THE FLOCK BOOK.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 8965, 1 December 1894, Page 6

THE FLOCK BOOK.

Thoss of our readers who are interested in sheep breediug are doubtless aware that for some time past a movement has been on foot having for its object the publication of a Flock Book ; that a representative Committee has been formed ; that owuers of stud flocks have already been invited to send in particulars of their flocks; and indeed that the Flock Book itself promised ere long to be au accomplished fact. Foreseeing that under proper management the book would be of great value, having every confidence in the Committee, and noting that breeders were assisting, criticising, and generally taking an interest in the matter, we have tip ;o the present seen no necessity to interfere, but we regret to learn that affairs have recently taken a turn which in our opinion calls so strongly for criticism that we cau no longer remain silent.

Ie may be well in the first place, and by way of strengthening tho position which we shall piesontly take up, to poiud out the objects which the b lock Book seeks to obtain. Breeders of all kinds of stock the world over recoguise the value of purebred parentage, aud in no department of breeding is the want more strougly recognised than in crossing. Unless the sire, in our case the ram, be purebred it is difficult to foretell what the progeny will be, iudeed for crossing purposes it is preferable that he should be in a measure inbred, a characteristic which ensures his being "prepotent" or "impressive." Now the Flock Book aimed at enabling purchasers of rams to know that they were buying from a flock that had been kept pure at least from 1880, aud was presumably pure in that year. Naturally the scheme was differently received in different quarters. Ou the one hand the optimists, as we may call them, saw in it every promise of success. The history of every flook, they urged, had to be substantiated by the written testimony oi the original breeders, and every precaution had been taken against deception..Against this the pessimists urged the frailty of human nature; many of tmr inOßt

successful flocks had been bred up from crossbreds; admitting that a man had fifty pure bred ewes, there was uothiug to prevent him from eutering a hundred ; and the temptation to do so undoubtedly existed. I'o meat such argumeats its these, it> was determined

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spection. by tbe Committee or their appointee, and we much regret to learn that this idea has recently been abandoned.

For our own, park we have always regarded the Fiock Book not so much as a thins; likely to be of immediate value, but rather as the fuss step towards whati coiitd only be ro^arded as a very valuable record ia the future. We quite recognise that; in would be extremely difficult, in fact impossible, for any.lnspection Committee to say definitely that any flock, or indeed auy individual sheep, was or was not absolutely pure. When we get to a flock that is seven-eighths or tifteen-sixteenths pure—a flock moreover that has been well treated and judiciously culled—it need nob surprise us to find its presenting all the characteristics of a pure-bred flock; nor should we be surprised to learn that a Committee consisting of some of the best judges in the colony had admitted such a flock, while rejecting one that could iv reality show a much louger unbroken line of descent, but had nob been ia such capable hands. AU things, however, must have a beginning, ana iv ten, fifteen, or twenty years hence it woiid undoubtedly influence a buyer to know that in 1891 the flock he was selecting from had been passed as pure to all outward,, appearance by a competent Inspection Committee, aud that the rams, that is the strains, introduced into that flock in the interval were to be found duly entered in. the Flock Book. . We think then that in omitting to inspect the flocks entered tho Committee are seriously detracting from the value of the publication and jeopardising the success of the whole movement. Indeed, it would not surprise us to learu that) any prominent breader had withdrawn his support, or that all interested in one particular breed had done. so. i For some years past a breeder has been foisting upon the public aa purebred, sheep that had no claim whatever to that title. Other, of this particular breed were .powerless; they could only sit by and see the reputation of the breed being injured by the miserable mongrela we have referred to \ but they naturally hailed with gratification, the proposal to publish a Flock Book, as they kuew that no Inspection Committee in the world would pass such a flock. But now that inspection has been done away with, they recognise that a man who will advertise word sell mongrela as purebred sheep may not hesitate to enter them as 'such.

It may, of course, be urged that the Committee still have power to inspect any flock concerning which doubts may exist, but such a policy we think is hardly to be commended.' All flocks should be treated exactly alike, and nothing should be tolerated that savours of favouritism or the reverse. A chain is no stronger than its weakest link, and the inclusion of one suspicions flock in the Flock Book will reduce the whole entry to the same level. Having regard, then, to the magnitude of the interests involved and. to the importance whioh ever attaches to a clean start, we trust the Committee will Bee their way to reconsider their determination and submit every flock, not only to inspec tion, but to inspection of the most searching possible character. i