THE ROMNEY OF TO-DAY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 781, 2 April 1910, Page 13

THE ROMNEY OF TO-DAY.

; MR. SHORT'S ACHIEVEMENT. i Mr; Short has been twenty-two* years at Parorangi, 'He bogau to manage the ■property for his uncle, Mr. W. Baker, when >he was sixteen years old, and Parorangi has known him for its master ever! since. '* "When young Ernest Short, a Wellington-born lad, /who had. spent most of hia .time in the country,' Jirst appeared on', the scene, Parorangi was not the centre of the big estate., ono sees to-day carrying • its 1 two and a. .quarter sheep, without lambs, to the acre all the year round. Mr. Baker at that time held 2100 acres, of which all but. 320 acres' were: in . standing ' bush. Young Short, soon ; after his arrival, took up a bush-covered section. of 351 acres. Three years afterwards, working on. borrowed money, he took .up another 320 acres, and in the following year an education reserve of 320 acres. At' tlio end of live years—by the time ho came of ago—ho had the whole of this thousand acres grassed and stocked on borrowed capital. "It was real solid work," said Mr. Short to the writer, "and I can tell you the first hundred pounds was tho hardestearned money I made in my life. I earned that money, by tie way, in picking fungus and saving dead wool." At the time of his nephew's arrival, Mr.. Baker had a flock of Romneys running on his clearing, but ho sold them out before long and went in for crossbreds. But the nephow was evidently a sharp-eyed youngster, for he began thinking Romney from the early age of nine! One day ho was given the job of driving cloven cwo lambs from Bulls to Feildmg for Major Willis, and the genesis of the Parorangi flock may bo traced back to that day's work. Those eleven ewo lambs took tho youngster's fancy, and he made up his mind that if ever ho owned sheep thoy were the sort ho would liko to havo. Nine years later, when ; lie began stocking his new bush pasture, ho mado his first Romney purchase in tho shape of a. batch of purebred owo lambs, bred by Mr. Pudnoy; of ColvtoA.

fectly straight staple. He waa a light clipper, giving only about 121b. of wool.

b His soli Record had a medium long l staple, was crimped all over the body, and; clipped , from ISJIb. to 221b., The Record sheep, Mr. Short says,. will bring the crimp out on every ewe they are put to. ■■... . ■. . . '. Some Points.' '■■ In the next generation camo; Record Breaker, a ram twice as good as his .father., Boing a twin he was not, however, quito so large. He, had, a more ' characteristic bead.,, Mr. Short is a • 'great beliover in a good head. "The [ head," ho says, "is what'l always loot for first of all. If I don't get good ; character there I. discard the, sheep ' at onco. . After the head I go for con- '.' -stitution, and shape, of carcass. Wool 1 is the last consideration. AVool can be ' .bred on anything -by careful mating. " Too little attention is paid to getting I good character in a- sheep's head in New Zealand. There are many judges J who, if you.took a lot of sheep and ■ put their heads through holes in a ;bag, would not be able to tell what ■: .breeds they wero .Ipolriug at to save I their lives.. It is a great mistake to • pay so little attention to a point that ' indicates much more than most peoplo 1 suppose," To ; come back to Record 1 Breaker: He has a leveller back than » .his sire, .and.'better-sbaped hindquarter. His wool is crimpy throughout, and it 1 is as good on his belly and water-lino ! as on his ribs. It is impossible, in fact, ' to tell where the belly wool starts. Ho " is, moreovor, breeding more consistently L than any sheep Mr. Short has ever pro- | duced. Record Breaker HI, Parorangi's > masterpieco up to date, is going to e be j a much longer sheep than Record 1 Breaker, and he has a noblo carriage, r for which'his breeder ha-s, been fifteen " years loolring. By the bold and spirited way ho holds himsolf, and moves, all >' the points in the strain are shown off 1 to the fullest advantage. > The Future. This brings Romnoy breeding up to j date. Record Breaker 111 lias not pros duced any progeny ■ yofc, and the layf man may well wonder what the next . step forward is to bo. Mr. Short, when - asked this question, -said ho did not s think thorQ was aaiy marked iniprove- [ meat to bo made-, on the present con--1 dition of the breed. Hβ xiopcs, howovor, to getstiU better sire and caoatk.

tution.' It is iinpossiblo, he thinks, to put on more wool without takbg it out of <Khe carcass in, some other way. Ibis has been the experience with the I/incolns whenever the fleeces have gone above a certain weight. Still, liowover far ono might go , in breeding, there was always some fresh direction in which improvement might bo effected. Mr. Short says he would give &500 if he could buy a ram in New Zealand to improvo his sheep. Apropos of the fleece it may be stated that highest weight clipped off a Parorangi Romney hoggot is 271bs. A owe hoggot machine-shorn at tho Auckland Show in November last, cut at 2Ubs., while a ram hogget, shorn on tho same j day, gave 25|lbs., and another 251bs. Mr. Short's first prize was won with the ram Favourite at tho Palmerston Show five years ago. Sinco then he has won with his Eomneys 52 championships, 18S firsts. 143 seconds, 851 thirds, and 75 fourths, making a total of 543 prizes for five years' showing. In addition he has won 12 gold medals, U silver medals, and 10 silver shields— a total of 34 special prizes. Mr. Short states definitely, that he willnot again, be showing Eomneys in New Zealand. Ho has quite made up his mind to ivithdrew the whole of his sheep from the ring for several yoars at least. In the meantime ho will devote himself, so far as showing is concerned, to his Hcrefords and Clydesdales. At his new Clydesdale stud at Almadale," Cheltenham, he has. now 41 mares and tho imported five-year-old stallion Royal Treasure. The Hereford herd established in 1900 consists of 120 breeding cows, with fivo pedigree bulls in service.' .',.■:' .

There are rumours, afloat that Mr. Short intends to buy_ an estancia in the Argentine and go in for stud-breed-ing thero, in consequence of,the larger opportunities which that 'country offers. In that case, no doubt, the whole of the sheep ho is taking across would bo retained by Mm, as the nucleus of a stud flock. However, most New Zcalanders will hop© that Mr. Short will not thus desert the Dominion; ..( It is his present intention at the' conclusion of the : show to travel over Argentina and thence jby the-Trane-Andean railway to Chile. Prom Valparaiso ho will take steamer to Mexico, and after a tour through the United States will make for Vancouver, where ho will catch tho mail steamer to Australia, arriving home in this country about October, Mr. Short mil carry with him. New Zealand's best wishes for his success in the show-ring. . : .