THE" FARING" OF SHEEP.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1074, 13 March 1911, Page 8

THE" FARING" OF SHEEP.

KEMIT TO CONFERENCE,

It is understood that some members of the: Masterton A. and I'. Association favour having tho matter of tho "faking" of'sheep sent forward as a remit to tho A. and P. .Association's Conference, to be held in Wellington this year. 'MB. A. MATTKEWS'S VIEWS. Mr. A.'Matthews, of Wairongomai, one of the best known and most noted ■&omuey breeders in the North Island, .expressed his viows recently on the "sheepl&king" question to a Dominion representative. Mr. .Matthews declared emphatically that ■ the practices generally known as "faking" should not. be permitted. Sheep should be shown in their natural condition. If sheep could not take a prize in the state that they were when they left, i'the paddocks - they should not be given a-prize under any circumstances; if they could it was a pity to interfere with' them. "Mr. Matthews said that for many years he competed at the agricultural shows, and though his sheep were never "faked" in any -way whatever, lie was 'particularly successful in obtaining prizes. During the last half-dozen years he had not shown, and he evidenced no desire to do so while "faking" was so prevalent as ho believed it to be. It was well known, ho said, that there was a very glaring instance of "faking" at the recent Masterton Show. Tho sheep should not havo been awarded prizes, but apart from tho "faking" they were the best sheep in their classes. Why the owner interfered ' with sheep of such quality was very hard to understand. In this case the wool was trimmed to such an extent that the interference was obvious to-'anyone. Ho considered that the judge should have thrown the sheep out. It was practically stated in the conditions of competition that-sheep unfairly shorn should not be given ti prize. It would be positively ridiculous to say that the sheep referred to .were fairly shorn. (The wording of tho clauso referred to by ; Mr.-Matthews is: "Tho giving of a prize- to' a sheep shall imply that the judges are satisfied that such sheep, is fairly - shorn.") It was required by the association,' and the fact was printed in the schedule that the date of the last shearing of- the sheep must be given at the time of entry. Regarding these particular sheep, no information as to tho date on. which they were shorn was given. No : date could be given, ,as the animals were simply "faked" and not shorn, at; all. • However, the chief point' was that the secretary of the association should-not. have, accepted an entry which was not accompanied by the particulars specially .required. Mr. Matthews'holds that the judges have a great deal of the ■remedy in their hands, and that the judge at Masterton lost an onportimity of. exercising his power to strike a blow at . a very, undesirable practice. As a breeder ,who. had judged at. many, shows, Mr. • Matthews" stated that ha . had on more than one occasion passed over sheep which had been faked. He mentioned particularly that he had thrown out sheep at Ha'wke's Bay. Auckland, and Blenheim. If the judge at Masterton had disqualified the sheep he need not have .feared that his action would have even-been challenged. "Faking" 'had been'on the increase in the last'few Year"' and had now reached a state of exceptional prevalence. Mr. Matthews admitted that,there-wore instances in which the judges could do little.. They might know from the blocky reel of the wool that a sheep.was not in its natural state,- Mit ; vet'reckon it urilnife tO , ? li , s( l , , lali , f y owing to the difflfeUlty.'.which migfht arisa in substantiating that., ° He_iwas strongly opnosed to trimming for hairy .tipi As to whether trimming for this pnrpose was likely or unlikely to deceive anyone, he gavo the following instance. On one of his visits to England ho went to a number of shows, and kept his eyes open for good rams. One ram m particular came under his notice. He saw the ram at four shows. It was first at one, second at two, and third at tho other. He saw the ram at the stud farm, made a very careful examination of it, and concluded that it was tho best he could buy. Ho mado the purchase, but the sheep subsequently develoncd a hairy growth. He had ken completely deceived. ; Evenness of fleece, said Mr." Matthews,. was ono of.the .things which all authori-. ties on sheep were agreed upon as being an essential. .Therefore, when a judge found at a show sheep with fleece a couple ot inches long in one place and, say, five inches long in another place, he should Bay '\ t» ? are not tho i™ ul °f sheen we want. If they are shorn to look like" this it is;not. their natural.state... If this is their natural state I' cannot possibly give theni a prize." Mr. Matthews repeated that' in all the years he had shown, during which' time he was practically undefeated, he had never shown a sheen that had had any attention above the ordinary, except in some cases light rugging. Of course thov had been well fed, but not over-fed'-plenty of good grass, was chiefly what they got. He had no objection to light Tugging. It was often a good thing, especial y m case of wet weather lust before the show, and it helped to bring the yolk up. Ho did not think much objection could bo taken even to housine and special feeding, though both would impair tho constitution.of the sheen, and should not bo encouraged. Breeders who housed then- show shoo could bo required to state so at the time of entering them, if that was thought desirablo or necessary. As to rugging, a southern breeder ot note went in for heavy ru"ging "one year when Mr. Matthews was showing. At one of the North Island shows his sheen and Mr. Matthew's met, and. the VVairarana breeder's sheen scored a, complete victory. Highly-fed sheep had had,successes in the show rings, but frequently their progeny had not"turned out as good as. them constitutionally. This .bnd been noticed with imported sheen. Speaking of oiling, he said that he" did not object to a little on tho tins, but oiling.ought to be a disqualification when it was done- in such a way that the true character of the woo! c >uld not l;o seen. ._ Speaking of the shearing for autumn sh'qws and. the argument that it was legitimate, to leave on the sheen the length of wool it would have had if *horn in the soring, Mr. Matthews asked how was it to bo decided how much fleece the animal "would havo had"? Any difficulty in this respect could be got over by shearing in September. As to the'harm which "faking" was doing, Mr. Matthews did not think it was very extensive, but "faking" in any form was dishonesty. It was keeping some sheep-out of the cempetitions, and if sheep were shown'in a natural state tho public would appreciate it, and take moro real interest in the shows.

MR. WILLIAMS AND STUD BREED- . ING. . '. [To tho Editor.] Sir;—l do not see very much to reply to ;o far. I was much amused at tho contortions ajid wriggling of most of tho breeders interviewed. 1 should have liked to have added a couple of linos to a paragraph in -my last letter, which would then, have read as follows:— Tho only use of agricultural shows as at present conducted is to provide amusement for the crowd by means' of a surfeit of horse-jumping. To show the farmer the class of stock it is utterly impossible to produce under ordinary farming conditions, and to lot the public know who keeps tho cleverest tamo sheep faker on his premises. Mr. M'Gregor's letter is a good one, jonsidering tho difficulty ho had in defending the practice of any kind of faking. Air. McGregor states that if I w'autsd to detect hairy tips I must open the wool, and I suppose look for them on tho skin. Tho only place to look for hairy tips belonging to a show sheep is on the floor of the owner's woolshod, where they fall when taken off with the special Fhears, or in tho clouds, whither they have gone in smoko when singed off. He stales that I am ignorant, so I suppose I must be. At any rate I have succeeded in coining a new word; it may not bo euphonious, and it may not be. good English. but.it is my own, and I am proud of it. .. .

Whenever I see anything spurious, faked, veneered, dyed or sprayed every colour under the sun except blue, green, and pink, smothered from stein to stern with lamp black and grease, with oil oozing from it to such an extent, as to cause people to send for an expert to test their laud for petroleum; moving about a paddock like an animated tent'; spreadiug its tail like a peacock becauso it is asked to judge at shows; sold as"a two-tooth at fifty guineas and auctioned ns a fourtooth at. seventy shillings after being on grass hills and treated as an ordinary station sheep; crammed with rape, turnips, green oats., parsnips, cabbages, and every other kind of vegetable known to tho human race; stuffed with oil cake, reared on the flat, put to bed in cotton wool, so overburdened with tallow as to bo hardjy able to walk, with all the constitution pampered out of it, with ears treated surgically to mako them the true Kentish type, with a faked torpedo body, guaranteed a gocd hill-climber, warranted not to die in the winter after finding a new owner, refusing 800 guineas for its rams, and looking forward confidently to offers of as many thousands; acting as judge at n. recent show and afraid to disqualify the most glaringly faked sheep ever seen on a show ground and giving it first prize; full of unctuosity, telling people that it is honest and has a conscience; advertising in all places on every possible occasion and by every available means, and writing books about itself, I describe it as just a bit stud breedery.— I am, etc., 11. WILLIAMS. Masterton, March 11.