AGRICULTURE 



butcher when from ten to twelve weeks old, when they average lO to 141b. per quarter, and go 

 to the London market. They then make from 401. to 50J. each. 



The off-going ewes are fattened off as well as the lambs, and, when highly kept, are ready for 

 market at the same time, and average from 22 to 28 lb. per quarter. Dorset ewe lambs have 

 been bred from under twelve months old, the rams being put with them in November and 

 December, and their produce being fit for the butcher in the following midsummer, realizing 

 from 28;. to 35J. each. 



This breed does better on the high sour lands than Down sheep, there being little risk in 

 lambing them. The lambs yield from 2^ to 3 lb. of wool and the ewes from 5 to 7 lb., and 

 yearling rams from 10 to 141b. The wool of the Horn lamb is much prized on account of its 

 whiteness and the fine point it possesses, whilst the fleeces command better prices than those of 

 most other breeds. The principal fair for the sale of Dorset Horn sheep, especially early lambing 

 ewes, was formerly Weyhill, to which place they used to be driven a distance of fifty or sixty 

 miles, and it was by no means uncommon for lambs to be born on the road. They do not 

 undertake such a journey now, nearly the whole of them being brought on the last Thursday in 

 September to Dorchester Poundbury Fair, established in 1848, at which prizes are given for the 

 best ewes. Some 13,000 to 16,000 sheep may be seen at this fair, and some of the ewes realize 

 from 48^. to 7 5 J. per head. A large annual sale of ewes, rams, and ram-lambs is held at Dorchester 

 in the month of May. On these occasions ram-lambs fetch from five to twenty guineas each, and 

 the best rams from fifteen to forty guineas each. Though the Dorset Horn sheep had a distinct 

 class to itself at the Royal Agricultural Society's Show held at Battersea in 1862, it was not until 

 1867 that this recognition was permanently established. Since then they have been regularly 

 exhibited and prizes offered at the Royal and Bath and West of England Agricultural Societies and 

 local shows. It is impossible to give the number of Dorset Horn sheep in the county, either for 

 past or present years, but it may be sufficient to state that the Flock Book for 1906 contains the 

 history of 45,302 ewes, 19,649 ewe hoggets, and 839 pedigree rams. 



The breed of sheep known as the Dorset Down sheep, though enjoying but slight notoriety in 

 present times, can trace its origin back to some eighty years ago. Its present type is rather an 

 evolution of the Hampshire Down breed, in fact it was in its earlier days known as the ' Water- 

 combe Breed of Improved Hampshire Downs.' Its establishment is due to the efforts of Mr. Thomas 

 Homer Saunders of Watercombc, near Dorchester, who considered that the Down sheep then bred 

 in the county, although a ' kindly' race of sheep, were deficient in size. He therefore selected the 

 largest ewes he could find, and crossed them with rams of still larger size, and, by judicious crossing, 

 in time he created a type of sheep that ultimately became known under the above title, which took 

 its name from Mr. Saunders's farm. The sheep bred by Mr. Thomas Homer Saunders and 

 Mr. Humfrey of Chaddleworth, near Newbury, who had experimented and produced a similar type 

 of Down sheep, were largely introduced into the Down flocks of Dorset, and also into many of the 

 flocks of Hampshire and Wiltshire, and in return the Dorset breeders have, to a large extent, 

 resorted to the leading flocks of those counties for requisite changes of blood, with the result that the 

 Dorset Down breed now registered, although of finer bone and often of lighter colour, is closely 

 related to, and possesses the principal features of, the Hampshire Down type, modified by local 

 conditions. 



A good type of Dorset Down should be free from all coarseness, the chief points being a rather 

 long, full, clean face and under-jaw, with a bold bright eye and full muzzle ; the ears should be 

 fairly long, thin, pointed, whole-coloured, and carried well above the level of the eyes ; the neck 

 strong and well set on. The animal should be fairly fine-boned, and covered with a close fine 

 fleece going well down to the hocks and knees, round the cheeks, and between the ears and 

 on the forehead. It is desirable that the face, ears, and legs should be of a greyish-brown 

 colour. The Dorset Down should embody the good points common to all breeds of sheep, but 

 should be especially good through the heart and behind the shoulder ; it should also have a 

 well-let-down and rounded leg, and whilst not standing too short, there should be no tendency 

 to legginess. The following are some of the chief characteristics of the Dorset Down breed 

 as set out in the Flock Book : — 



They are essentially a rent-paying type of sheep, especially adapted for thick-stocking, and are 

 noted for their fecundity. They are of a very resourceful character, being capable of producing either 

 sucking lamb at from lo to 12 weeks old of the finest quality from 401b. to 481b. in weight, or at 

 from 8 to 9 months old a well-finished carcase weighing from 661b. to 72 lb. of the very best quality 

 of fleshy mutton, thus meeting the preponderating demand of the dead meat market for joints of more 

 quality and less waste, which fact bids fair for the future progress of the breed. They possess a hardy 

 and robust constitution and are very adaptive, being equally at home between the hurdles or in open 

 grazing. 



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