File:Sheep, breeds and management (1893) (14758928256).jpg

Identifier: sheepbreedsmanag00wrig (find matches)
Title: Sheep, breeds and management
Year: 1893 (1890s)
Authors: Wrightson, John
Subjects: Sheep
Publisher: London, Vinton
Contributing Library: UMass Amherst Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Library Consortium Member Libraries

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icated in their fleece and faces a preponderance either ofthe Long or the Short Woolled parentage, and to a certainextent this difference still exists, although it is disappearingfast. The speckled face which used at one time to distinguishthe Oxfordshire sheep has given way to a uniform brown,although a splash of lighter grey is sometimes to be^ discerned.The finely cut profile and thinner nose, and the long fore-lock, together with the long and thin ear, are evidentlyvestiges of the Cotswold parent. So also is the looser coatthat is to be seen on the Oxfordshire Downs. The dark faceand the comparatively close fleece are derived from the Down,and the degree of character and uniformity which has beenattained must be put down to careful selection for a periodof about forty years. They were called the glory of thecounty — the most profitable sheep to the producer, thebutcher, and the consumer, in 1854, ^^^ ^^^^-^ ^ wholegeneration of men have passed away they still hold theirposition.
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THE OXFORDSHIRE DOWN. 69 It is scarcely a matter of wonder that the Oxfordshirebreeders should have seen the necessity of founding a flock-book and society for the promotion of the breed. In thecase of a comparatively recent race, points require to beestablished, and bad types must be discouraged, so as toform a fixed character as speedily as possible. This firstpoint of importance has, we believe, been achieved throughmany generations of careful breeding, and the OxfordshireDown is in all respects a distinct and thoroughly constitutedrace ; and has added much to the agricultural wealth of thiscountry. It is curious to contrast the results which were thoughtsatisfactory in the early days of Oxfordshire sheep, when-Mr.Samuel Druce and Mr. Philip Pusey were in correspondenceabout them. The carcase weight of tegs, at from thirteen tofifteen months old, was judged to be in the case of theseimproved sheep 76 lbs., and that of Hampshires is put downat 68 lbs. I have less personal knowledge

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