Interest In Development Of Hampshires

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31908, 8 February 1969, Page 9

Interest In Development Of Hampshires

With an eye to the future, Hampshire Down breeders in New Zealand want to see their breed developed along the best possible line§, _

Meetings of breeders were held during the Royal Show at Hastings last October and at the Canterbury Show last November, when it was decided to hold an early field day : to inspect and evaluate sheep of the breed, their offspring and carcase cuts. It was agreed also that a national Hampshire Down field day should be held in the future when breeders, with the help of scientists, could identify problems, seek solutions and establish goals for the breed. The first of these days was held recently on the property of Mr T. G. Maxwell at Motunau, when breeders were present from Hawke’s Bay to Waimate. A point arising from the field day investigations and discussions was that it was felt that the breed would not realise its full potential, in spite of the excellent killing sheets being obtained by breeders whose lambs were showing an advantage of 21b to 61b over others, until lamb producers were paid on a carcase yield basis. It was felt that this would become a reality in the future and that the success of the breed in cutting competitions angered well for the success of the breed when this day came. The point was also made that up to the present time New Zealand lamb, a product which was a luxury, high quality protein foodstuff, had been sold at a low price to a large middle and lower income group in the United Kingdom, but that in the future choice cuts of wellprepared and presented lamb could be sold on the luxury foodstuff market in high income areas at a considerable premium over current realisations on the United Kingdom market From this optimistic assessment of the future the breeders ranged to factors which would enable them to take maximum advantage of future market opportunities. At the earlier meeting in Hastings breeders had felt that all aspects of performance testing should be investigated and it had then been agreed that the Hampshire breeders should not lag behind in this respect and should rather offer their sheep for testing.

A report Issued about the ’ field day at Motunau says it was evident that breeders were agreed that peri formance recording, with complete and. accurate records, was an essential aid to improvement Within a flock and within the breed generally. Methods of enabling an individual breeder to have his sheep evaluated and com-, pared for performance were discussed. It was decided that the optimum situation would be a farm owned and oper-1 ated by ’ Hampshire Down J breeders, to which they could 1 send sheep for performance ' evaluation under identical * conditions to other sheep I from the breed. But this was < considered impractical at pre- f sent ’ It was, therefore, tenta-! tively agreed by those pre- 1 sent that breeders wishing to . have the progeny of their r rams tested under exactly * similar conditions to sheep 5 from other breeders should send their sheep to a farm ! belonging to a Hampshire J Down breeder where, on pay- F ment of a fee to cover J expenses incurred in running I the scheme, these rams would , J be used over a group of flock ! ewes, selected at random and 1 of sufficient numbers for J comparative purposes. The F progeny of the rams would * be identified at birth and F then evaluated for weight and * grading at the works. J It was agreed that advice t on the operation of such a a scheme should be sought a from Lincoln College and r a Hampshire Down breeder v at the field day provision- t ally agreed to conduct this f exercise on his property starting at tupping time r this year. ’ c For the benefit of the visit- i ing breeders, Mr Maxwell had c divided his lambs into sire t groups and into groups of a r type and he also displayed a 1 sire and progeny which, in I his opinion, had a desirable r conformation for the Hamp- t shire role of an export lamb I sire. Mr Maxwell said he was c looking for length, growth s rate, a light shoulder, open face and reasonable length v of leg. . ■ Breeders were able to dis- a cuss, criticise and evaluate a Mr Maxwell’s sheep and it c was generally agreed that he 2 was working along the right c lines. k Breeders at the day had access to information about a r {Hampshire Down conference o held at Kansas State Univer- v sity last year attended by tl breeders from eight states v and extension specialists and li

university research workers and the report of the Motunau field day says that it was of very great interest that breeders of Hampshire Downs in the United States (where it is the largest registered breed in the country) were following similar lines to those agreed to during the Motunau field day. At the Kansas conference those taking part agreed that increased size and scale should be a definite goal.

Rams and ewes were evaluated on foot for type and conformation. The evaluators wanted thick muscled, bulging legs on animals with length of body and of rump. They wanted more length of leg than has been accepted in the past. Thickness over the top was desired if it was due to muscling and not mere fat Those at the Kansas meeting were also interested in a sound animal—one that was correct in feet and legs, free of black fibres, had teeth that hit the dental pad and were free of large scurs and horns. It was also recognised that open-faced sheep were more productive than those with wool-covered faces.

Dr H. Tum>, of the animal science and industry department at the Kansas university, said, on the basis of his studies, that selected heavy carcases that were meaty had more value than lighter carcases. Heavy lambs had been penalised at the market for over-fatness but this common conception that heavy lambs always gave fat carcases was not true, he said.

Selected heavy carcases would result in a higher “cut put”, than light earcases and. because of this there was a trend toward a heavier carcase, he said. Only about 20 per cent of the lamb carcases at present being marketed were excessively fat Dr Tuma said that the old method of marketing lambs on weight and grade was wrong. The composition of the carcase needed to be a vital part of the valuation of lambs. Research was in pro-

gress at Kansas State University, he said, in the area of merchandising carcases and freezing cuts for the retail trade. The question of how to determine finish and muscling In live lambs was taken up at Kansas by Professor B. Doane, of the University of Illinois. Finish, he said, was measured by observation and feel on the live lamb over the loin and rib. A desirable fat thickness over the loin eye would be around O.lOin to 0.24 in and over the lower rib 0.20 in to 0.50 in. Excessive finish would tend to roll over the rib and shoulder area and the dock area would tend to lack firmness. Professor Doane said that muscling was indicated by the depth of the loin rather than width, although width was important Other Indicators of muscling on the lamb were the length of the rump and leg area. Muscling was indicated in the leg by the outside bulge on the leg and the height that this muscling was carried up on the body. Talking about show judging of wethers, Professor Doane said he liked to run his thumb over the spine and loin eye area at the 12th rib. “If I get a full feeling over the loin muscle this is a good indicator of muscling," he said. A well blended and clean shoulder also indicated muscling. Muscling and finish were more difficult to evaluate In long fleece lambs, be said. There was also some difference between sexes in determining muscling and finish with ewe lambs tending to be fatter, he said. The Hampshire sheep leaden at the Kansas conference were . concerned about how to make the maximum progress towards goals set for their breed. Dr C. Parker, from Ohio State University, in discussing progress through selection said that while type in sheep was Important, there were other important qualities that could contribute to making the animal an econo-

mlc unit in production of food and fibre and in reproduction. Dr Parker said that many of the economically important traits of sheep were medium and highly heritable —yearling weight, face covering, wool quality and quantity, rate of gain and size. Selection was the major tool that breeders had for improvement, he said. Selection intensity depended on (1) accurate records; (2) emphasis on the kind of ram used as he contributed 80 to 90 per cent of the improvement to the flock; (3) the fewer traits selected the quicker would be the improvement; and (4) the reproduction rate. Selection for twinning was highly desirable, he said, and without records the tendency was to select away from twinning. The same speaker said that large rams would sire lambs with more size that would perform more efficiently. The future of the commercial sheep industry was in crossbreeding, he suggested. In Kansas, the host state for the conference, he said that nearly all commercial ewe flocks were crossbreds. The local breeders of Hampshires agreed at the North Canterbury field day that their members should support agricultural and pastoral shows throughout the country. This was in line with discussion at the earlier meetings where it was felt that this was the best way to make the breed known, with in addition the exhibitors being on hand to discuss the breed with interested people. However, it was the feeling of sonie members at the earlier Christchurch meeting that show standards were not compatible with accepted commercial standards and might produce an overfed, pretty animal, whereas commercially breeders were looking for length, size and performance. It was agreed, nonetheless, that showing should and could, and to a certain extent did, mirror commercial desirability. It was considered that judges at shows should be fully conversant with modern breeding trends. The photograph above shows a group seen during the field day at Motunau.