Francis Dry and the very hairy sheep.

The odd sheep with even more wool than normal puzzled New Zealand farmers. The sheep were Romneys and while that was fine, every few births threw up a sheep which was - not to put too fine a point on it - hairy.
What no one knew was why and how it could be stopped. It was also a concern because Romney wool got good prices.
The hairy sheep had more wool and it ended in a black tip - not something anyone wanted.
Shortly after the launch of the Massey Agricultural College in 1928, its principal began working on the problem.
He opted to employ Dr Francis William Dry, a Leeds university graduate who was applying a new science - genetics - to sheep breeding.
Dry and his wife Florence Wilson Swinton came to New Zealand to begin working it out.
Meanwhile staff at Massey worked on a kit that farmers could use to determine the hairiness of fleeces.
But instead of immediately working on how to breed this out of sheep, Dry began looking to breed sheep with the same characteristic. He asked for the hairy sheep to be donated to a study. He got some but he was sure there were hairier sheep out there so he put on his gumboots and got searching.
He found one outrageously hairy sheep on the Longburn farm of N P Neilson. Farmers were now worried. What if the hairy sheep got out and bred further?
Would it destroy the quality of the Romney stock?
So the order was made to destroy Dry’s stock. Instead, it was hidden away - this turned out to be a multi million dollar idea.
Dry’s friends suggested he name the sheep after himself - which led to the name Drysdale sheep.
One of Dry’s professors visiting from England saw an opportunity. And Dry ordered tests be done on using the different wool in uses like carpet.
In the 1960’s the new Drysdale sheep became a commercial breed specifically for carpet making.
Demand has dropped over the years and now the Drysdale is considered a rare breed.
Francis Dry was born in Yorkshire on October 23, 1891 to Frank Dry and Mary Avis Corke. He died in Palmerston North on July 14, 1979 and was cremated at Kelvin Grove Cemetery.
Picture from Georgi Kalaydzhiev.​