An admirer of sheep

Press, 17 February 1978, Page 14

An admirer of sheep

Mr J. G. (John) Gunn, who recently retired from the presidency of the New Zealand Sheepbreeders’ Association after six years, sees the sheep as a “fantastic” animal in the way that it can be used on hard hill country and can fit into a system on a mixed cropping farm where it may well receive less than maximum consideration—in other words it can have a place in widely differing situations.

In the process many sheep were used as “lawn mowers” and were “abused,” he said. He thinks that the sheep’s importance to the country is often not fully understood. Without it, he says that a lot of country would probably go unused. Of particular relevance in these days when inputs into farming were so costly, on much New Zealand sheep country there was not a great element of overseas expenditure. Certainly there was a processing cost, but this was providing employment for New Zealanders. While not wishing to be critical of forestry, it was unlike forestry with its requirement of overseas expenditure on machinery and fuel, and at the end of the exercise an area that had been under trees was only suitable for replanting again. At a time, too, when there was concern about energy the sheep, which was a provider of both food and clothing, was also a self renewable or replaceable resource. In the New Zealand scene Mr Gunn says that it is essential that sheep be bred that are adaptable to a great diversity of environments and management. He is a believer in animals that suit particular conditions. For the ram breeder, he sees the ultimate proof of

success the performance of his sheep on other people’s properties and their coming back to him for stock because they have done well for them. Performance recording he says, is very important and is an aid to breeding but has a limited role in that there are so many variables, such as climatic conditions at a particular time, that can affect results. He believes, too, that if too much emphasis is placed on a particular characteristic or trait it will be necessary to restore the balance again. No particular aspect can be viewed in isolation. Mr Gunn says that he would like to see many more famers in Sheeplan and performance recording and was concerned that they might reach the stage of having more paper than sheep. He is sorry that more use has not been made of people like Dr A. E. Henderson and Dr D. S. Hart, of Lincoln College, who have had possibly longer experience of performance recording than anyone else in the country and who have developed their own system. Had more use been made of them there might have been fewer difficulties.

While markets may change, he says that sheep breeding is something that cannot be changed violently.

Mr Gunn is a believer in showing and says he was very interested in the motto of the Shepparton show society in Victoria in Australia, which was “show what you grow and share what you know.” He sees one of the values of showing the contacts with other breeders and he says that there is aiways someone who can tell you something or from whom you can learn something. It was also very easy for people who left their sheep at home to imagine that all was well with them when it might not necessarily be the case. But show judging was always one man’s opinion on the day and when people criticised showing and show judging for spoiling sheep, he said if anyone was due for criticism it was the breed societies rather than the shows which should be criticised — the shows only provided the facilities. The breed societies on the other hand should be aware of the ability of the judge to judge according to their requirements and should therefore be responsible for judging standards. 65 Over the years Mr Gunn says that the Sheepbreeders’ Association has been concerned with sheep rather than individual breeds. He felt that the various breeds all had a valuable place and one of the responsibilities of the association was to protect and assist even the small breeds so that they were

' maintained in case they should be needed again. Mr Gunn is a believer in attention being paid to wool, particularly in these days when it costs something like 60c to have a sheep shorn, and so far as he knew there was no sheep in New Zealand that did not need to be shorn. So it was desirable to have a sheep that would produce wool worth $lO father than $5. And in the event of a storm that resulted in the death of the one, two or three lambs born to a ewe, or a dramatic decline in lambing percentage following ryegrass staggers or embryonic abortion, without wool there would be no return at all for keeping a ewe for a year. While agreeing " that sheep farming needs to remain profitable, he is not able to see permanent increased production or benefit resulting from schemes like the livestock incentive scheme, particularly if the money given to farmers has to be spent in meeting the additional costs of stock promoted by the scheme and there is then little or no money left to buy the fertiliser to stimulate the growth of feed for them. If costs increase to the extent that producers have to be helped, he believes that this is better done through the Government, say, meeting the costs of hygiene at works. Mr Gunn, who farms the 190 ha Braemore property in the Racecourse Hill area about skm from

Darfield, is a great grandson of the originator of the Corriedale breed, James Little of North Otago and subsequently North Canterbury. One of Mr Little’s daughters, Bessie, was his mother’s mother. His uncle, Mr R. S. (Bob) Gunn, who farmed in partnership with his father, Mr John Gunn, for many years was also a Border Leicester and Southdown breeder. Mr Bob Gunn served on the council of the Sheepbreeders’ Association for many years and was also on the council of the Southdown society. Mr John Gunn, who retired from the presidency of the association recently, has been on the council of the association since 1970 and a member of the Border Leicester breed committee since 1965. He has also served a two-year term as president of the Border Leicester breed society. John is also a member of the general committee of the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association and a former president of the Malvern Agricultural and Pastoral Association. He is also the present chairman of the sheep committee of the United Breeds Society and a member of the executive of the Royal Agricultural Society. His Border Leicester stud includes between 280 and 300 ewes and fiis wife also has a Coopworth flock, which has been built up over the last 10

years and it is intended to seek registration for it this year. There are also 400 flock Coopworth ewes on the property, which was running about 1760 sheep at the end of January. A mixed cropping enterprise he has also harvested about 84 ha of country this year. He works in closely with a cousin, Mr Rob Gunn, on a neighbouring property sharing equipment. Mr John Gunn’s great grandfather, also Mr John Gunn, first came to the country in 1862 and three years later settled in the Darfield district and subsequently moved to the Racecourse Hill area. Braemore is the name of the area in Caithness in Scotland where he came from.