THE EVOLUTION OF THE CORRIEDALE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 34, 17 March 1914, Page 11 (Supplement)

THE EVOLUTION OF THE CORRIEDALE.

A NORTH CANTERBURY BREED. Wffffln the history of the Corriedale comes to be written North Canterbury will figure prominently in the work. It was here most of the experimenting in connection with the evolving of the new breed was carried out. Refrigeration revolutionised sheep-breeding. The good old merino which had turned the

tussocks of thousands of acres to good account was an ideal sheep in the days before the freezing works. The merino earned millions of pounds for the woolgrowers of the province in the early days. To-day, with good freezing wethers at anything up to 25/- per head and lambs at 6d per lb and more, wool is not the chief end of the sheep business; rather is it a secondary consideration. Now, and for some years past, it has been wool and mutton. Consequently, on a great; deal of country that once grazed thousands oi merinos there are Corriedales, the new breed that Canterbury has produced. Sentimentality, as much as anything else, has been to a certain extent responsible for the retention of many of our merino flocks.. For general-purpose sheep, the breeders of Corriedales claim that they are in a class by themselves, and that, as breeders, they have attempted something in advance of anything that has been done before—i.e., putting a heavy and valuable fleece on to a. good carcase that will mature early, whichy together with a robust constitution, make the breed unapproachable for giving all-round returns.'

One of the earliest experimenters,' with the idea of producing an ideal dualrpurpose sheep, was Mr JTajnes Little. . When; he was manager for the late Br Webster on the Cofriedale Estate in Otago, the work was commenced. Rqmney'Marsh and merinos were first used,- and- were found highly satisfactory, and 'Would have been continued, but for the death of the owner

and the sale of the estate intervening. Subsequently, Mr Little secured a run in North Canterbury (Allandale, Waikari), when he continued to experiment with the idea of producing an inbred halfbred sheep, true to type. In 1879 he . put 4000 large-framed, high-class merino ewes to Lincoln rams, bred by Mr Sutton and some of the late Dr Webster's strain. From 100 of the best ram lambs, the progeny of these ewes, a heavy cull was made, 20 being the result, and they were retained for service. These rams were mated with the pick of the half-bred ewe lambs, the progeny of the Merino ewes and the Sutton and Webster rams, the result being a very high class of half-bred sheep. In 1890 two rams bred, by Mr Tanner, from Merino ewes and Lincoln rams were used, but the result was not considered satisfactory. About this .« time, 20 stud Merino ewes were purchased from Mr D. Rutherford and the same number from the Horsley Downs flock. By this means fresh blood was secured and was kept going on the line breeding until 1902, when a Corriedale ram was bought from Mr •J. Stringfellow.

There were several other farmers in North Canterbury following along the same lines. The White Rock flock, now belonging, to Mr C. H. Ensor,. was founded upon the same lines with the important difference that the Lincoln gave place to the English Leicester, which was deemed to grow a much more even and truer ileece and woi-e more easily fattened than the Lincoln-

bred sheep. Careful selection and mating the in-bred halfbreds has resulted in fixing the type until to-day the Corriedales have attained quite a high standard. It is claimed for the Corriedale that they are more hardy, stronger in constitution than the ordinary crosses of sheep, and withstand the winter's cold as well as Merinos. They are less dainty as regards their feed, and the carcase is suitable for the export trade, and the wool is of a finer character than the first crosses. They are meeting with a big demand from overseas, as each mail from America brings requests for information and orders from American breeders, while hundreds have gone to Australia, studs of Corriedales being founded in Tasmania, New South Wales, and Victoria, and they are spreading throughout Australasia.