BRANDING OF SHEEP

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25246, 26 July 1947, Page 10

BRANDING OF SHEEP

APPROVED PREPARATIONS ONLY TO BE USED

Samples of preparations intended for use as wool branding must be submitted to the Department of Agriculture for approval, which tests their suitability for scouring, said Mr M. H. Doyle (livestock superintendent <>l the Department of Agriculture), yesterday when he replied to a statement made by Mr I. L. M. Coop to a meeting of the North Canterbury executive of Federated Farmers recently. Mr Coop had said that branding of sheep constituted a handicap to wool producers in the face of competition from synthetic fibres. This statement appeared in “The Press” on July 24.

Replying fully to Mr Coop’s statement. Mr Doyle said: “Section 62 nf the Stock Act, 1908 provides that all sheep after shearing, and all lambs before April 30 each year, shall be distinctly and legibly branded with the registered brand of the owner, and for every sheep not so branded, the owner shall be liable to a fine not exceeding 10s The term ‘brand.’ in the case of sheen, means wool branding and earmarking. Certain districts are exempt from wool-branding on the petition of the majority of the owners of sheep in such districts, but the exemption does not apply to this district (Canterbury and West Coast). So far as wool-branding is concerned, section 86 of the Statute Amendment Act. which came into force on May 1. 1946. provides that no person shall sell, or offer for sale, any preparation for marking the wool of sheep other than an approved wool marking preparation After official approval has been given for the sale of such preparations, all containers should bear a printed label stating ‘An approved wool marking preparation (or substance), for the purpose of the Stock Act, 1908.’ “A penalty not exceeding £2O is provided for offences against this regulation,” said Mr Doyle, “and approved wool-marking preparations have no detrimental effect on the wool of a sheep.”