Scope Of Survey

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31362, 6 May 1967, Page 8

Scope Of Survey

CPEAKING to a party of As well, about 400,000 flock journalists and others at ewes were under what was the headquarters of the New termed simple survey.

Zealand Romney Survey at Feilding this week, the chairman of the survey, Mr C. F. Jones, recalled that the objects of the organisation were to collect detailed information in stud Romney flocks on all important factors influencing sheep production in the fields of disease, breeding, feeding and management Success in this work depended very much on the cooperation of breeders and this had proved to be an outstanding aspect of the survey. Mr C. A. Martin, a field officer of the survey, said that the survey had started with 15 studs but now there were 75 studs under survey from Northland to Southland and at mating and lambing the survey now obtained records of what happened to 30,000 ewes. Last year a further 109 studs had undertaken to cooperate at lambing time so that 184 studs with 60,077 ewes were under survey at lambing time.

Mr Martin said that the figure for Canterbury studs of 153.3 per cent for lambs born to ewes lambing was the highest for any province in the most recent season. There was relatively little difference in results between districts, be said, and on two occasions the southern part of the North Island had done better than Southland, but where the difference came in between West Otago-South-land and Manawatu was that in the south there were less dry ewes and less lamb losses. Mr Martin suggested that the standard of the shepherding seemed to be better in the south, possibly associated with the need to grow winter feed for sheep in the south and therefore a greater stock consciousness. There were, however, other factors involved such as the nature of the country and in some areas the farmers bad not been sheepfarmers so long.