on as fol- 

 lows: "The new class of Shropshire Downs was very successful 

 and it is to be hoped that the society will recognize them as a 

 distinct breed." In the same report they are described as being 

 without horns, with faces and legs of gray or spotted color; the 

 neck thick, with excellent scrag ; the head well set on ; breast broad 

 and deep; back straight, with good carcass; hind quarters hardly 

 so wide as the Southdown, and the legs clean with strong bone. 

 They were further described as being very hardy, thrifty even when 

 only on moderate keep, and readily fattened for market. The 

 tegs weighed on an average from 80 to 100 pounds each. The 

 fleece was said to be longer and more glossy than the other short- 

 wools, weighing, on an average seven pounds. 



It was in the year 1857, while the Royal was being held at 

 Salisbury, in Wiltshire, that the Shropshire won its first promi- 

 nent laurels. This was in the year when sweepstake prizes were 



