Are traditional breeds really so bad?

Press, 2 September 1977, Page 16

Are traditional breeds really so bad?

Bv

LANCE EARLY

Is high fertility necessarily the hallmark of the good breed of sheep? Certainly, it is essential in down country flocks, where export lamb is one of the principal sources of income. But the same cannot be said about the high country breeds running under much different conditions.

At present new breeds of exotic sheep are under appraisal by the Ministry of Agriculture in the North Island. They have the potential, it is claimed, to produce high lambing percentages. A relatively recently developed local breed, the Coopworth, also has a reputation as a top sheep for multiple births. Now a new strain of sheep has reached the New Zealand farming scene — the Booroola Merino from Western Australia. Material published so far claims that it has out-produced the traditional strains of Merino — the Peppin and the Saxon — on the score of lambing percentages. However, some Merino breeders have grave reservations as to whether high fertility is a characteristic to be sought under high country conditions. Sheep farming statistics invariably give the Merino a low ranking in lambing percentages, but as a Marlborough run ho Ider (Mr A. E. Van Asch) has pointed out, this is not a reflection of the breed; rather it illustrates the type of country and conditions under which Merino sheep are run — high altitude country, where annual rainfall ranges from 20in to 80in, and sometimes more a year. Neither the terrain, nor the conditions, are conducive to a high surival rate among new-born lamps.

And an aspect to be remembered is that under conditions of scattered stocking over large areas, conception rates cannot be expected to be anywhere near as good as those in paddock ewes. The ewes no doubt come in season, but the rams may be two or three or more gullies away. A situation then of circumstance; hardly the fault of the ewe. In areas of climatic extremes, Merino owners want a ewe to produce a strong single lamb which will grow into a sturdy hogget, and in due course become part of the breeding flock, capable of producing a weighty fleece of high quality wool.

Here are some views from Merino breeders:— Mr lan Hamilton, of the Awatere Valley, estimates that wool on some Merino properties in Marlborough would account for more than 70 per cent of farm income. For this reason, he believes wool weights and quality should be given particular emphasis. Mr Andrew Jopp, of Moutere Station, Otago, considers that emphasis on higher fertility could be self-defeating. “The Merinos and Halfbreds are

the original easy-care sheep,” he said last week. “If we press for higher fertility with more twins, we will require a higher labour input. This runs counter to our type of farming.”

Further north, at Cuiverden, Mr C. T. Burrows farms a Merino flock under paddbck conditions. With cast-for-age ewes purchased from Central Otago, he lambed 151 per cent in 1975, and 126 per cent last year. “Bring them down country, and they will lamb you all the lambs you want,” said Mr Burrows. Mr Burrows does not willingly accept the performance figures for Merino ewes, as published by the Invermay research station, relating to work at their Tara Hilis property. “They must be falling down on the job somewhere,” he said. At Waiau, Mr P. S. Northcote buys in Merino ewes each year, and regularly gets a good percentage of twins, and sometimes triplets. The ewes are not shepherded.

Like the Merino, the Halfbred — being based on the Merino — has been part and parcel of high country farming since the early days of settlement. And it will retain an honoured place in our sheep farming history as the foundation breed of the export meat trade.

As native pastures on the lower hill country have given way to English species, so the Halfbred in recent years has conceded some ground to the Corriedale. But the Halfbred, under adverse seasonal conditions, came back into its own, particularly in Canterbury, last autumn. Week after week, the down-country farmers in search of replacements, sought the tussock-bred ewes, and most of those which fetched the top money were Halfbreds from the Marlborough east coast.

However, as performance is the point at issue, here are some interesting figures from B. J. Paterson, of Cromwell: they relate to a flock of two and four-tooth Halfbred ewes run in the Upper Kyeburn at 1800 ft above sea level. They were run as one mob during the year, and shepherded twice a week during lambing. The ewes clipped 5.75 kg (more than 121 b) of wool at an average price of 223 c a kg at the Dunedin September sale last year. Per head, the wool worked out at $12.82.

Marking tallies showed that 1030 ewes mated produced 1326 lambs, or 128.7 per cent. The wether lambs were drafted at 16 weeks, and only seven did not make the works draft. They killed out at 14.5 kg, with a wool pull of I.skg. The meat was worth $8.94 per head, and the wool $5.25, giving a figure of $14.19 after deduction of 73c a head for cartage. On a per ewe basis, the lamb output u r as worth $18.26, which with the wool clip of $12.82 per head, gave a total of $31.08 per ewe. Mr K. D. Stevenson, who farms at Flaxton and Swannanoa, has farmed Halfbreds for many years. Put to the Down-type ram. they have regularly produced 141 to 152 per cent of lambs. In brief, the case put by the traditional Merino and Halfbred men comes down to this: “Taking our conditions into account, do we really need to branch into new breeds? “Those who push for more may, in the end, end up with something considerably less.”