EARLY HALFBREDS

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25917, 24 September 1949, Page 5

EARLY HALFBREDS

The Leicester-Merino halfbred ewe, which is usually considered to be the cross on which New Zealand’s reputation as a meat producer was established, apparently arrived in the country long before it is generally thought it did. A correspondent whose knowledge of the early history of this country is unsurpassed, reports that while searching through the files of the “New Zealand Gazette and Spectator.” published in Wellington, he found in the issue of July 12, 1843, an advertisement stating that W. B. Rhodes and Co. were prepared to contract for the delivery of pure Saxon and Merino ewes, and also “half-bred Leicester and Merino ewes, particularly adapted for this country, as they unite weight of carcase with fineness of wool.” “Rhodes was importing a lot of sheep from Sydney at the time to sell in New Zealand,” the correspondent adds. “Rhodes, Greenwood, the Hays, and the Deans’ were established in Canterbury at the time, but they had very few sheep. Rhodes had land on the east coast of the North Island, and presumably was importing sheep for the men who were starting runs there.”