Russian Party Visits Lincoln College And Wool Stores

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28104, 20 October 1956, Page 10

Russian Party Visits Lincoln College And Wool Stores

Searching questions on wool and sheep were directed at wool and sheep experts for eight hours by the five members of the Russian farming mission yesterday, when they inspected two wool stores and Ashley Dene, the light country farm of Canterbury Agricultural College. They saw at the college research work into the physiology of ewes and wool deterioration and staining. The questions stopped only when breaks were taken for tea. The Russians filled their notebooks with the answers given. They were obviously puzzled by the New Zealand practice of breeding for a dual quality sheep, to produce good wool and lambs. Their questions indicated that the Russian practice is to breed for wool yield and quality improvement only. Only an official warning saved the Russian farming delegation from being given a tx’pically student reception at Lincoln College. The students had contemplated rolling out a red carpet, parading a guard of honour dressed as peasants armed with pitchforks and making a mock presentation of dying weeds. A ban was placed on their proposals. Undeterred by this veto, the students staged a minor show. The sign on the board at the main entrance was redesigned. On the flagpole was a .lag bearing a hammer and sickle. Below it was a sign, with the first three lines in red paint, reading:— Lincoln College. Kollective Farm. Est. 1878. Labour: 300 peasants. Stock: 1731 Dagestans. Head Peasant: Burnsovsky. Ist Secretary: Mackayov. Dagestans are a breed of sheep, raised by one of the mission, Mr Y. A. Busrin. the Soviet’s chief animal husbandry expert. The incessant questioning began as soon as Mr Vernon Collins, the manager of Dalgety’s wool store, said Christchurch was the centre for the most mixed wools in New Zealand, drawing wool from areas where the rainfall varied from an average of 25 inches in Canterbury to up to 160 inches a year. Handling the wool, the Russians fired a stream of questions on the principles of classifying. “Come and have a cup o f tea. and we will talk at the same time.” said Mr Collins, who had been answering the questions through the official interpreter. Mr R P. Grigoriev. Mr B. Douglas Zohrab. first secretary of the External Affairs Department, who epent 18 months with the New Zealand Legation at Moscow, also had few minutes away from interpreting with others in the background. Running far behind scheduled time, the mission then went to Pyne. Gould. Guinness Ltd..’s wool store, where Mr George N. Francis, a director, and Mr David C. Gould met them.

The brandings interested the Russians when they saw the wool opened up for pre-sale inspection, and they were very curious when it was explained that there were only two community shearing sheds in the Canterbury district. The trend was for farmers to have sheds on their own properties. explained Mr Francis.

“Do you make advances to the growers?” Mr Francis was asked. He replied. “Yes.” and the Depulv-Minis-ter of Agriculture (Mr G. I. Voronov) said that advances were also made by the collectives in Russia. The pace was on. and the temperature rose. Mr Voronov left his party for a few minutes to sit down and fan himself. Refreshed, he again led the Questioning, which reached its height in the section where wools were being classed and binned The Russians were intrigued. A 1 photograph was taken of the large classification lists on the walls, and the Russians asked that the tables should be given to them. The whole system of presentation for sale was explained. Next week, the Russians will see a New Zealand auction. Breeding Experiments The scientific breeding of sheep to produce a type maintaining quantity of wool but increasing the weight of lamb appeared to baffle the Russians at Ashley Dene. Professor I. E. Coop, professor of animal husbandry, had an interesting hour giving details of the cross breedings which have resulted in lamb weight at weaning being increased by more than 30 per cent. The Russians specially asked that when Professor Coop published the results of his experiments next year their Embassy should have a cony. The Russians introduced their favourite breeding topic, artificial insemination. “We have no use for artificial insemination here?’ said Professor Coon. Do you propose to use it? —No. It is difficult to know which is the best ram. so why use artificial insemination? Do you test rams for qualities?— Yes. 'T'here are practically no differences between dual purpose rams. So you are experimenting on the basis of the quality of rams, and you say there is no big difference?—We have tested many rams and the rams best for wool will be the worst for lamb, and the rams best for lamb worst for wool. But if you find a certain ram is good for wool you have to test it. We do test them. Say we test 40. we cannot find the ram which is good for everything we want—wool. lamb, fertility. The last word by Professor Coop in the one-way quiz session was: “Breeders will tell you they can pick them out. The scientist will tell you they cannot.” While the sheep experts were delving into technicalities at Ashley Dene. Mr L. P. Alsukov, director of the AllUnion Institute for Fodder Research, and Professor J. W. Calder inspected forage crops. They had a common ground for speech by using the Latin botanical names for the plants. The ! Russians were entertained by the director (Dr. M. M. Burns) before they left Lincoln.