| "That larger sort, of head defenceless, seek, Whose fleece is deep and clammy, close and plain; The ram short-limb'd, whose form compact describes One level line along his spacious baack. Of full and ruddy eye, large ears, stretched head, Nostrils dilated, neck and shoulders broad, And spacious haunches." (p.313, Coleman) |
| The Old Leicester Sheep |
| "This was a large, heavy, coarse-woolled breed, common to most of the midland counties, and reaching from the south of Yorkshire, and the Yorkshire Wolds, as far as Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire. It had a white face, no horns--it was long and thin in the carcass, flat-sided, with large bones--thick, rough, and white legs--and weighing, the ewe from 15 to 20 lbs., and the wether from 20 to 30 lbs. the quarter. It was covered with wool from 10 to 14 or 15 inches in length, coarse in quality, and weighing from 8 to 13 lbs. The pelt and offal were thick and coarse; the animal was a slow feeder, and the flesh was coarse-grained, and with little flavour. (Coleman, p313) |
| The New Leicester Sheep |
| It was around 1755..." that Mr. Bakewell of Dishley, near Loughborough, in Leicestershire, first applied himself to the endeavor to improve the then existing breed of sheep in that country. Up to this period very little care had been bestowed upon the breeding of sheep." (Coleman, p313) |
| References: --Cattle, Sheep and Pigs of Great Britain. Edited by John Coleman. London, 1887. --Modern Sheep Breeds and Management. By "Shepherd Boy" Associate Editor. American Sheep Breeder; American Sheep Breeder Co., Chicago, IL 1907 |
| Goals for improvement prior to Bakewell: 1) to breed the largest possible animals 2) to breed the heaviest fleeces What Bakewell observed that was different: 1) realized that smaller animals gained weight faster 2) that smaller animals consumed less feed 3) the more wool an animal carried, the slower it would gain meat for market What Bakewell did: 1) selected sheep that appeared to gain weight quicker 2) selected for conformation that he perceived would produce the largest proportion of meat and the smallest quantity of bone and "offal" 3) placed first value on carcass and secondary value to fleece; he observed that the addition of 2-3 lbs. of wool to the weight of the fleece meant a sacrifice of 10-12 lbs. of meat (Coleman, p314) |
| "The sort of sheep, therefore, which Mr. Bakewell selected were those possessed of the most perfect symmetry, with the greatest aptitude to fatten, and rather smaller in size than the sheep then generally bred. Having formed his stock from sheep so selected, he carefully attended to the peculiarities of the individuals from which he bred, and, it appears, did not object to breeding from near relations, when by so doing he put together animals likely to produce a progency possessing the characteristics that he wished to obtain." (Coleman, p314) |
| "The sheep that first inhabited the North American settlements were of the old Leicester breed. The improved Dishley breed were not long in finding their way across the Atlantic." (Coleman, p326) |
| Before Bakewell's improvement: "They had a large hollow behind the shoulders, upon the top as well as the side, now known by the technical term of the fore flank, which in a fat sheep, now, not only fills up the former defect, but even projects beyond the shoulder and gives a great roundness to the form of the carcass." (Shepherd Boy, p90) |
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