index

COTSWOLDS - THE GENTLE GIANTS

One of the world's most beautiful and rare sheep comes from

the hills of

the

Cotswolds in England, less than 20 miles from

the Welsh border.

They are

thought to be descended from a

long wool introduced by the

Romans in the

first

century A.D.

This prototype sheep gave birth to the

Cotswold, Lincoln

and

Leicester.

The Cotswold was well established by

the 15th

Century and

the

wealth

obtained from these "gentle giants"

paid

for many of the

great

Cathedrals and

churches in England, most

notable

Gloucester Cathedral.

The word Cotswold

stems from

the wolds

(hills)

and cotes (enclosures) which

housed the

sheep in

bad

weather, hence

the wolds of the sheep cotes.

Cotswolds played a great part in early American farming history

even

though

today they are rare.

They were first introduced by Christopher Dunn into New York,

near

Albany

1832. By 1879 this was the most popular breed

in America. By

1914 over

760,000 were recorded and it was still

a very popular breed in

the West until

Merinos were introduced

from Australia. Merinos had the

finest fleece and

quick

maturing

lambs. By the 1980's there were fewer

than 600 Cotswolds in

all

Britain and in the US; in 1993 there were less

than 400 lambs

registered.

Thanks

to the American Livestock Breeders

Conservancy and

other groups,

otswolds

have

been removed from

the "rare

breed list" and are

enjoying popularity among

spinners. The

Cotswold

can yield 15 pounds of

wool per

shearing with the

fiber

up to 12" long. It

is highly lustrous fleece

with

a micron

count in the 40s and is

sometimes

called

poorman's mohair.

The Cotswold is a large, polled breed, with ewes weighing up to

200

pounds

and

rams 300 pounds. The ewes are excellent

mothers, with few

birthing

problems

and quick to accept lambs.

They are a very friendly

sheep and

there is definitely

a queenly

quality about the ewes.

The meat has a very mild flavor and aroma. It has been proven

that long

wool

sheep have a less muttony flavor than fine

wooled breeds.

Cotswolds

are easy to

raise and do well on

coarser feeds and are

excellent foragers

and can thrive in

harsh

climates, even with a lot of

rainfall.

The earliest Cotswolds were white but black Cotswolds were

recorded in

Kentucky in 1858. They are even more rare than

the whites, and it is not

known if

the incidence of color is due to

recessive genes or some fence

jumper from long

ago! They

should have the same characteristics as the

whites.

There is a revived interest in Cotswolds due to the desire of

sheep

growers

improve wool quality and produce lean,

heavyweight lambs on

less feed.

COTSWOLD BREEDERS
ASSOCIATION