THE ORIGIN OF LINCOLN SHEEP

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1939, 9 December 1884, Page 4

THE ORIGIN OF LINCOLN SHEEP

If we tr^'.to ascertain the " origin" we shall have to go back to the dark ages ot sheep breeding ; for we read in au ancient hi&tory of the country that " the Lowlandera came to Lincoln for the five wools of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when the tide of the Witham rolled at the foot of Lincoln Castle walls, and barges came to load for the Low Countries, and even at that time the long wool of ' Ye Towne of Lincoln ami ye countrie abotit' was gteatiy esteemed." But I suppose what your correspondents are alter is to ascertain to what breed or breeds the Linolu of the present day are indebted for their wondeiful development of both wool and mutton. They were originally celebrated as producers of the very best quality, as well as the heaviest fleeces, of comoing wool ; but, at the same time, they were large, coarse, slow-growing sheep. I believe there can be but little doubt that the Leicester has been used to make them mature sooner, and take on flesh quicker while young, though many of the best ram breeders deny such to be the case. Tiiey claim that it has been done entirely by selection, and pertinently a3k if Bakewell could manufacture the Leicesters from sheep similar to theirs (Loicesteishnc and Lincolnshire being adjoining countries), why do not the Lincoln breeders improve theirs also by selection ? The point is not now worth disputing : for, in my opinion, there is »ot a long wool-sheep of any breed in England, worth owning, that has not some Leicester blood in it* makeup. But let us rather give credit to those breeders vho had the sagacity to use the cross in such a manner as to retain all the good qualities of the old Lincoln, and only absorb snch as are desii able for their purpose from the Leicester. That there have been any " dashes " of late years is not probable, because the Leicester can add nothing the Lincoln requires. What was done iv that direction was about ninety years ago ; for we find that four Lincolnshire farmers paid Mr Bakewell 1,000 guineas for the use of one ram one season. That the Lincolns are indebted in any way to the Cotswold is not a fact. The cross has been tiied, but invariably with bad results, I know a onco prominent ram breeder who tried the cross, and in two years he lost all his customers, and had to no out of the business. They arc pre-eminently the sheep ior the district in which they are laised, giowing heavy fleeces of the finest lustre w 001, producing the heaviest carcases of mutton, and, being so haicly. they can "winter nut" on turnips, perhaps up to tluir knees in mud for weeks together, dining a i.iiny season, and not only live through it, but giow and do well.— R. Gibson, m the N.Z. Country Journal.