Robert Bakewell (agriculturalist)

Selective breeding of New Leicester sheep and Longhorn cattle Before Bakewell, most livestock was bred for wool or work. After taking over the Dishley farm in Leicestershire in 1760, he selected, inbred and culled deliberately to fix a type, and produced the barrel-shaped New Leicester sheep, with long coarse wool and a good yield of meat. He was also the first to hire out animals for stud on a large scale, which spread his bloodlines much faster than selling stock. His Longhorns were poor milkers and were later overtaken by Shorthorns bred the same way, which is the point: the method outlived his breeds and became what later breeders built on.