Robert bakewell (agriculturalist)

​BAKEWELL, ROBERT (1725–1795) English agriculturist, was born at Dishley, Leicestershire, in 1725. His father, a farmer at the same place, died in 1760, and Robert Bakewell then took over the management of the estate. By visiting a large number of farms all over the country, he had already acquired a wide theoretical knowledge of agriculture and stock-breeding; and this knowledge he now put to practical use at Dishley. His main object was to improve the breed of sheep and oxen, and in this he was highly successful, his new Leicestershire breed of sheep attaining within little more than half a century an international reputation, while the Dishley cattle (also known as the new Leicestershire long-horn) became almost as famous. He extended his breeding experiments to horses, producing a new and particularly useful type of farm-horse. He was the first to establish the trade in ram-letting on a large scale, and founded the Dishley Society, the object of which was to ensure purity of breed. The value of his own stock was quickly recognized, and in one year he made 1200 guineas from the letting of a single ram. Bakewell’s agricultural experiments were not confined to stock-breeding. His reputation stood high in every detail of farm-management, and as an improver of grass land by systematic irrigation he had no rival. He died on the 1st of October 1795.

English agriculturalist

For other people with the same name, see Robert Bakewell (disambiguation).

Robert Bakewell (23 May 1725 – 1 October 1795) was an Englishagriculturalist, now recognized as one of the most important figures in the British Agricultural Revolution. In addition to work in agronomy, Bakewell is particularly notable as the first to implement systematic selective breeding of livestock. His advancements not only led to specific improvements in sheep, cattle and horses, but contributed to general knowledge of artificial selection.

Early life

Robert Bakewell, the second eldest son, was born on 23 May 1725 at Dishley Grange, near Loughborough in Leicestershire. As a young man he travelled extensively in Europe and Britain, learning about other farming methods. Others interested in his work included Prince Grigory Potemkin and François de la Rochefoucauld (1765–1848).

He supported his revolutionary new breeding techniques with grassland irrigation, flooding and fertilizing pasturelands to improve grazing. He taught these practices to many farmers, and in 1783 formed The Dishley Society to promote them and to advance the interests of livestock breeders. His apprentices and contemporaries, especially Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester, used his methods to continue improvements to British livestock long after his death in October 1795.

Sheep

Arguably the most influential of Bakewell's breeding programs was with sheep. Using native stock, he was able to quickly select for large, yet fine-boned sheep, with long, lustrous wool. The Lincoln Longwool was improved by Bakewell, and in turn the Lincoln was used to develop the subsequent breed, named the New (or Dishley) Leicester. It was hornless and had a square, meaty body with straight top lines.

These sheep were exported widely, including to Australia and North America, and have contributed to numerous modern breeds, despite the f

ROBERT BAKEWELL was born in 1725 at Dishley, Leicestershire, England. He died October 1, 1795, at Dishley. Bakewell was an agriculturist who revolutionized sheep and cattle breeding in England by methodical selection and inbreeding. He was the first to improve animals for meat production and carcass quality.

Bakewell's father was a farm manager, with a farm of 440 acres (178 hectares) at Dishley. As a young man, Bakewell traveled about the country learning agricultural techniques and studying the anatomy of animals when it was a relatively unknown subject. He returned to the farm of his ailing father, who died in 1760. The younger Bakewell, as the first son with the hereditary right from his father, then assumed the management of the Dishley estate as a country gentlemen. He gathered useful stock from extensive horseback trips, welded them into a breed by deliberate and intensive inbreeding to fix type. There Bakewell became one of the first to breed both sheep and cattle for meat; previously the animals were bred primarily for wool or work. He developed the Leicestershire sheep and Longhorn cattle into good meat producers, but they were poor suppliers of milk and the cattle were later supplanted by the Shorthorns bred by the Colling Brothers. He also bred Shire horses and the Small White pig. Bakewell was very secretive about his work.

Bakewell had more permanent success in developing the Leicester sheep, a barrel-shaped animal that produced long, coarse wool and also provided a good yield of high-quality meat. The first to establish on a large scale the practice of letting animals for stud, he made his farm famous as a model of scientific management. His annual auctions created great attention and an audience with Farmer George (George III). In 1783 he established the Dishley Society, forerunner of breed associations to protect the purity of his stock.

That the reader might enjoy more information about Robert Bakewell, the f

Robert Bakewell  ©Bakewell was an 18th century English agriculturalist who introduced stockbreeding methods that transformed the quality of Britain's cattle, horses and sheep.

Robert Bakewell was born near Loughborough in Leicestershire into a family of tenant farmers. As a young man he travelled extensively in Europe, learning about other farming methods. On his return home he served his apprenticeship under his father until he took control of the farm in 1760 when his father died. One quarter of the farm was given over to arable farming, with the rest set aside for grass. Bakewell pioneered grassland irrigation, diverting rivers and building canals to flood the fields, and establishing experimental plots to test different manure and flooding methods.

However, Bakewell's great innovation was to begin breeding 'in-and-in'. Previously livestock of both sexes were kept together in the fields with random breeding resulting in many different breeds with their own unique, but random, characteristics. Bakewell separated males from females, allowing mating only deliberately and specifically. Furthermore, by inbreeding his livestock he fixed and exaggerated those traits he thought were desirable.

He started with the old Lincolnshire breed of sheep that he turned into the New Leicester. These sheep were big and delicately boned, had good quality fleece and fatty fore quarters, in keeping with the popular taste for fatty shoulder mutton. He also began the practice of hiring out his prize rams to farmers to improve their own stock. He established the Dishley Society to maintain the purity of the New Leicester breed, but after his death taste in meat changed and the New Leicester consequently died out. Newer breeds retain a lineage that is founded on Bakewell's sheep.

With cattle, Bakewell had noticed that the Longhorn breed appeared to be the most efficient meat producers. They ate less and put on more weight than any other breed.