Farmer's Three Lambings In 18 Months

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28413, 21 October 1957, Page 14

Farmer's Three Lambings In 18 Months

In less than 18 months a Fernside farmer, Mr W. J. Smith, has had three lambings. In May and June last year a flock of 110 half bred and Corriedale ewes produced 112 lambs to Dorset Horn rams. These lambs were sold to the freezing works in November when they averaged about 381 b. Two pens of these lambs took first and second prizes in the heavy-weight class at the Rangiora show a year ago. At that time, when they were still feeding their lambs, the ewes were in lamb again. In September of last year Mr Smith saw two of the ewes tupped. ‘‘l said to myself a good cocky would take those rams out, 1 ’ he recalled yesterday, but he decided to leave them with the ewes to see what would happen. The outcome was that 77 ewes each produced another lamb in January of this year. At the end of April or early in May the 21 top lambs of this crop were sold at Addington for 71s, and the balance, apart from about 10 which were not fit to go to the works, were sold to a freezing buyer for the same money. The remaining lambs are now beaiHiful hoggets. At the same time, except for about 30 culls. Mr Smith also sold the ewes, which were getting old and were suffering from footrot, to the works for 565.

Now all except about six of the cull ewes have had another lamb, and three of them have had twins. Mr Smith expects that those which have not yet lambed will eventually also produce

lambs. “If a man had known it was going to be such an easy autumn and spring, I could have kept all the ewes,” he said yesterday. Summing up the experiment, Mr Smith said that it was very hard on the ewes. They had a full-time job rearing lambs and their wool growth tended to fall. Climatic conditions favoured the experiment so that both crops of lambs were sold fat off the mothers.

Mr S nith wonders whether his practice of sowing lewt of copperised superphosphate to the acre with his new pastures in the last four years may have something to do with the prolificacy of the ewes.