OUR SHEEP IN AMERICA

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2216, 31 July 1914, Page 10

OUR SHEEP IN AMERICA

EXCELLENT IMPRESSION . GOOD PROSPECTS FOR NEW MARKETS Among the passengers to arrive.from -Vancouver by tho liakura .this week 'was llr. David Evans, the .well-known Blioep expert, who. has been'in tlio employ of. ill. Ernest Short, of Feilding, .Mr. H. W. Vavasourj of Marlborough, -and 'other .-prominent! breeders, at .;varions times. Some time ago Mr,. Evani took, a number of stud Komneys from , Mr. Short's flock to a Mr. William Riddel], ]un., of Oregon, United Etatfes o( America, practically .-the firEt; shipment of\the kind eyer made'from this side ;ot the Pacihc, as .Western America'has generally looked to England to provide •tlieir flocks '.with new blood. It' appears that these Eomneys have flourishod ex'ceedingly w^ll'in their new home,;,and are produoiug such excellent • : results 'that.they iave attracted tile attention .of many of tho ■ wool-growers : oir the. Pacific Slope. Mr. Evans states that Jthe ; steep industry, of the West' has been'passing through a peculiar 'phase during the last year' or two,' o\virig to ,;the:'.tlireatoned revision of-the tariff 5 which" the growers, hiive .regarded }as a ,sword hanging over' their heads. Enow:iiig! tliat'!the'. tariff .'oil sheep; meat, 1 -and f wool was going to be' lifted," they; had :been- 1 rushing'all their lambs and.'sbeep' on to tho market, and: now when prices were higher than ever before they foundthat they had impoverished - tlieir flocks, and must start to rebuild tnem again. Tho lifting of the tariff,did not have tho.effect anticipated, and tho intlustry was as sound : as ever. Hitherto •they Jiad gone in for merinos mostly on •accoimt: of'the'wool, but tlio prices realised, lately for fat lambs liad been such ...that .they . were now turning- their attention to. long.wools', 1 and by' crossing merino ewes with Down rajns looked to produce good wool and mutton, sheep. To show m what a plight they were tho official returns showed a decrease in the flocks ■of." 2,000,000 during the past twelve moniths,- yet they had . plenty of rams over- hist., season—merino , rams that .were not worth much as mutton. *

New Zealand Sheep Wanted. , Having to build up their flocks.once more, the American sheepfarmer naturally looked round him for tho best .means-of- doing so r and the Komneys of Miv'lliddell had come into prbminence., ~f?ueh was the favour in which thosk shdep were held that the importer (Mr:, )Riddell) could have disposed of 1 600 R-omney • rams; at good prices this ■ last season. ■ Wyoming farmers wanted ■200,- Arizona wanted • 200,- and New Mexico 200. People in New ZealandThad- an idea 'that'they, did not grow', slietfp in America—that, was a fallacy.."tTlie.States:had about 167,000,.000—all. iii, tho West—as: against New Zealand's* 24,000,000, so -there-was sometiling doing there iu : the . 'sheep line. They had« i what is called the. National Woolgrowers' Association, lias its centre! in Salt Lake City (Utah), an organisation like' the. Pastoralists' -Union in-Australia, which attended to "the" -interestsof •'the,' sheep farmers .throughout .the West! The 'president ■of.: that association- a(very;.able ,riian lmmcd-'-Mr. Frank Hag&baTth l j|; who shearetl 200,000 sheep last year; and knew all there is : to be known about sheep i -without looking into books. / Mr. Hagenbartii , w'as . shown the Riddell ■Romneys -by Mi 1 . Evans, . and as the, result ..of .this inspection,' Mr. Evans' has been commissioned to come to New Zealand to purchase a; flock of 500 Ro'mnev and' Corriedalo ewes and rams, intli which 'it is intended to'help to develop- tho ( diminished -flocks cf Western America. : ";

Develop American Market. ; " N i "Thero will, I anticipate, be no, difficulty :iii getting the sheep I'waiit," said Mr. Evans; - 'and I will take a few etud sheep across on my owii account.- I h6po to-get'away with 'them' by the cargo boat which. I understand;, .the Union Steam Ship, Company is . dispatching'to San, Francisco in September" I see that.'the'. conference .is-inclined:, to urge that certain 'steamers -should ot Honie via the Straits-of Magellan, calling at Punta Arenas in order-;that they could send their sheep - there! It would be more to • the point ir . they would advocate better facilities for shipping sheep to the nearest and ket —the United States. Here' the National Wool-growers' Association .has given me a good salary and a draft to by 000 sheep. I would take one thousand if I, coild yet accommodation for■them.. If I can land these sheep in Sail Francisco at'a reasonable rate, I 6hall be .back in New Zealand in January for another flock of 500. Why I am anxious to do my best on this occasion • is that every-year in November the: association lioids a conference

in Salt Lake City which, is attended by all the woolrgrowers of 'the, West.. TAo sheep I'take over this time are to be .011 show during, the conference, and if they make an impression it will surely mean the opening up of a'big market to New Zealand. '. At present there ia no tariff on sheep, alive or dead, but there,is a fifteen days' quarantine for the live stuff. It is ail open market, and it behoves New Zealand to make the best impression on the earliest possible occasion."/ Mr. David Evans is a brother of tho late Mr. Win.-Evans, of Wellington, and of the Rev. Mr. Evans, of Rock Ferry, Liverpool.