Drysdale sheep

For other uses, see Drysdale sheep (disambiguation).

The Drysdale breed of sheep is a product of Massey Agricultural College, New Zealand (now Massey University). Dr. Francis Dry in 1931 noticed a genetic freak, a Romney ram with a high percentage of very coarse wool. Crossing to Romney and Cheviots resulted in a sheep with a lot of coarse, long-staple wool that had to be sheared twice a year.

Demand from carpet manufacturers in the early 1960s caused an increase in the number of Drysdales in the New Zealand flock. Drysdale wool carpets are used in computing environments where static electricity is a problem.

Drysdales are medium-large sheep, about 55 kg live weight. Their fleece is about 6 kg with 40 micrometres diameter and a staple of 200 to 300 mm. The coarse wool gene causes both male and female Drysdales to be horned. The males horn resembles a wiltshire rams horn where as the ewes horn are very smell usually only 2 or 3 inches in length. You can cheaply breed a uo your drysdale flock by breeding your ewes with a quality Romney Ram.