Confused advice partly to blame

Press, 17 February 1978, Page 14

Confused advice partly to blame

Confused advice and a failure to adhere to well established breeding principles were factors involved in the decline in wool production and lambing percentages on farms in the country in recent years, the retiring president of the New Zealand Sheepbreeders’ Association, Mr J. G. Gunn, told the association’s recent annual meet-

Mr Gunn said that the efforts of breeders to increase production of quality wool, when in the past expert opinion had often urged them to treat wool merely as a by-product of the industry, could only bring rich rewards to their farmer clients and to the nation in these days of higher shearing costs. It had been estimated that an increase of o.lkg in wool production per head would generate about SISM at f.o.b. on last year’s prices- and that a 10 per cent lift in lambing percentage would generate an extra S7M at f.o.b. at the same year’s prices. It was not for him to join the guessing game of what breeders would be asked to produce in 10 years time, he said, but he

could only believe that an extra o.lkg of wool was as easy, and perhaps much easier to attain and maintain, than a 21.4 per cent lambing increase to reach the same extra SISM return.

Yet, Mr Gunn said, while the flock in 1977 was estimated to be only 3 per cent below that in 1970 wool production had dropped about 9.5 per cent. The average weight of wool produced over the past seven years at 5.34 kg was 4.6 per cent lower than the 5.59 kg average over the previous eight years going back to 1962, and while claims had been made for a compensating increase in lambing percentages the average of 92.3 per cent for the recent seven years did not compare very favour-

ably with the 94.1 per cent of the previous eight. “While I realise that there are many logical reasons for this state of affairs, with the perhaps most valid being the replacement of men with machines on our farms and a general lack of inputs, there is no denying that confused advice and a neglect in many areas to adhere to well established principles of breeding has hastened the decline. “The breeding and production of a valuable wool harvest in this country surely demands as much attention from sheep breeders as ever, for individual farm profitability as well as that of the nation .. Mr Gunn said that the use of ultra sonic equipment for the measurement of carcase composition in the selection of live sheep might well have a useful practical application, but as with scales and other scientific aids it was unlikely to ever alter the old fundamentals of a more general assessment. This was needed to produce superior seed stock that would be of value in commercial flocks with their

vast diversity of environment and management. One could only commend with gratitude the massive contribution that science had made to agriculture in this country, he said, but too often in animal production it tended to isolate its theories and to oversimplify the very complex and 'finely balanced inter-relationships involved, which the experienced farmer understood well. While the present emphasis seemed to be purely on numbers and fertility, it was well io remember that the total weight of meat and wool produced would always be affected by the percentage of lambs born, the percentage of barren ewes, pre-natal and ante-natal mortality and growth rates all of which in turn were affected by feeding levels before, during and after mating and birth. Good husbandry and skilful management improved all of these features and heredity in each was vital for improved production rather than great emphasis on any one, as had so often been’ publicised.