CROSSES OF SHEEP.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1408, 8 April 1912, Page 8

CROSSES OF SHEEP.

■ MOEE XUMEROUS KOW, The rarious crosscs of sheep are now more numerous iu the United Kingdom tlitin tlioy have ever been. This is purll.V due to y more etiergetic policy on flio part ot' the largo flockiiuistcrs, and part ly ilne to the ex ponnien ts which have heen .earried out all over Ihe country. Diiferent crosscs are peculmr to cerium par's. iu Kent tim ..Soiithdown-itoiunoy •Jlarsli cross llourishcs, beiug a union of ncighbouriiig hrrals, .• and no doubt the blend is as succe.-stiil tliere as it i.i in Xew Zealand.r Along the borders of the Chaiine! Jim to be foimd a nuniber of purobreds. The Dorset Horn on (he long■ivools of the Wostdoes vell. . The Hampshire Down is popular in widely-scparaled districts, but does. not penctrate far be- , yondthe .Southorn Midlands. An effort is being maile to obtain a sliare, in tho Scottish trade, hut it is too ,carly yet to ■ speabof the results. The Hampsliire and the Dorset Down cross wcll, aiuitheCotswold also forms a good basis of a Down cross. From (his last nanied race comés the Oxford Down, which has csfablishcd a large conncctiorT on the Borders. The Oxford is likcwise a fiivourite farmer's sheep in tho Midlands, producing a bulky eye-iilling lainh. ln the Kastcrii Couiities the Sul Tolk and Fouthdown are most i in cvido.iico, the SulToU; likewise being favoured in the .Smith of Scotiaiul. The Shropshirc"s stronghuld is in the Jfidland Coiiaties!. aiul aking the Welsh border, and even into tho hinteiiand of the Principality. The liyelanil lias been pushed of lale yoars lo cross on the liådnor and AY>ls!i ewes for- fat lnmb. ■ The lise of a Down ram is spreailing, and wherc formerly large nmnbers of purebrods were 1 k'-'pt the fiocks have been ennverted lo I tho purposes nf fat laml> production. Oir the Pennine ('hain I hero are manv tvpes of sheep. The Oritstone, IVensicvdale, I-->nlc. and Scotch Blackfaco prcdomihate. -The Blaekfiice ewe is crosscd with both . T.onk mul Wcnsloydnlo, the latter "union forming the fampus; ,Afasham tvpo of sheep. In Cimiborland the Border Leiroser cross has ,a strong vogne, and in the aujacent country over.the border the Border Leicester is used 011 'tho Ciieviot to prodiics.hnjfbredsmid threc-part bred shcep, whal vas fovmerly alinost a mono--noly, save far the'inti'o(luciion of a few .Yqrkshire,,,rams into the south-west of Pcotlaml. has now beeoine shnred with the ■ onmncting,.DoH-iis-tr.e Oxford and the SuffiMk. The former is n.grear. fnvonrite nn necomit of >!ie bis; Janibs it begefs— looking lareor to the eve (han thev often are in to the :• freé 'coats which they carr.v. ■ The Border Leicester ero=s is fOll hil 'iri'the easterii cdiiiities of ScoMaml np ,to Abeideenshire. Generallv speaking in the west—the hilly region— (ho sheep are of i> nure bill tvpp. aiul: lhcy;(lpmiuati; the Seottish Hifhlancls. Th Sutherlnnd and Caitlmess the'C'heviot is-.foiuifl in-lavgc flocks, but there is lit- ' tie cross-breeding. .;