The Drysdale breed of sheep is a product of Massey Agricultural College, New Zealand, (now Massey University). When Dr. Francis Dry in 1931 noticed a genetic freak, a Romney ram, with a high percentage of very coarse wool. With crossing to Romney and Cheviots a sheep resulted that had a lot of coarse, long-staple, wool that had to be sheared twice a year.

Carpet manufacturers in the early 1960s caused acceleration of the numbers of Drysdales in the New Zealand flocks. Such carpets are known for their use in computing environments where static electricity is a problem. Drysdales are medium-large sheep, about 55 kg live weight, their fleece is about 6 kg with 40 micrometres diameter and a staple of 200 to 300 mm.

The coarse wool gene also causes both male and female Drysdales to be horned.