The Dorset Horn is an old west-country breed of sheep. This is a hardy breed, in size somewhat exceeding the Southdown. The special characteristic of the breed is that the ewes take the ram at an unusually early period of the year, and cast ewes are in demand for breeding house lamb for Christmas. The Ryeland breed is so named from the Ryelands, a poor upland district in Herefordshire. It is a hardy grassland breed which is neither very quick maturing nor particularly prolific.
The Clun Forest is a local breed in west Shropshire and the adjacent part of Wales. It is descended from the old Tan-faced sheep. It is now three parts Shropshire, having been much crossed with that breed.
The Western or Wiltshire Horned sheep is an old breed that has recently been revived. It is not unlike the Dorset Horn but it has even stronger horns in both sexes and is peculiar in that it carries practically no wool. The skin shows a considerable num ber of small black spots. The sheep are very hardy and they are useful for grassland farms where it is undesirable to apply. the intensive system of management customary with Down flocks.
The Devon Closewool was originated in North Devon by blend ing the blood of Devon Longwools with Exmoor Horns. The size is intermediate between the parent breeds and the animals are short in the leg and thickly made. The sheep are very well suited to commercial purposes on land of intermediate quality.
The Kerry Hill is a brown and white speckled faced breed found along the Welsh border. Kerry hills are hardy grass sheep; the ewes are often crossed with Shropshires to produce fat lambs, while on the other hand the rams are often used for crossing with Welsh Mountain ewes.
The Cheviot is a hardy sheep with straight wool, of moderate length and very close-set. Put to the Border Leicester ram the Cheviot ewe produces the Half-bred, which as a breeding ewe is unsurpassed as a rent-paying, arable-land sheep.
The Scotch Blackface breed is chiefly reared in Scotland, but it is of N. of England origin. Their greater hardiness, as com pared with the Cheviots, has brought them into favour upon the higher grounds of the N. of England and of Scotland, where they thrive upon heather hills and coarse and exposed grazing lands. The colour of face and legs is well-defined black and white, the black predominating. The spiral horns are low at the crown, with a clear space between the roots, and sweep in a wide curve, sloping slightly backwards, and clear of the cheek. The fashion
able fleece is down to the ground, hairy and strong, and of uniform quality throughout.
The Lonk has its home amongst the moorlands of N. Lancashire and the W. Riding of Yorkshire, and it is the largest of the mountain breeds of the N. of England and Scotland.
The Herdwick is the hardiest of all the breeds ; it thrives upon the poor mountain land in Cumberland and Westmorland. The rams generally have small, curved, wide horns ; the ewes are horn less.
The Welsh Mountain is a small, active, soft-woolled, white f aced breed of hardy character. The legs are often yellowish, and this colour may extend to the face. Horns occur only in the males. The mutton is of excellent quality. The ewes, although difficult to confine by ordinary fences, are in high favour in lowland districts for breeding fattening lambs to Down and other early maturity rams.
The Dartmoor, a hardy local Devonshire breed, is a large horn less, longwool, white-fleeced sheep, with a long mottled face. It has been attracting attention in recent years. It is intermediate in type between a mountain and a Longwool breed.
The Exmoor is a horned breed of Devonshire moorland, one of the few remaining remnants of direct descent from the old forest breeds of England. They have white legs and faces and black nostrils. The coiled horns lie more closely to the head than in the Dorset and Somerset Horn breed. The Exmoors have a close, fine fleece of short wool. They are very hardy, and yield mutton of choice flavour.
The Swaledale is one of the larger sized breeds of the Blackface or heath type; it is native to Yorkshire. It is horned; its face is dark with a light or "mealy" nose.
The Rough Fell is a Westmorland breed belonging to the Black face heath group. The ewes are frequently crossed with the Wens leydale and the cross-breeds form valuable feeding sheep for poor and exposed conditions.
The Derbyshire Gritstone is a hornless breed with black and white mottled face and legs; it is native to the hills and dales of the millstone grit formation. The animals are hardy and their wool is the finest and closest of any heath breed. The mutton is typical of hill sheep being lean and of fine flavour.