Sheep

The Cotswold breed originated in the Cotswold Hills of Gloucester, England. Because of its mild, temperate climate, the area is well suited to sheep raising. The name "Cotswold" was given the breed because in the early days they were housed in shelters known locally as "cots" or "cotes" and they were pastured on the wild, treeless hills of the area, called "wolds"

Origin of the Breed.
It is suggested that sheep were in the Cotswold Hills at the time of Caesar's conquest of Britain, however, the Cotswold breed was not an outgrowth of the early sheep found in the hills, but the Cotswolds represented selects from the sheep that had been brought into the area from the lowlands. This is based on the fact that the Cotswolds of the middle nineteenth century were a long-wooled breed of sheep, whereas the sheep that had formerly inhabited the hills were noted for their fine wool. It would thus appear that the Cotswold breed had inherited little more than a name from the original sheep that inhabited the area. Breeders of the Cotswold Hills started in about 1780 to introduce Leicester rams into the area to improve the carcass quality of the sheep. During the following fifty years much crossbreeding was practised, which resulted in a reduction in the size and improvement in carcass quality. After 1825, Cotswold breeders started to select sheep for larger size, and heavier fleeces