British Breeds of Sheep 129 



The first occasion on which separate classes were 

 provided by the Royal Agricultural Society for Dor- 

 set sheep appears to have been at the Battersea 

 meeting in 1862, when the judges reported that "the 

 competition in these classes was very limited, but 

 the animals exhibited were a very superior quality 

 and represented admirably the character and excel- 

 lence of the breed." They were next exhibited in 

 1865 at Plymouth.^ Sheep of Somerset and Dorset 

 were classed together as late as 1890. 



The following, written iri 1892 for the first volume 

 of the Dorset Horn Flock Book, gives an insight 

 into the intensive sheep-farming of England : — 



"The general management of the breed in Dorset 

 is as follows : About one to one and one half 

 ewes are kept to the acre, according to the quality 

 of the land and the amount of water, meadow, and 

 pasture attached to it. They require plenty of room 

 and are generally allowed to roam the pasture in the 

 daytime, being brought to the arable land at night. 

 They take the ram fully two months earlier than any 

 other breed and the general lambing time for the flock 

 ewes is about Christmas and up to the middle of 

 January. The off-going ewes are sold in lamb 

 in the months of September and October and drop 

 their lambs in October and November, the lambs 

 being fattened for the London market. The flock 

 ewes generally lamb down on the grass; they are 



1 Dorset Horn Flock Book, Vol. I. 



