Huge Ram Selected As Champion By N.Z. Judge

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30213, 19 August 1963, Page 13

Huge Ram Selected As Champion By N.Z. Judge

The Merino ram which Mr A A. Urquhart, of Erewhon station. Mid - Canterbury, selected as medium combing champion at the Ballarat Sheep Show Society's show in Victoria, was described as “a bullock with wool on it.” by some Melbourne stock firm representatives. Mr Urquhart, who returned to Christchurch on Saturday after spending three weeks in Australia, said that the 3i-year-old ram had been “a terrific size.” It weighed 2701 b and he expected that it would clip more than 401 b of wool. Even S utlt Australian breeders had said that it was a big

sheep by their standards. The champion was exhibited by Mr John Meagher. of Lawloit. Mull, Victoria, who has judged at shows of the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association. “I do not think that anyone in Victoria has produced a sheep of that size.” said Mr Urquhart. “To produce a sheep of that size with its quality is quite phenomenal. Though he was so big he had perfect conformation.” Mr Urquhart said the standard of the rams that he

judged at Ballarat had been very high and the top rams had been superior to those siiown in New Zealand, but apart from a few top sheep the standard of the ewes had been disappointing and barely up to local metropolitan standards Record Frost

Gn the first day that Mr Urquhart was in Ballarat there was a record frost of 24 degrees and on the following day one of 23 degrees While in Australia. Mr Urquhart purchased several Merino rams One 2J-year-ed medium combing ram he acquired from Mr Meagher He placed it third m the open ram class at Ballarat He also bought two two-year old poll Merino rams and a three-year-old strong combing ram. Mr Urquhart said that he saw some really top polled sheep in Australia and while their numbers were not as great yet as the horned sheep, he felt that the day would come when they would completely replace the horned type.

With the strong combing ram Mr Urquhart intends to try to develop a strong wool strain that will stand up to h h rainfall—on his country the average annual rainfall is from 70 to 75 inches and up to 95 inches in a wet year.

Mr Urquhart, who was on h:s third visit to Australia in the last 10 years, said that he had been impressed by the great improvement in farming. Farmers had had quite a gord year, he said, but many

were very envious of the floor price scheme for wool in New Zealand, though there was a good deal of confused thinking about the precise form the New Zealand scheme took. Many were sorry that money accumulated during war-time trading had been paid out to growers in Australia as they now realised that the Government had largely taken it back in taxation in any case.

A few farmers were in favour of abandoning the auction system and returning to a system similar to that operating during the war when the farmer was paid a set price for his wool. The whole question of wool marketing was “a hot subject," said Mr Urquhart.