100 
BULLETIN 1399, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
of more than 1,000 pounds if on good pastures. The milk contains 
from 5 to 6 per cent of butterfat and is therefore excellent for cheese 
making, and butter is sometimes produced from it. 
The merino has held an important place (39 per cent of all sheep in 
Germany being of this extraction) ever since the first importation 
from Spain in the middle of the eighteenth century. Afterwards 
importations were made from merino flocks that had been bred in 
France. These sheep have been bred to meet varying conditions and 
requirements, so that now three types can be differentiated: (1) 
Tuchwollschaf, with extra fine cloth wool (there are various grada- 
tions both in length and fineness of wool grown on these sheep); 
(2) Stoffwollschaf, the wool of which possesses the waviness required 
for extra fine cloth but is long enough for the carding machine; (3) 
Kammwoolschaf (carding wool), which can be subdivided into three 
types — (a) those especially bred for the excellence of their fleece, 
(b) those where wool and mutton production are equally considered, 
and (c) those chiefly bred for weight of carcass. 
The English breeds of sheep were imported into Germany about 
the middle of the last century as a result of the growing importance of 
meat production and the decrease in the price of wool. The " downs " 
have been found best suited to meet the requirements of Germany, 
except in a few districts in the northwest. About a fourth of all 
German sheep are of the* English mutton type. 
Table 87 gives the names, district in which the breed is found, and 
the purpose for which each of the leading breeds is adapted. 
Table 87. — Sheep: Breeds in the German Empire, 1.912 
Name 
German merinos: 
Merino (Tuehwoll- 
sehaf). 
Merino (StoiTwoll- 
schaf). 
Merino (Kamm- 
woolsehaf). 
English sheep: 
Shropshire 
Hamshire. 
Oxford.... 
Native sheep: 
Franken.. 
Wurttemberg bas- 
tard (merino and 
Franken). 
Rhon 
East Friesland milk 
Manner bred 
Large flocks, owned 
privately. 
Same as above 
Piivate breeders. 
.do. 
.do. 
District 
Purposes 
East and northeast Germany Extra fine cloth wool 
Central Germany, Saxony 
to Mecklenburg, I'omcr- 
ania, Hanover, and Silesia. 
Northeast Germany, ex- 
tending to central regions. 
North German plain, Silesia. 
Pomerania, Mecklenburg, 
Saxony, and Hanover. 
Same as above 
Mecklenburg, Hanover, 
Oldenburg, and Friesland. 
High wool production. 
Type A high wool produc- 
tion; type B, wool and 
mutton; type C, mutton. 
Early maturingmeat breed. 
Do. 
Do. 
Bavaria: Middle, Lower, 
and Upper Franken, Thur- 
ingia, Wurttemberg, and 
Baden. 
"Wurtteinberg- 
Rhon Mountains, Lower 
Franken, Meiningen, and 
Hesse. 
East Friesland, Oldenburg, 
Schlcswig-Holstein. 
Strong, coarse wool; pro- 
ducing meat of excellent 
quality. 
Fine wool, good quality of 
mutton. 
Excellent meat and fair 
amount of wool. 
Milk and meat. Produces 
about 1,000 to 1,400 
pounds of milk (5 to 6 
per cent butterfat) in 
year. 
Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft. Berlin. 
