Top breeders' choice
From Lord Lloyd of Berwick Sir: I was delighted with Paul Johnson's arti- cle on sheep (And another thing, 18/25 December). I am especially glad that he chose the Southdowns as being the best to keep. I agree. But I do not agree that they have 'funny faces'. How dare he! I would remind Paul Johnson that Southdowns have always been great favourites 'with the aristoc- racy and the gentry': see Sheep Breeds and Management, John Wrightson (seventh Edi- tion, 1913). So he had better watch his step.
The great merits of the Southdowns are that they are small, sturdy and very alert. Ours often graze in a field by the railway line. I sometimes greet them from the win- dow of my train as it draws into the station. I would swear they look up, as, indeed, do my fellow passengers. Nor can I agree that sheep have fared badly with poets and painters. What about Virgil's third Georgic? Or 'The Land' by Vita Sackville-West? And what about all those wonderful drawings by Henry Moore? Anthony Lloyd
Polegate, East Sussex
Previous page
