FAKING OF SHOW SHEEP.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1070, 8 March 1911, Page 8

FAKING OF SHOW SHEEP.

[■' ■ ■ OPINIONS OP BREEDERS,

!•. , Tho "Wairaraipa Age" says thai a good J 'hal of coinincut ; was,occasioned : on- Sat- '!■'■ urday by a publication :in The Domixio» J -'of-, tho letter : from Mr. H. Or. AVilliains, |- of Maste'rton, ■ oh tho subject of sheep !- ."faking" at shows. 1 A representative ot i tho "Age" interviewed anum'ber of pro-['■'.nVineiit-.Wairnra.pa breeders regarding the I matter. • Their views lnako interesting j. reading.-.-. . : 'Mr. William Perry, of "Penrose," well j known asabreeder. ofEonirieys and Lin- ' coins, and president'of tho Mas'jcrton A. r; and P.' Association, is-reported 'to have [....stated "that- ne had visited most, of the (..show's in .tho ■• Kprth ■ Island during the f .past season, and- had .acted as judge at I - thcAucklaud show. /He had seen no 'fafc- | ing' at the spzing'shows, so far as tho t 'shaping' of stieop .was concerned. A ceri. ■ tain-amount.of oiling was (lone, but this ■was a general practice,-.among breeders. No person experienced in the breeding of i Lincoln sheep : w6nld condemn, it, .for the Teason that ift the sheep were to .bo shown I. at more thpa one show tho oil.must bo I used to keep the wool open, fti regard i to-the-housing or rugging of sheep, Mr. [■■ Perry: stated '• that no man of experience . would take.sheep to a 'show 'unless, they !. were covered. There was nothing 'harm- ' ful in the. practice. Mr.. Perry was do- ; ' cidedly opposed to the 'trimming , •. of ■!. sheep,, as it-was occasionally seen in,tho ' --autumn.. Ho , did not thiii, however, tlat '■. the trimming,usually resorted to was o,V | jeotionable". Experienced, sheepbreederji ■ '•■ were not,misled by it. A glaring case c>l , !. Aver-trimming Uiad recently coiiie under i notice.' but. cyerybody had -defected it, and l: Byen Mr.- Williams Would -.not have been t. deceived by it. 'Mr.-Perry out '■' that the breeders! who were slowing their ! rams in.the'spruig would not , shear them ■■close, otherwise they would-bo. deceiving \ the public. A man who knew his biisij-. ness n;ould: clip'.the sheep after 'the-spring :' Bhows, so'that, wien they were shown in I. the autnriin, they would have the skdib :■'-quantity of wool on , their backs as if they jV'Had bee» shown in September or October. ■ "According to the tlwpvy .of Mr. Williams, !--,,.this might -be. rcgirHod , . as 'faking' or *l)locking.' 3lr. Peny contended, hov/i ever, that nobody was deceived by tho !■ practice, and no-harm, at all could bo j' done :so long ,as the sneep were fairly \ shorn. Ho strongly depnwated the 's-hap- ! ing'' of sheep, but the judges could be i" trusted to prevent this.; It was imposj' sible to stop a measure of trimming,' -and , :. it was tho duty of bretvlers to present i ' their sheep in tho'most attractive iorm." , j ;Mr..J. Strang,. of Glenixide, who is'a. !.;breeder o£ South-iowns. and who had act!,;ed.as judge at iho Hawera, Hamiltcm, : 'Auckland, ; and "Pilkekoho shows during j. the' past season, said that , "poirsonally ii> r. did not trim, rug, oil. or otherwise deai (■". With his own sheep. He was sfrongly opI posed to the 'shaping' of sheep with the - shears,, but ho had .noticed very littlo of [ this at the shows he had visited this !-.-'-'year. would aot throw out i. a sheep if it was,'trimmed/ so long as it \ the type and purity of blood I i which made it superior to thn other com- ; petitors. He , saw nothing particularly ■lv'rong in the oiling of sheep, and though't ■•it;'well that exhibits should'he brought to-a show in the very • best condition. The. judges could.tell if a sheep had been j. 'shaped,' and they would not give a prize !". to: such an animal unless it possessed V other striking characteristics. The public \- could not be very much deceived if the r':. judges peted rightly, for the prize tickets »■;• for thtmsolvos." [■ -Mr. William Bayner, a breeder of lin[..■'.cdln's( and Eomlieys, expressed himself, bv-:the "Age"- says,.as being strongly averse' J.;: to "shipihg," of which'he "had seen sevI■:,• etal glaring cases of late." He was also I ' opposed to the' oiling of sheep, but did j; not object to a-little trimming, which it I Would be difficult to avoid. Some sheep I: were bred to the type that had no tips ■/to the wool. These might bo mistaken \, for trimmed sheep and be 'disqualified. :-.■■.-■Another, breeder pointed out that the I, y'fl?. of , a sheep could bo rearlily judged j by its head, ears, mouth, and legs, which (.could not:well be faked. i. Tho secretary of,tho. Masterton A; and ' fu As « ciatlon (Mr. Ct.' R. 'Syk,w) stated ;. that the association had a rule that |, judges must not award a. prize to any rfheep'which had been "unfairly"' sh'orn. : I ■'>' Judges; adhered to this rule, there [-should be-no complaint on the score of f"•; snapipg. ;,■ The association, as a body !•., was opposed to undue trimming.

f■'-.:■'■" " [To the;Ecl,itor.] ■ !■■ ' v^'f.'T lll to / (la .v's issue of your paper you f; ."publish a,letter from. Mr...H. G. Wil-Mliaras-re the faking of:show slieep, and'in [;>-a sub-lender deal with the matter in a. I;..; manner that probably no one will find '■'wni , • ■** c ?P t the'final statement that f. :.lhe subject is net a new one, but it is I;, one that has been shirked by the A. and ,-,' P.; soeietres." That, sir. is hardly in (•.accordance' with fact. Speaking for our (••own -society, I can say that■ the subject I has Peon debated almost eery year when I, .-the conditions of judging have been under .. consideration, but we. have been unable ■to-'agree on anything more drastic than ! itne rule framed by the Canterbury A. S and P. Society, after years of experience, and also adopted by the Manawntu Assof. elation. With slight variations in the !. 'wording- by the different associations, the I Jiile. is: '.'The giving- of a prize shall ; imply, that the judge is satisfied that tho ;■; .sheep, have been fairly shorn or fairlv j /trimmed." ... Somo years ago a leading breeder movj, rid at one-of our meetings, "that any .1 -sheep trimmed or unfairly shorn shall be (: disqualified," and after, several speakers :, lad-supported him, ■ another prominent ;,. breeder said:' "If you carry that .1 shall [_, jieyer show another sheep, because I have r-viags,- stumps, and rough ground to con!';tend with,,and my sheep would look so J- draggled and rough that it would not be I lair. L-o myself to pen them alongside'of i sheep from clean fields." We want all j. -trie .competition wo cau get, and we want I-.'it to'be as'fair as .possible, but no uiatj, ter what; nilc we have, it must rest j.-. with the judge to decide, and in such a 1. -cnsu --as- that •■quoted by Mr. Williams it i;.mny put tlio judge in an awkward posi--1 tion. becaij-e the' sheep were undoubtedly ■ the' best in their class, although the wool I - was not, of even length. , . I tako it, we j, all. know the sheep referred to, because |; of'! the'discussion by sheep men on the !'., -ground. ■ If the-steward in charge point■ed ont the rnl6 fo the judge re unfair Shearing,'l Ihink he should have dijfimiii. sheep, no matter how good they i. were, as such a sharp -lefson to a good I, breeder would have been of benefit for a i lons time' to all of us. [ There , is just as much difficulty in facI JJig th« matter of colouring show sheep. t fiohie lime ago I know of stud ewes from : clay land, looking . white , and bleached, ■ being sent .for the tupping season to a j rich.' farm on the West Coast. When ~ they came home tho dark, rich, oily look i they had made them look like sheep of i another breed.' Would any fair man |. object to that breeder, sprayiug or colourr.-. ing, his sheep to the , same tingo as. the J sheep belonging to the man owning the , xich , land? The judges are not misled, ! because, after allowing for the differences 1 in ideals,'the' best'sheep almost invariably (■'•get-, the prizes; but tho breeder wishes V his sheep to be looked at by tho average ;■ farmer whether they are placed or not, I. and he must have them as attractive as ! possible to secure that. Mr. 'Williams t icneers at-the stud' breeders as the sup- •;: posed-, educators of tho farmers. I as- ' ,aert, sir, that we aro educating the farmer. I am confident in my own mind , that the ordinary farmer gains more ;■■ pecuniarily from the improvement of his i flocks than the stud breeder. He is more i. and more demandins from us a sheep of ■ good constitution, with wool of.length and i- quality, and- yet with weight added to ; ewoll his bank balance. And he is get- ; tiiig it because I believe it is incontrovcr- ; tible that thegencral average of our flocks , is much higher than it was a few years ; back, and how has that been done? I Mainly through the influence of tho show 1 yard. Wo breeders compare notes. We ;, get to know one another's sheep, and . what each is doing and how each strain i of blood mates with others, and the-con- '•'■ sequence is that the quality of the flock :. rams we sell. to the ordinary farmer is .steadily rising, thereby improving the i whole slieep stock of the eountry. I ; know of the benefit I have received por- ! sonally,. and I recently heard an old :■ brooder, whose opinion we all respect, say I. that he hardly ever went to a show with-

out learning something , he~did not know before. And how. much." more that applies to those of. us who belong to the rank ami file. Mr. Williams quotes from his broker re wasty tip, and says that he goes to the show ring and dees not see a. sheep with a wasty, hairy tip. Of course I© doesn't. Unfortunately, with all our l«nqwledj;e of pedigree and the laws of heredity, we cannot breed every sheep true to type, even with the most careful mating; and iu trying to get heavier and stronger fleeces, we do pat soino r shcep with a coarf.e britch and wasty tip; but a' breeder would bo a fool to enter th'cm''for.'show as his best sheep. Mr. ."Williams states that the tip/hns lieen so trinimed that it cannot bo detected. Well, if he is so lamentably ignorant of his own business, that on opening the.wool and examining it carefully (which: any'buyer would-do before purchasing a high-priced show sheep) ho cannot detect tho class-of wool referred to by his-broker as •• poor-bred wool with ft hairy'.'tip, then" the more shows he attends with'the object-of, learning, the better for -himself.- ■.'•■ Several, of the stud breeders near Mastertonmake a practice of visiting one another's farms at intervals during the year, and criticising one another's sheep, and I am sure I can extend a hearty invitation to Mr. Williams to accompany us, and I am also sure ha would learn enough of the veal interest and benefit breeders derive from tlie show ring to prevent him over again penning such buncombe as, "The only .uso of show's as at present conducted is to provide amusement," etc. Of course, the ordinary farmer does not biiy at the show, but at the ram fairs, where the sheep, .with very few exception?, n'ro brought in just as they are from- the fields, and where plenty of sheep without \tlie faults mentioned are obtainable by anyone" willing' to pay for them. : I have not space to refer to all the points, but I .would like to know if Mr. Williams Svo'oM' consider 'it' 'faking" to "leave the same amount of wool on. sheep shorn late uftnr the spring shows asthey would have had on if shorn with the rest of tho ilock?—l am, etc., D." M'GEEGOB, Jnur. [Our. correspondent has mis-read our reforenco-to the A. and P.- Societies shirking tho question of "faking." We did not refer to ,all tho societies; we said, as he will see on looking up our article, "most" of them. . His society apparently is one of the exceptions.]