a survey of european primitive breeds of sheep欧洲原始的调查品种的羊.pdfVIP

A survey of European primitive breeds of sheep 1)( M.L. RYDER A.R.C. Animal Breeding Research Organisation, West Mains Road Edinbur,gli EH9 3JQ, Scotland Summary This paper surveys the primitive (i.e. unimproved) sheep of Europe using data (notably the fleece type) from surviving breeds in place of the more commonly-used skeletal and textile remains. Only bone evidence exists for the Neolithic sheep, and its coat is assumed to have been little different from that of the undomesticated wild ancestor. Textile remains show that Bronze Age sheep had less hairy, but still brown, fleeces like those of the Soay sheep that survives feral in the Saint Kilda islands off north west Scotland. Within this less hairy fleece type both textile remains and surviving sheep show a range of variation from relatively hairy to woolly animals. Textile remains show that white sheep appear in the Iron Age. Much wool was, however, still coloured, having either 100 p. 100 pigmented fibres (black or brown) or some pigmented fibres and others not (grey or roan). Surviving breeds of this type (often with a primitive short tail) have a similar fleece structure to the Soay but with a range of colours, white, black and grey, in addition to the brown of the Bronze Age Soay. The present paper concentrates on this type which was probably the predominant sheep in Europe until after the Middle Ages when modern, improved breeds began to emerge. The breeds considered to be of Iron Age type described are divided into groups as follows. The Northern Short-tail which comprises the Romanov of Russia, the 7’’;B’y/tf!:. Landrace, the Swedish Goth, the Norwegian Spaelsau, Faroe, Iceland, Orkney-Shetland, British Fou