Dorset Down

The Dorset Down is a breed of sheep native to the Dorset Downs region of England. It originated in the early 19th century from crosses of local and Hampshire ewes with Southdown rams.^[1] The breed is not closely related to the Dorset (a.k.a. Dorset Horned), which is a white-faced sheep.

Dorset Downs are medium-sized, robust sheep with dark faces and short wool.^[2] Prior to the importation of Continental breeds like the Texel, the Dorset Down was a popular terminal sire breed in the United Kingdom. Today it is listed as a minority breed by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.^[3] It was also exported to North and South America, New Zealand and Australia, but remains fairly rare in those countries as well.^[4]

References

^ Susan Schoenian. "Sheep Breeds D-F". sheep101.info.
^ "Dorset Down". National Sheep Association.
^ "Dorset Down". Watchlist. Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Archived from the original on 2009-08-29.
^ "Dorset Down". ansi.okstate.edu. Oklahoma State University Dept. of Animal Science. Archived from the original on 2010-06-05.

External links

Dorset Down Sheep Breeders Association

Livestock breeds of the British Isles

Cattle

Beef cattle	Aberdeen Angus Beef Shorthorn Belted Galloway Blue Grey Devon Dexter English Longhorn Galloway Hereford Highland Lincoln Red Luing Shorthorn South Devon Sussex Welsh Black
Dairy cattle	Ayrshire Dairy Shorthorn Guernsey Jersey Kerry
Dual purpose	Albion British White Droimeann Irish Moiled Glamorgan Old Gloucester Pembroke Red Poll Shetland Whitebred Shorthorn
Primitive	Chillingham Wild Cattle Tory Island Vaynol White Park
Extinct	Alderney Blue Albion

Sheep

Extant	Badger Face Welsh Mountain Balwen Welsh Mountain Beulah Speckled Face Black Welsh Mountain Bluefaced Leicester Border Cheviot Border Leicester Brecknock Hill Cheviot British Milksheep Cambridge Cheviot Clun Forest Cotswold Dalesbred Derbyshire Gritstone Devon Closewool Devon and Cornwall Longwool Dorset Down Dorset Horn Easycare Exmoor Horn Galway Greyface Dartmoor Hampshire Down Herdwick Hill Radnor Kerry Hill Leicester Longwool Lincoln Llanwenog Lleyn Lonk Masham Norfolk Horn North Country Cheviot Oxford Down Portland Romney Rough Fell Ryeland Scottish Blackface Shetland Shropshire Southdown Suffolk Swaledale Teeswater Welsh Mountain Wensleydale Whiteface Dartmoor Whitefaced Woodland Wiltshire Horn
Primitive	Boreray Castlemilk Moorit Hebridean Jacob Manx Loaghtan North Ronaldsay Soay
Extinct	Devon Longwool Scottish Dunface South Devon

Pigs

Extant	Berkshire British Landrace British Lop British Saddleback Essex Gloucestershire Old Spots Large Black Large White Middle White Oxford Sandy and Black Tamworth Welsh Wessex Saddleback
Extinct	Cumberland Dorset Gold Tip Grice Irish Greyhound Pig Large White Ulster Lincolnshire Curly Coat Small Black Small White Yorkshire Blue and White

Goats

Poultry

Chickens	Croad Langshan Derbyshire Redcap Dorking Ixworth Indian Game Legbar Modern Game Modern Langshan Nankin Bantam Norfolk Grey Old English Game Old English Pheasant Fowl Orpington Rosecomb Scots Dumpy Scots Grey Sebright Sussex
Ducks	Abacot Ranger Aylesbury Orpington Khaki Campbell Magpie Shetland Silver Appleyard Welsh Harlequin
Geese	Brecon Buff Shetland

This sheep-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page was last edited on 29 October 2022, at 06:33

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

References

External links