ON THE FALKLAND ISLANDS THEY TRIED AGAIN

Press, 14 August 1976, Page 14

ON THE FALKLAND ISLANDS THEY TRIED AGAIN

K. W. ANTHONY

Sheep farming is the basis of the economy in the remote Falkland Islands in the south Atlantic. Recently the islands issued a set of four stamps to give a little international publicity to the high quality of Falklands’ wool, which is exported in large quantities.

The Falklands have some 2000 inhabitants of British stock, but the human population is vastly outnumbered by the sheep, of which there were at one time as manv as 800,000.

The sheep farms are more like ranches, ranging from 850 acres on some of the smaller islands of the group, to as much as 300,000 acres on ths major islands.

What the stamps fail to indicate is that the modern success of sheep farming represents the triumph of determination over adversity; and that early attempts to introduce sheep to the Falklands were a disaster. It all started back in 1840. After four years only 100 sheep survived of the 900 which had been imported up to that time, and exports of wool amounted to lust txxo bales. The trouble lay in the fact that the pioneers had been trying to rear South American sheep, and these were unsuited to the rigorous climate of the Falklands. After a break of three years, the Falkland farmers tried again and this time they succeeded by

obtaining much harder animals from Britain, together with trained shepherds. It was found that these sheep thrived on the Falkland pastures. By 1859 the number* r f sheep had reached 8000, and from that time t. • industry never looked back. As the 2p stamp seen here illustrates, the sheep farmer in the Falklands works on horseback. Other stamps in the set depict sheep shearing and dipping, and the loading of wool for export to the London market. This is npt the first appearance of sheep on Falkland Islands stamps. As long ago as 1933. a Romney Marsh ram was chosen as the subject for a id stamp in the set celebrating the centenary of the British settlement.