ROMNEY MARSH SHEEP

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2003, 10 March 1914, Page 8

ROMNEY MARSH SHEEP

OF AN AUSTRALIAN. During the course of a visit to EngJand, jVlr: Arthur Payno, an Australian Komney breeder,, gathered miich valuablo information from tho leading breeders in Kent with regard to certain features in the Komiiey over Tvliicli tlicro lias ■. been ' more or less uncertainty in Australia; (says the "Australasian"). .-Any. sheep with sandy markings on the-' fauo or head is summarily culled. Some breeders-approve of sandy markings on the hocks, and regard them as a sign of constitution, but theso markings must bo below tho hocks; if above, they ■aro"'regarded" as a" serious fault. What we in this country term "buttons," and tho old. breeders call "slugs," in other woi-cls, incipient horns, aro not regarded ivitli. favour, o.wing to tho fact that Ahcv get knocked olf, and tlio ensuing woiuul attracts attention from tho blpwily. The mushy patch on tho back, which so frequently occurs in this breed, moots with . strong disapproval, not only because of tlio.'faulMn-the tleece, but because of 'the fact .that tho polt of every sheep ,tlius_afflicted' is noticeably weak in this particular region. Tho mealy noso — that is to say, tho brown ami white'nose —is "a seriotfs fault, and tho same remark applies to tbo brown nose, as well as. to tho pink nose. Tho jioso should be black or black and whito. A black patch on tlio head leads to culling, but a , black spot on tho ears or on-the chock is approved of, but not a brown spot. A black lamb is regarded with a certain degree of favour, but a mealy lamb with nono. In this country numbers of tho trno English-bred, as well as Now Zea-land-bred, lambs are born with rusty markings, which disappear as they grow The.wool peeling olf around the nook is regarded as a. defect in tlio con•stibutkm..' That illustrious Romney breeder, tlio late Mr. lligdcn, of Lyminge, Kent, was always partial to sandy markings on tho legs. Youatt, writing in 1837, tells us, on page 239 of his book, that in the year 1800 thero ivei'o 525,000 short-woollcd or Downsbred sliecp kept in Kent, bnt that tho number subsequently diminished, ■ and that in tho eastern parts of tho country a polled breed of middle size, a cross between tho Iloninoy aud tho Southdown, was to bo mot with. 11 f describes tho sliopp as having faces mostly white, ljtit. somogroy, a. useful kind of shcop, which wero kept on tho uplands pasture and yielded: useful wool. Tho value of the longwodls, which have "from timo immemorial , ' (note tlio great antiquity) inhabited the Romney Marsh and its environments, wero being bettor understood, and. they gradually spread themselves far into Kent. Another author (Price), writing in 1809, makes special mention of tho thickness and length of the head, a broad forehead with a tuft of wool, a long thick neel; and carcass, flat-sided, with a sharpc chine; tolerably wido on loin, breast narrow and not deep, and' tho forcquarters neither heavy nor full; the bully largo and "tubby"; the. tail thick, long, anci coarse, logs with largo feet; muscle i coarse, and bone largo; wool long and not fine, and coa-rsest on the breast, and much internal fat.