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BORDER LEICESTER SHEEP.

By IT. W. Ham, Sheep Expert, in the Victorian “Journal of Agriculture."

1 The Border Leicester is one of the best of our long-wool breeds of sheep and is a variation in type from the old English Leicester and Lincoln. The breeders of this sheep in the old country have made shape of carcass their principal aim. as seen in the good girths and shapely forequarters in ail flocks of any merit. While the Border Leicester fyas been evolved with these desirable pqints, breeders have recognised that quality of flesh must bo kept in view also ; they could see that the coarser the grain of flesh below, and so by section and judicious mating they have brought j about a rather finer grade of wool I than existed formerly, and with better character also, By encouraging | a finer grade of wool and better 1 character of fleece, they have also as a result toned down the coarseness of flesh, and now 011 all well-bred sheep we find the bright pink skin that is , at once an indication of quality, of flesh, and upon which, as a general rule, nice wool will grow. A Border Leicester is not, however, a wellcovered sheep from a wool man’s point of view, but the absence of excessive covering is one of the reasons why the breed excels in constitutional points. Had the old breeders made for excessive covering also, they could not have evolved the Border Leicester sheep.

| One of the recognised points of the breed as being true to type is, bo ; wool further forward than where the j neck joins the head, and to a great 1 degree, in any breed, this really is where the flesh ends. By keeping the head and ears clear it increases their I cqmfort, especially towards shearing i time in full wool, and when grass j seed is bad. The bareness of leg in 1 times of grass setd is an advantage |to them. The idea of wool-carrying 1 capacity is to carry as much as pos- | sible of a good style of stuff on the ! body parts only, and not encourage it on the extremities. In shape of j head and ears, they should (in oUt- | line only) resemble very much the hare, having clean-cut eyes, bridge of i nose, and ears, or in other words, should show a defined well-bred ap- . pearance. In colour they should have white faces, ears and legs, but not the hard kempty white often seen in j second rate sheep, and not tho slatey blue tinge we see in so-called Border Leicesters with a cross of the other hong-wool breeds. . A few rich, black spots on ears, and often near the eyes, are not wrong, ’ providing they are not a coiumon dull brown, or ! dirty black. A rich black spot is i called by breeders who have made a j success of improving and of individ- ; ual mating, a “beauty spot." Length of head is a valued point .by many Border Leicester men, they consider it gives less trouble in lambing. Sheep of this breed are good travellers for feed and to water, and stand a lot of hardship. They cross well on merino ews of a shapely class, ! and the lambs make good freezers. They are very suitable to graziers who have country . suitable for fattening lambs off the natural pasture, and who depend entirely on the season, for if attention is paid that none but shapely good doing rams with fair fleece qualities are used, the lambs if held over, will make profitable wool growers, and when the good shape effists, easily fattening sheep also. It is very dangerous to the good | name of this breed that a keen dej mand now exists ,or theim They are a breed easily reared, and easily | worked up from half-bred and three- ! quarter bred ewes so as to appear true to type to the ordinary sheep man, but if all raijis in the wqol in the wool 4 were handled before purr ! chase, and high shouldered and hollow girthed qnes rejected, it would do a lot towards keeping the good name now possessed.

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NORAG19080727.2.31

Bibliographic details

Northland Age, Volume IV, Issue 49, 27 July 1908, Page 7

Word Count
696

BORDER LEICESTER SHEEP. Northland Age, Volume IV, Issue 49, 27 July 1908, Page 7

BORDER LEICESTER SHEEP. Northland Age, Volume IV, Issue 49, 27 July 1908, Page 7