Aid For Sheep Industry

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31128, 3 August 1966, Page 11

Aid For Sheep Industry

A young New Zea--1 a n d agricultural scientist, Mr A. J. Kilgour, will leave Christchurch tomorrow for

Java to assist the de-

velopment of the sheep industry of Indonesia.

Mr Kilgour, who is a graduate of Massey University, made a three-month survey of the Indonesian sheep industry last year. He is returning under the sponsorship of C.0.R.5.0. and the National Council of Churches and his fares are being paid by Volunteer Service Abroad. The survey found that most wool off Indonesian sheep was thrown away as useless and much land was being used for cultivation although not suited to it. This was causing erosion which could be relieved by the development of a pastoral industry. Indonesia’s 15 million sheep were used chiefly as manure producers within the intensive cultivation system, for meat and for the animals required for fighting ram festivals, Mr Kilgour said. The sheep were also regarded as savings and a means of insurance as they could be sold readily. Working with a' co-operative

which has been formed in Bandung among about 40 interested people, Mr Kilgour is planning to establish a school for blade shearers and to build up a selective breeding flock. Blade shearing will be taught to men who cannot earn their living in other ways. They will then go into the villages to shear sheep for nothing and will take away the wool already regarded as useless by the sheep owners who shear for the sake of the animals. The shearers will sell the wool to the co-operative. Most wool produced in Indonesia was of a very coarse carpet-type which was in short supply in the world markets, Mr Kilgour said. The co-operative hoped to use the wool it bought to manufacture such articles as blackboard dusters for the Indonesian Department of Education and felt backing for upholstery. The selective breeding flock of about 40, which would eventually contain 250 bought from villagers, would be used for improving the quality of meat and wool, Mr Kilgour said.

Through training in quicker shearing and in buying the

wool, a marketing system for wool would be started.

It was hoped that with the recognition of the value of wool, parts of land not suitable for cultivation would be used for an expanding pastoral industry, he said. Sheep for the selective flock are being gathered from villages, where Europeans had been rarely seen, Mr Kilgour said.