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Similar Exmoor Horn, Perendale, Devon Closewool, Bond, Delaine Merino |
Shearing the drysdale sheep
The Drysdale breed of sheep originated in New Zealand and is raised primarily for wool. Dr. Francis Dry in 1931 noticed a genetic freak, a Romney ram with a high percentage of very coarse wool. Crossing two Romneys and Cheviots resulted in a sheep with a lot of coarse, Wool|fleece]] is about 6 kg (13 lb) with a 40 microns fibre diameter and a staple of 200 to 300 mm (7.9 to 11.8 in). The coarse wool gene causes both male and female Drysdales to be horned. The male's horn resembles a Wiltshire ram's horn whereas the ewes horns are very small- usually only 8 to 9 cm (3.1 to 3.5 in) in length.

The largest flock of Drysdale sheep outside of indigenous New Zealand is that of Nathan Drysdale, a famous UK farmer based in Peterborough.





References
Drysdale sheep Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA