IMPROVEMENT IN MERINOS

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25935, 15 October 1949, Page 5

IMPROVEMENT IN MERINOS

AUSTRALIAN BREEDERS’ WORK HIGH PRODUCTION OF WOOL The tremendous improvement made in the Australian Merino by breeders during the last century greatly impressed Professor I. E. Coop, of Lincoln. College, who has just returned from a scientific conference in Adelaide. The original Merinos imported to Australia averaged about 31b a head of wool, but the Commonwealth average <was now about 101 b, and Australian breeders had done a marvellous job in making this improvement in a century, said Professor Coop.

“Fat lamb producers are at present having a hard time,” said Professor Coop. “Breeders who were previously producing halfbred Border LeicesterMerino ewes for crossing with mutton breeds to produce lambs are going back to the Merino as fast as they can because of the high price for fine wool. The man on fat lamb country is in a bad way now, because he can’t get ewes. Most of the Victorian lamb fatteners are being forced to go up into New South Wales for their requirements, and then they usually have to buy weaner lambs and rear them themselves. Prices for breeding ewes are, of course, very high, but they must be with Merino wool at its present price. One place I was on averaged £4 7s 6d a head for wool alone over a very large flock. If this man went into halfbreds he couldn’t possibly make that money.” Wool weights from sheep running in the semi-desert saltbush country of the interior of Australia surprised Professor Coop. Where the land was capable of carrying no more than about a sheep to 20 acres, the average clip was 13 to 141 b. This average was not on individual selected flocks, but on all flocks run on that type of country. The slightly less difficult native pasture country further to the east returned averages of 101 b, and only on the high, hard mountainous country did averages compare with New Zealand averages at 7 to 81b a head. “The plane of nutrition on this difficult country is much higher than it looks,” said Professor Coop. “Saltbush, for instance, is rich in protein. There is also some scientific evidence that higher temperatures, contrary to expectations, produce a greater growth of wool than cooler climates. Nevertheless the Australian Merino people have put up an astonishing performance in raising the average clip from 31b a head. On place after place, the rams regularly clip upwards of 301 b a head.” For fat-lamb crossing, the main breed was the Dorset Horn, over a Border-Merino ewe. This gave quite a good lamb, judging by the few he saw. He was interested to find one Border Leicester stud in an area of high temperatures and an average rainfall of 17 inches. They were good sheep, and apparently this British breed was able to withstand conditions quite unlike any contemplated for it. The breeder was feeling the pinch a little because of the return to the Merino.

“Australian breeders in my opinion are much more conscious of the necessity for clean faces than we are.” said Professor Coop. “The main reason, of course, is the question of seed and burr, which seriously damages wool at certain times of the year. Management has had to be adapted to this, and many other problems, and one gets the impression that the Australian industry is not as well organised as it is in New Zealand. Shearing and lambing must be adjusted to the circumstances of climate and growth of different plants, and the nlan altered again where necessary. For instance, somewhere in Australia there is shearing going on at all times of the year, and the main shearing lasts from July to December. Some places have to lamb twice a year, and some have to shear before lambing. Operations that we regard as standardised for certain times of the year are carried out in Australia all round the calendar.”

New Zealand-bred rams won the championship and reserve championship for Southdowns at the Svdney sheep show this year. The champion, bred by Bushey Park. Palmerston, went to Australia in 1945. and last year won the championship. The reserve champion was from R. M. Perry’s Kohatu stud.