66 
THE SHEEP. 
THE COTSWOLD BREED. 
of this opinion the absence of any information to be obtained in the district itself regarding the supposed change of breeds. But 
we know how quickly the memory of such events is effaced, and that changes as great as that in the Cotswold Sheep have occurred 
in all parts of the kingdom, without onr having the means of obtaining any account of them after the lapse of a short period. It 
would be opposed to all that we know of the natural history of the Sheep, to suppose that a tract of country so recently cultivated 
and enclosed as the Cotswold Hills, could have maintained on its natural herbage one of the largest races of sheep in England, 
and communicated to it the property of growing long wool. Such a race, we must suppose, was indigenous to the plains, and has 
merely taken the place of an older breed, in a manner similar to that which has been continually occurring during the last fifty 
years over a great part of the British Islands. 
But the Long-woolled Sheep of the Cotswold hills have themselves undergone an important change within a period compara¬ 
tively recent. They were formerly of greater bulk of body and coarser forms, and are said to have borne a greater weight of 
wool than they now yield. But about sixty years ago, the New Leicester Breed, on its extension throughout the central counties, 
was made to cross the Cotswold as well as all the Long-woolled sheep of Gloucestershire. This system of crossing was pursued so 
extensively, that after a time there did not perhaps exist a single Cotswold flock which was not more or less mixed in blood 
with the New Leicester Breed. The effect was, as in other cases, to diminish the bulk of body of the existing breed and lessen 
the produce of wool, but to communicate to the individuals a greater delicacy of form. Between twenty and thirty years ago, how¬ 
ever, the Cotswold breeders began to apprehend that their flocks were losing too much in carcass and fleece, and becoming less 
fitted for the climate of their native hills. From this period a preference began to be given to the native stock, and for many 
years past crossing has been scarcely practised, and most of the breeders have been desirous to revert more to the former model of 
their breed. 
The modern Cotswold Sheep are of a size somewhat superior to the highest bred New Leicesters, and their wool is more close 
upon the body. The staple measures from 6 to 8 inches, and the fleece weighs upon a medium from 7 to 8 lb., that of the inferior 
flocks not exceeding 5 and 6 lb. It is strong, of a good colour, rather coarse, but of a mellow quality. These sheep have not 
been brought to the same perfection of form as the New Leicester, and, like the sheep of Romney Marsh, they tend to accumulate 
fat on the rump almost to the degree of producing deformity; but they are hardy, and usually of sound constitutions. The females 
are prolific and good nurses, and the lambs are early covered with a close fleece. At a former period, when tillage was less extended 
than now, the Cotswold Sheep were frequently sent in winter to the valleys of the Thames and Severn, and generally sold in the 
lean state at between two and three years old. But since the old sheep-walks have been broken up, and turnips and artificial 
grasses cultivated, the greater part of the sheep that are reared in the country are likewise fattened in it. They are kept on tur¬ 
nips, vetches, hay, and the grasses and clovers, and disposed of in the fat state at from a year and a-half to two years old; and 
within these last seven or eight years the practice has been introduced of bringing them to market at twelve or fourteen months 
old. At the latter age they weigh from 15 to 24 lb. the quarter; and when from a year and a-half to two years old, their medium 
weight is calculated to be from 20 to 30 lb. the quarter. 
The Cotswold Breed, after having long yielded to the progress of the more highly cultivated New Leicester, has of recent years 
been attracting the attention of general breeders, and is now contesting the ground with the Leicester in various districts of Eng¬ 
land and Wales. The qualities that in an especial degree recommend it to notice are, its hardiness and property of thriving under 
common treatment, and the faculty of the females of yielding numerous lambs and supporting them well. The Breed is still far 
short of the New Leicester in form, but it has been making continued advances to a more perfect state by the increased attention 
bestowed on selection and general treatment. The system of letting Rams for hire has been adopted on the large scale by some 
of the Cotswold breeders; and from the attention which this necessarily directs to the rearing of superior males, it cannot be 
doubted that the Cotswold Breed will be yet further extended and improved. 
