Lvestock Displays Heart Of The Show

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30287, 13 November 1963, Page 24

Lvestock Displays Heart Of The Show

The heart of every agricultural and pastoral show is the competitive displays of livestock. They are the reason why shows are held, but their importance is obscured for many people by the carnival atmosphere which is now traditionally part of every show. The displays of stock are the key to continued livestock improvement, and thus to the continuing ability of New Zealand to compete successfully on the world’s markets for livestock products. The prosperity of this country depends in no small measure on the agricultural and pastoral shows. Shows as we know them today, began about 200 years ago when new principles of breeding were discovered by such men as Bakewell, Coke, Collings, Bates, and their many followers. These men discovered that it was possible by using the new techniques to improve, relatively quickly, the production of meat and wool from farm livestock.

The earliest shows were private affairs among breeders, where the latest examples of the improved strains of sheep and cattle were brought together so that they could be compared. No doubt comparison engendered an element of competition among the breeders themselves, particularly when ordinary farmers, likely to be interested in buying improved animals, began to attend the shows. Societies of farmers were soon formed to offer premiums for superior stock.

It was then but a short step to hold the stock shows at the times of the country fairs which were a feature of British rural life, and attracted many farmers, and the carnival element entered. Today’s shows contain, unaltered, the elements of identification of superior animals, of competition among breeders, and of the carnival spirit; but identification of superior animals is still the real heart of the show.

It is not possible to say precisely to what extent the breeder has been responsible for the improved ’ performance of New Zealand livestock over the | years, but the breeder’s I contribution has certainly I been substantial. Better j farming methods, better ] fertilisers, better pasture j seeds from the laborator- 1 ies have counted too, but] the breeder has produced! the stock with the potent- 1 ial to make the best use of 1 the improved environ- 1 ment. Since the beginning of I the century average butter j fat production in the New I Zealand dairy herd has I risen from about 1601 b a I cow a year, to about 2801 b. I Average production of I wool from each sheep has I in the same period risen! from about 71b to about I 111 b. All this improve- 1 ment is not the work of I the breeder, but his con- 1 tribution has been signifi- 1 cant. The pedigree livestock I breeder strives constantly I to improve the level of I commercial production ’

from the animals he works With. He realises that if he can produce animals capable of putting an additional ounce of wool, or pound of butterfat, or meat on the commercial flocks and herds which

buy stock from him, he is discharging his obligations to his clients. The show helps the breeder in two principal ways. They advertise his stock, and make possible a comparison of his own and other breeders’ stock. He can learn a great deal from comparing his own and other stock, and the lessson is not necessarily always pleasant. Prizes won at shows are confirmation by the breed judges, men of great experience, that the winners are on the right lines. Beside the satisfaction of winning prizes, there is the satisfaction of very good advertisement. A further element in showing is the competitive element. It gives a breeder the entirely human satisfaction of beating his fellow breeders in public competition.