CORRESPONDENCE

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 109, 1 February 1941, Page 8

CORRESPONDENCE

A Reader’s Views On Various Subjects A Wairarapa reader , writes, to me on a variety of subjects in an interesting manner and introduces some thoughts promoted by letters received from a farmer brother who is at Home with the 2nd N.Z.E.F. Here is one extract: In a letter my brother described his trip through the Isle of Wight during his weeks leave. Only about 400 sheep altogether were seen there, as most had been moved to the Midlands. Those he saw were all Dorset Horns, which were quite ditrerent from the few he saw at a New Zealand show shortly before he left. Most of the land there was now in crop. “A feature, however, which struck him at one place at which he was stationed was the large area of park surrounded by a high stone wall tn which a few deer were grazing. These were about one-half the size of those to which we are used in New‘Zealand. Deer And Tutu. The writer of the letter then raises his interesting aud thought-provoking p O i nt —"Deer have become very scarce. Now wc can appreciate the large amount of tutu they used to consume and how they forced the bushes into trees and kept the lower portions trimmed. Since deer became so scarce many gullies and slips that were practically free ot tutu have become regular cattle traps m the SP This” is the first that “H.A.S.” has heard of such a trouble and consequently he would be pleased to hear any confirmation, or contradiction, of the point raised. Trimming Rams. The correspondent also has some remarks to make on ram sales. He objects strongly to “rams trimmed so that they looked even in the wool, when actually they were hollow backed or had some similar fault to hide. It would be a good plan if at sales and fairs all rams intended for breeding were barred it trimmed—it is ‘faking.’ Many may not airrce but so it seems to us. There should be too, a restriction on number, of rams entered by any breeder, proportionatei to his number of ewes—I have seen lams entered at a certain fair which should, in my opinion, have gone to the wOl as wethers if our flock standards are to be Concerning the proposal for limiting ram entries proportionate to ewe numbers “H.A.S.” sees a grave objection. One flock may be of such a sNendid “’[ as properly to provide 90 pel cent, ol rams from all the ram lambs, born, whereas another might be insufficiently culled if it offered 60 per cent. As to trimming. I view this as detmitelv undesirable, but. doubt if it can be ever stopped. One golden rule lor ail ram buyers is to look after themselves Examine carefully any rams purchased at auction. In most cases it is belter still to buy direct from a breeder on the understanding that you xyill stica to him providing his rams deliver the goods.