SELECTING SHEEP.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 313, 28 September 1908, Page 5

SELECTING SHEEP.

HOW THE EXPERT DOES IT. NOT AN, EASY TASK. It'is a somewhat, curious fact that a man maylbe a sheepf armor all his life, and yet not properly understand the art of picking x number of sheep from a mob. This statement applies more directly to the selection of pens of -shteep for show purposes, but it is also true in picking and averaging ■ • freezers. It may be admitted that the work of selection is extremely, difficult,- so difficult indeed that it is stated with some authority that * the competent men. 'in the -\vhole o£ the North Island can be counted .■ upon the fingers of both hands. It seems an easy thing , for' instance ',to select two pens•or five sheop for show purposes, say from a mob of J tnreo . hundred, which also a, have been culled, but the job will' take • a good man the better part of a day. jhen it often /happens Cthat one inferior sheep has been included in the pen, which thereby loses its chance of scoring first honours. V The main/feature of in these cases is uniformity, but - any ~A> and P. show in the- country - Will provide • glaring examples of lack of uniformity. . . The task of selecting freezers.is somewhat .'different, in that-.the. sheep-or lambs are . picked on l the virtue of being. fat to a certain arid, they are , graded ;' as ,to weights after they' : hare been hung up in ' the abattoirs. It says something for a meatbuying expert,. when ho can • examine a "cut?' of, say,' three hundred taken casually from a mob of 3000, buy on his estimate that the dead weight. of each carcase will be 601b.. and. then find that ho was only ljlb/'p'er, carcase./under his estimate. lYet this ioften happens. It happened last .year in' the Hawke's Bay district,,, (writes' ' our Wairarapa correspondent), when ' the owner of a' ? 3ooo,m6b'refused* a certain'price Offered by; a buyer who gauged the dead ■ weight lor the animals at 661b. each. An--other buyer came-along and offered 17s. por head on his estimate that the dead weight V of feach sheep would be 601b. ■ The abattoir return showed' that the average was 61Jlb. The owner said later to the successful buyer, "You cut things rather fine." "Yes," was the answer, " but even so' fine -it runs into 45001b. of meat, which tlio freezing company, gets for nothing." Still, the owner was naturally satisfied, as ho obtained what ho considered was a very fair price for tho mob. , /.' ' . A fat -sheep for freezing ■ purposes is nearly: always judged by feeling' its loins. The tail'is also felt at times; biit with experts only when the market is sensitive and extra care is'required !in the work of selection.; If one oversees a reputed;meat-buyer pick'lip his sheep,'seat it on the ground and feel its brisket or its ribs, it may be deduced that' h'e has still a lot to learn at the game. ; Tho 'practical man sends -his hands over tho sheep's loins, and : the points of the. fingers, become !so delicate -to the touch that the buyer can tell within almost a pound from the contact,; what;, the dead weight . of' the live ariimals/will be. It is in this way that : a'first-class meat buyer is worth a mint of money-to his company; Tho average of tlie 'weights! of such a .man is so near, to being correct that he never pays for'.what. .he. does not buy; but" at the same timo his estimates are; so; closethat, they win . the confidence,of. the'fanner.