FACE COVER IN SHEEP

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28513, 17 February 1958, Page 12

FACE COVER IN SHEEP

Professor Coop’s Comment

Speaking to farmers at Canterbury Agricultural College, Lincoln, last week the noted English authority on animal production. Dr. John Hammond, said that “there is nothing natural between the clean face and high fertility” in sheep. In the view of Professor I. E. Coop, head of the animal husbandry department at the college, Dr. Hammond’s remarks, which were reported in “The Press” last Thursday, do not negate the advice that New Zealand scientists have been giving to farmers about the importance of face cover.

“The report correctly records Dr. Hammond’s remarks about face cover in sheep,” says Professor Coop, “but these remarks could, however, leave the impression that Dr. Hammond does not think that there is anything in this face cover business. This is not so. The higher fertility of open-faced sheep within each of the Merino, Corriedale, Romney and Southdown breeds has been amply demonstrated. Because the sheep has an open face does not necessarily mean that it has a high fertility, but within flocks open-faced sheep are on average more fertile, and selecting for open faces will increase the level of fertility of the flock. “Dr. Hammond’s remarks relate to the cause of- this face cover—fertility relationship. He expresses the opinion that face cover is not the direct cause of the fertility effect. Those scientists who have been involved in the face-cover investigations have been careful not to ascribe the fertility effect to face cover itself, since the basic nature of the relationship is still unknown. There is thus no disagreement with Dr. Hammond and his remarks do not negate the advice which New Zealand scientists have given to farmers about the importance of face cover,” says Professor Coop.