14 



Practical Sheep Husbandry 



The Cotswold 



The Cotswold is a large, coarse wooled sheep. The weight of fleece 

 is from 10 to 14 pounds, mature rams weighing 275 to 400 pounds and 

 even more, ewes 175 to 250 pounds. They are a very poor mutton sheep 

 and hard to fatten. They are used mostly in this country for crossing 



The Hampshire 



with the finer wooled sheep. In certain districts through the western 

 range country, where good shelter is furnished through the winter 



months, the Cotswold is in favor 

 in crossing on the Merino and 

 grade flocks. Unless the breeder 

 knows well what he is about, he 

 had better leave the Cotswold 

 alone, because the Cotswold sheep 

 or lambs do not sell well on the 

 market. The central and eastern 

 states also discriminate against 

 the open or loose wool sheep and 

 lambs, because their fleece does not 

 turn water well, and they are not 

 so well adapted to running in the 

 corn or other fall feeds as the 

 closer, more compactly fleeced ani- 

 mal. 



The Oxford Down 



A Cotswold Ram 



The Oxford Down was original- 

 ly a cross between the Hampshire 

 and Cotswold. It is a large, upstanding animal with a brown face. 

 Their wool is quite dense and compact, average fleece weighing from 

 10 to 12 pounds. The Oxford Down is the best of the Down breeds 

 for producing wool. They do well on the average farm feeds, 

 and because of their superior wool quality, recommend themselves 

 highly to the average farmer. The writer especially favors them 



