THE MOST PROFITABLE SHEEP

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 134, 8 June 1928, Page 17

THE MOST PROFITABLE SHEEP

SIZE AN IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION. IN MAKING PROFITABLE USE OF GRASS.

(By "SUNDOWNER."")

"A good big ! un is better than a good little "un," may be a truth when applied to horseflesh, but it is very doubtful if it is an axiom when applied to sheep and beef cattle in view of the modern demand for small joints, and it is still questionable whether it has ever been true. It has, however, so long been the practice to give a great deal of consideration to the size of these animals that it has become almost second nature for a farmer to give this feature undue prominence when estimating the value of stock.

In the very early history of our Dominion, when the virgin bush and swamp land was first laid down in pasture, the stock introduced to these strong-growing and nutritious grasses made abnormal growth, in most instances greatly surpassing their parent stock in this direction. As time went on, however, and these soils lost some «f their virgin strength through a system of farming which took all and gave nothing back to the land, it was found that, in spite of every effort at maintaining the size through breeding, the stock grew smaller and smaller. In many instances where massive Lincolns once were grazed it was found necessary to dispose of this breed altogether and substitute a smaller-framed, lighterwoolled breed or cross, which could thrive on the reduced rations. It was chiefly this state of affairs which was responsible for the introduction of the Romnev-Lincoln sheep, which is now so popular throughout the North Island and is rapidly gaining a footing in much of the South Island's lower country. Bigger Sheep or More Sheep ? We have now arrived at the stage when, with the aid of top-dressing and a growing knowledge amongst farmers of the best methods of treating grass land in this country to produce a dense, permanent sward, the carrying capacity of our land will probably steadily improve. Under these circumstances the question arises, shall we devote this extra feed to growing bigger sheep or to carrying more sheep?

"All flesh is grass'' has been proved by scientists to be capable of literal translation, and the question is, will this "flesh" in the form of sheep bo more profitable done up in little packets or big packets?

Some people appear to imagine that a sheep-eats only a sheep's grass, and that large, medium, and small-framed sheep consume a uniform amount of food. Such an idea as this displays a childish ignorance of the fundamental laws of nature.. If we maintain that the carcase of a sheep weighing ninety pounds can be built up until it reaches maturity, and be then kept in good condition on the same quantity of food that would sustain a sixty-pound sheep, we arrive at, the absurd conclusion that the excess of weight possessed by the larger animal is so much newly created matter, which ha 3 been formed out of nothing. Unfortunately this is not the case. Nothing new is ever created, what seems so is merely a re-arrangement of old substances in a new form. The materials which build up and keep in repair all animal bodies come from the earth and the atmosphere, collected by vegetation.

The Farmer a Manufacturer. It will thus be seen that the occupation of the sheepfarmer is somewhat similar to that of the manufacturer. The grass is his raw material, and it is his business to convert that into the products which the public are prepared to buy, and to present them in the form for which they are prepared to pay most money. If a man goes to a bootmaker's to buy dancing pumps the shopman has uo hope of selling him thigh boots as a substitute, even although there may be more material in them and he may be prepared to sell them at the same figure. No more does a housewife when she goes to her butcher's intent on buying a small leg of mutton propose coming home with one of twice the weight which she can economically use. Both the quantity and quality of mutton and wool produced by healthy, well-bred sheep are'intimately connected with the amount of food consumed, and no part of the animal frame can be formed out of nothing. Such being the case, it is easily seen that a given area of grass will not support as many large-framed sheep as it will medium sized or small ones. It is the business of the farmer, therefore, to convert his grass into a larger number of smallframed sheep, because in this form it has greatest value. It is also his business to choose and breed that class of sheep which makes the bulk of its growth in its early life, as it is during this stage that it has most value from the point of view of quality. Economical Use of Fodder.

It is an acknowledged fact that some breeds of sheep can make more economical use of fodder than can others. Thus the Lincoln can thrive and fatten on rank luscious pastures on which a Merino would die, while similarly the Lincoln would starve on the Merino's mountain pasture, and between these two there is a range of breeds and types suited to practically every land where grass grows. The small sheep is generally more active than the large, will thrive on scantier fare, and, allowing for the greater .numbers that can be carried on the same pasture, will produce at least the equivalent in weight of wool. Extremes in size in either direction are to be avoided; of the two evils, sheep too large is the greater. When too large, they ate never satisfied; they are always uneasy, restless and discontented. They nev«r thrive, and there is no healthgrowth of either mutton or wool. The medium sized sheep will invariably thrive better than the largest that can be grown on the land being grazed, and will therefore be found to produce the greatest profit.

Many farmers start with good sheep, but find, in a few years, they have-not made the progress they expected, and ibove all fail to get to the root of the trouble or cause. In most cases it is iue to careless attention in the matter jf feedings or to environment.