High claims for Perendales

Press, 23 June 1978, Page 14

High claims for Perendales

The Perendale Sheep Society believes that without its breed of sheep any great increase in production from hill country would be impossible. “It may well be that a combination of the grass fence and the Perendale offers the solution to hill country farming problems,” says a report issued after its recent annual conference at NelScto.

Its qualities of easy care, fertility, hardiness and high survival, together with its production of lean red meat and specialised wool, proclaimed it “as the x sheep of the present and the future.” In his presidential report Mr Gough Smith said that the breed was adaptable to all climatic and physical conditions in New Zealand. “Fortunately for use the Perendale still retains its old virtues of hardiness, thrift and energy. Storms, floods and droughts come and go but it shrugs them off rejoicing in its own proud good looks and vitality. “It has been obvious this year in the hard

pressed Wairarapa that the Perendale has survived the disastrous weather conditions much better than any other breed of sheep. Lambing percentage and wool production have not suffered so badly, while the lambs have continued to reach killable weights on the hills right through the long dry autumn.

“I have sound evidence that there has been a 5 to 6 per cent premium on an entire Perendale dip sold at successive auctions through the season, and always in the background is the promise that the unique qualities of this wool are about to be recognised with a substantial monetary reward. “It is very significant that the latest issue of ‘Wool World,’ the official publication of the Wool Board, diagramatically pictures the ‘perfect’ fibre as being of helical crimp and it states that this is most often found in Chevicß type wools — that is the basis of Perendale wool,*’ said Mr Smith. When asked if the Perendale also thrived in first class rolling country, Mr

Smith said that a large percentage of commercial flocks in New Zealand were in this environment. The breed responded to good conditions and treatment as well as any other breed in New Zealand.

Mr Peter Houghton, of the Lands and Survey Department in the NelsonWest Coast area, told the conference that the breed was proving very successful on Government blocks on the West Coast of the South Island. “The wet conditions appear to favour the Perendale’s development and there is a complete absence of footrot, he said. The three-day meeting was attended by 117 breeders from all parts of the country.