WORLD WOOL STUDY.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19724, 14 September 1929, Page 19

WORLD WOOL STUDY.

AMERICAN PRAISES ANTIPODES. tJt-OH. CUE OW* COBKSSPOKSKXT.) SAN FRANCISCO, August 19. lb is refreshing to receive further encomiums from the mouth of an American wool expert in regard to methods pursued in both Australia and New Zealand, as evidenced by a significant statement issued by Mr J. F. Walker, consulting specialist of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics of the United States Department of Agriculture, following a survey of wool production and marketing methods in Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, England, and France. Mr Walker, who is decidedly friendly to New Zealand and Australia, says wool-classing or sorting fleeces according to grade, condition and other factors, is regarded by wool authorities in Australia, "the world's leading wool producing country in both volume and quality of product," as the only satisfactory method of preparing wool for market. "The opinion of the best authorities in all of these countries, Australia, New Zealand. South Africa, England, and France seems to be that selling the fleece entire as taken from the sheep does not react to the greatest possible advantage of the wool Sentiment is apparently crystallising to the effect that classing should be done in centrally located warehouses rather than at production points, as larger lines, more uniform in. type, can be obtained, and the buyer is therefore assured of a better standardised product," Mr Walker said. Discussing marketing methods : Mr j Walker declares that "the activities of the speculative buyer are being rapidly curtailed, insofar as the purchase of the clip from the individual producer is concerned. Auction sales j through brokerage houses are gradually gaining ground. In Australia 95 oer ! cent, of the total clip is so disposed i of. New Zealand closely approaches , this mark, and South Africa sees yearly 1 an increasing percentage. France and England are gradually adopting the plan. i An Advance Step.

''These auctions may vary from a carefally-planned system of Bales covering the entire country, both as to tim« and quantity to be offered, to a local collection of wool to be sold at some fair; but in principle the operation is the same, and the fact that the auctions aTe steadily increasing in volume of wool sold is fairly conclusive proof that producers of wool consider them an advance step in marketing." Co-operative marketing of wool is reported to be making progress in all countries surveyed, and as reflecting the world-wide trend of agriculturists toward co-ordination of effort in the marketing of farm products. Recently the Australian Government appointed a Committee on pastoral conditions to investigate transportation, pastures, preparation of products for market, and marketing problems, states Mr Walker, adding: "In Australia the sheepman has developed a large-framed animal, which produces a heavy fleece of fair quality and which will range over wide areas. To accomplish this he has combined the blood of many families of merinos, has at three times gone outside the breed, and has rigorously culled to a Btandard. When parts of the country began a crop system of agriculture the merino was crossed with the longwool breeds —Lincolns and Leicesters — to develop a market lamb having a good carcass and carrying a good fleece. On the high-producing areas of fairly good rainfall the fine-wool types have demonstrated their superiority, so' that they have continued to supply the majority of the sheep of those sections. "New Zealand, with more abundant vegetation and a heavier rainfall, has turned almost entirely to production of mutton. All the breeds of England have been tried and few have come up to the requirements of the New Zealand breeder, so he has evolved his own breed to meet the demand of his market for an early maturing lamb of light weight and little waste in dressing, produced from a dam that shears a heavy fleece Badical Changes in New Zealand. "Of the two or three English breeds which have survived in New Zealand, radical changes have been made in type. These breeds are the Eomney, Leicester, and Lincoln. In all three the size has been decreased, the legs shortened, the body made more compact, and the fleece refined, to secure a better sire for mating with merino or crossbred ewes.

"Some Southdown and Byelands rams are kept for use with crossbred ewes in order to secure a very fine lamb for early freezing purposes. In the rough country the Merino has held its own on account of its hardiness and ranging qualities. "The Union of South Africa is a wool-producing country, and the efforts in sheep-breeding have been to obtain a higher yield and better quality of wool. England has a different breed or type in every section, all based on utilitarian features. In Southern France, a type of Merino has been evolved which is long in leg, hardy, and able to return a good account to its owner. In Northern France an entirely different type of Merino is found, and here also has been developed a crossbred, longwool Merino type to meet the demand for a market lamb. In short, the sheepmen of all these countries seem to be more concerned about the utility of an animal than the breed to which it may belong, and breeds have been evolved and types established on this basis." Complete details of Mr Walker's survey have been published by the United States Department of Agriculture in Technical Bulletin 124-T, entitled "Some Factors Affecting the Marketing of Wool in Australia, New Zealand, the Union of Sonth Africa, England, and France."

Recently two young Canadian Ayrshire bulls were shipped to New Zealand, the purchaser being Mr David Buchanan, of Palmerston North. A Canadian National Steamship's boat is taking these animals, as well as a Yorkshire boar and sow direct to Wellington, N.Z., via the Panama CanaL PROPER CARE AT CALVING TIME. When » dairyman finds he is losing by poor milk yields and cream tests, let him look to the dreneh he uses. Is it a tonie as well as a cleanser, as is SYKES'S DBENCHt Does it merely cleanse, and in doing so, impoverish the animal's blood, upon the state of which "iepends the yields and tests? Try SYKES'S DBENCH after calving, and yon will learn the full earning power of your herd. Sold everywhere, 1/6 pkt; 17/- a ox .