STUD BREEDERS' SHOP WINDOW

Press, Volume C, Issue 29487, 13 April 1961, Page 18

STUD BREEDERS' SHOP WINDOW

Representing the fourth generation in the district, Mr Peter Jebson’s family have had a. long association with Sheffield. In fact, his greatgrandfather, a mining engineer who opened up the Malvern coal mines, named the district and the family farm Flockton, is also named after an English counterpart not far from Sheffield.

Mr Jebson is chairman of the local branch of Federated Farmers and to him the show is an important part of the year’s farming activities. Typical of the younger generation of farmers he has a stud sheep flock for both interest and profit and the show brings his skill as a studmaster into friendly competition with other breeders.

The Malvern show district has many of the leading Canterbury sheep studs within its boundaries and quite a number of breeds are represented. Corriedales, Southdowns, Border Leicesters, English Leicesters, Suffolks, South Suffolks, Ryelands and Romneys

all come forward at shows and fairs. Mr Jebson breeds Border Leicesters and Southdowns for sale to other farmers to breed their flocks from. Many of his Border Leicester rams are bought by North Island farmers. Both breeds are used for producing fat lambs but the Southdown is the most popular for this purpose in the South Island. Having a stud sheep flock is time consuming but it is also creative and rewarding. So many factors go to the making of the ideal breed type and each studmaster has his own preferences and ideals. Over the years such characters as even wool, bold heads, body conformation and constitution are bred into the stud’s bloodline by crossing and re-crossing, selection and appraisal. Sometimes a desired effect takes many generations to achieve and some of the top sheep studs in New Zealand have followed a line of breeding through two or three generations of the family owning the flock.

Shows are the breeders' shop window where they display what they have achieved, and the sheep are their own salesmen. Just as important is the maintenance of the commercial sheep flocks and to encourage this the show association has special classes for flock sheep. For the young farmer and would-be stockman the Y.F.C. classes give an opportuniy to test his judgment in competition.