6 of 20 Stages of the Evolution of British Wool
The industrial revolution lead to further developments of sheep breeding. Robert Bakewell was the first person to introduce a selective breeding programme where sheep were selected for distinct characteristics to achieve improvement. The goal of this breeding programme was to create faster growing and heavier lambs.
The Dishley Leicester, the first selectively bred sheep
The quality of the fleeces suffered as the breeding programmes concentrated on meat production. Some of the finest fleece producing sheep such as the Medieval Longwools and the Hereford shortwools were lost forever.
