EXPERIMENTS IN- LAMB . BREEDING.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14431, 12 August 1912, Page 10

EXPERIMENTS IN- LAMB . BREEDING.

.Mr W. Matthews, the.sheep expert of tho New South Wales Agricultural Department, had an exhibit this year at tho Sydney Sheep Breeders' Show, of""tho-different crosses of lambs produced under his supervision, as most suitable- for the frozen meat- trade. The. experiments,.... after, somo years' experience,: havo practically resulted in showing that the lines of breeding that were adopted in parts of New Zealand years ago are also .suitable for New South Wales; that is, using a longwool ram on ,tho merino ewo, and a Down ram next, though here a second and even "a third cross of tho longwool may sometimes with advantage be mado before.a Down ram is used. A report "shows that Mr Matthews's experiments, have proved that the mating of a longwool—Lincoln, Leicester, or Border Leicester —with merino! is abetter first step than that of either Shropshire or any other Down with merino. The value of the Down breed colnes in at tho next stage, when the crossing of Shropshire Avith Border Leicester-merino, of Hampshire with Lincoln-merino, and Dorset horn ivith Border , Leicester-merino, ono and all give results which aro better' in all respects than the direct, mating ot ! cither longwool or Down with the merino. In tho pens at the last ; -how. a number of animals wore exhibited which practically demonstrated tho faults which were to be avoided in crossing. It ap'p.ars that when mating up Down with merino, tho prepotency of tho merino ewe asserts itself to tho extent of leaving a marked merino appearance about the face, head, and topknot. Much the same remark holds good in mating up with both Lincoln and English Leicester, but that when the alliance is between Border Leicester and merino, the prepotency is on the side of the Border lx?icoster. and the face and hoad come out m a bare open fashion, which decidedly favours the Border Leicester. New South Vi ales farmers havo boon a long time in learnin" a lesson that New Zealand farmers could have taught them years ago.