FEILDING SHOW. A PICTURESQUE SCENE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 30, 5 February 1908, Page 3

FEILDING SHOW. A PICTURESQUE SCENE.

INTERESTING DISPLAYS. FINE WEATHER FOR THE j OPENING DAY. . ! [Cr TEtncitAPH.— SrEcrw, to The Post.] FEILDING, This Day. Tke Feilding A. and P. Association, which yesterday opened its fourth annual sljsw, is fortunat* in. having such a pictures^u* ground foi^ its festival as the local racecourse. Net only is this within five minutss walk cf the post-office and ten of the railway station, but the grounds aro commodious, md with the* prettiest of surroundings. The grandstand overlooks the ring \n which ib» horse 3 ore judged, and the jumping tikes place. JJehind tho saddling paddock aro th© sueep and cattle pens, and to the left of the grandstand i-> the open space in which the side shows hold swny, and business people iiiake tfteir individual displays of articles likely to tempt the visiting farmeis. THE OFFICERS. The following is the list of officers of the association : — President, 'Mr. H. J. Booth ; vice-presidents, Messrs. Hugh Burrell, Jas. Campion, W. G. Pcarce, Geo. Wheeler; treasurer, Mr. E. Goodbehcre; executive committee, Messrs. H. J. Booth, A. 11. Atkinson, J. W. Brainwcll, J. C-. Cobbe, E. Goodbchere ; t-sneral committee, 'Messrs. A. 11. Atkinson, W. E. Baker,, W. T. Bowater, J. W. Bramwell, J. Bruce, J. G. Cobbe, A. Campbell, N. Gorton, F. T. Haggitfc, L. E. Jackson, J. B. Johs-.tcn, Jas. Knight, A. R. Mayo, J. M'Leod, O. 'M'Biroy, Jns. Aliih, J. H. Perrett, W. J. Phillips, W. Reid, W. A. SandiInnds, J. Nelion; secretary, 'Mr. E. If. Fisher. SHEEP AND SENTIMENTS. This is & country, in which the sheep hi«s long held sway over the farmer who grew • wool well and profitably, long before tho dairying industry wes thought to be worth while, and tbs sheep, after a fow ycira of strong rivalry on the parb- of cattle, is again winning the, first, place in th» affections of the msn on tho land. This is not to b« wondered at, for the cow causes a lot of trouble. Sha has to be milked at regular periods, and the dairyman is a- slave to his herd of milk-ratikcis, but the sheep is next to no trouble. It earns its own living by its diligent perseverance; ifc can stay, out all houro and kedp whatever company it'Jikcs, iac ivs wool is growing all the time. The sheep hasn't to corns home nightly or weekly, or even monthly, to get it3"hsir curled, or its bib mid 'tucker trimmed ; it looks fii'tor "itself, and if the season n b, good one, and wool is up then there is a maximum reward for a. minimum of trouble. It is not to be wondered ct, therefore, that shocp comprise tho special leading feature at the present snow. 4 One of the meet prominent of sheopbreedsrs of tho North Island informed Tho Post representative that, generally speaking, ths standard of sheep was well .'Mint&ined throughout the thow. Southdowns were a particularly good class, and he considered thai thero had occn sauna judging ability displayed all through tho classes. *• SHROPSHIRES v. SOUTTIDOWNS. Another sheep man, who had been all roivid the pens, declared that tho whole show of sheep was generally interesting. Fat lambs and fat sheep woro veiy .good. Ho felt assured that the exhibition in this corner of thl\ bhowground vas' even .bettor than that of last year, end sheep 'have always been a strong feature^! the Feilding show. Whs there any new development? was .asked. * , Yes; the noticeablo feature- was that Shropshires, which were somewhat fashionable a few years ago, had now cone otf ahno.st entirely, Southdowns having taken thpir placs. Tho reason? Oh, that was phin : Shropshires did not suit this cli.-,tiict because our ewes wero big and coarse, nnd tho Southdown was much more suitablo for crossing purposes. What the pastoralists in this district were after was a good fat lamb for the English market. .. They found oxc3llent results from crossing 1 ordinary flodc Romnoys with Soutlidowns. The lamb for export was about the best paying thing our sheep-farmers could go in for, and they were using j ths beet medium for getting good roI suits. His thought that in sheep thsrc was much keener competition this year than ever. In 1 fact, it was only in Leicesters that there was poor competition. Ha thought, too, that there ,\vera more individual breeders showing 'this year than before. PETS, FLEECES, AND CONDITION. Pets sra a very good lot this year, said another-, frequenter of the show, but there's a chap over there who took a prise i>.nt seemed more of a sheep than a lamb. Another pastoralist, who has had mueli experience, had a special word to say about tho ffetees of crossbred wool that were in competition. They wero real good, he said, oisd a credit in every way to the growers. Tho pressman sought some information eonosming the mann;r in which the sheep had necn sent forward. They have come in in show style, wag tho opinion of a breeder. The fine- weather, lib added, had kept tho sheep clean, and made them look, v.ell — much hotter than they came forward last year. This had been a good season for wool-grow-ing and for sheep, and it was only to bo expected that the display should be a good one. r i. l li3 dry \%eatlier has tucked them up a bit, commented another critic of the sheep, and if we had had somo good rain a wcok ago they would have looked much better. Southdownn, ib was agreed, are good all through, and those shown at the show would bo hard to beat anywhere. Mrr' Little, the judge, confirmed this general opinion. He admitted that ho had had a \ r ery hard task in trying to differentiate between Short's imported Southdowns and S. B. Lancaster's home sheep. Many are inclined to coarseness, but not too much so taking the flocks and stud sheep into consideration, ■ This is the best cheep you can get, for this district, said an admiring pastoralist, as he leaned over tho Eomney pens. Mr. \V. Archibald, of Hastings, who judged tho Lincolns and Leioe&ters, stud of the Lincolns that BBveral types wero represented in ths various classes. Some of the uhe-ep would havo secured a higher place, if they had not had brown logs. As' it was, however, there were somo v<vy creditable ehesp thown. Gadsby's sheep irer* «f apemllr good character. P»rg*rii«j Bord«r Led«Mter» u\py waro, takta as a whols, only madar»te. He specially noted, however, that the younger stock woro of better type and quality .than ths older sheep. This should indicate thnt an improvement has been eiloctcd by bleeders. The English Loic(?j.tti« wore very good indeul, and some of them would eeenre high plate* in any sliovi in the Dominion. These cksscs preheated the best s.n<l truest types ol nay of the khee» that hid passed through his IjhikK COMMENTS ON CATTLE. "Cattle yre good in fat stock and in purebred, but tlie entries in the vnr.-ouj, classes tuo so iuiall a& not only to bs disapiiouitiny to the a/xsociation ,\nd to those

interested m cattle but the exhibits in the pens did nofc give a fair idea of the eipticity of this district as a cattle raising country." This was the opinion of an expert, -oho added that- thero was some compensation in that dairying rattle were rood in quality r.nd entry, nnd the purebred dairying classes wore alio well filled. Ho chew parlicular attention to one bullock, winch it \v?3 estimated would tip tlie bpshi at 14efl t. This was a Hereford, bred by Mr. Ernest Short, r.r.d ns the good :.vcra<rc bullork runs to 9cwt ib can well be undei stood what a fini> beast i 3 theone attrrcting so much attention. It was !urpii3;ng to find that tii-ere was uot a single entry in shorthorns, said the critic. "You vi ould think thr,t breeders of shorthorns wonld have token advantage of this opportunity, if it was only for the .-.dveriisement tho display of their cattle ■would give them." Had Jie any reason to suggest for the omission? "No ; he thought it must be Isek of interest en the part of farmers and no lack of good shorthorn cattle. This was a good district and the beasts should have been well represented. "With a knowledge oi the district and of previous shovs in Feilding, ho would say that the display of dairy stock was not only quite up to the standard, but his expert eye was nbls to notice that there was an undoubted improvement in our hei'd.^ The much preaching by thor-e who desired to refoim it in the best interests of the dairying industry wos beginning- to have effect. The "no goods" wero being wced«cd out, heids were being improved and there wns gradually coming rt good type of milker. Of course, cattle was a thing that one could not say much about in this early date, because it took a long while to develop a. good elf. is cf dairy cattle. Still, there were tokens that farmers wero xnovifig along on right lines. Each class was well represented in both purebred and grade and from this even representation it could not b& gathered whether any special breed was making 7^ fashion in this district. POINTERS ON PIGS. "Them's gcod chaps 'all Tight." Thus an admirer 5f the pig as he leaned over the pens smoking the pipe of- the peaceful critic. And he vra% right about the animal which eroksd his admiration, but the judjro (Mr. 6. R. Lancaster), who knows a thing or two about tha animal that provides the appetising rasher had a somewhat different opinion generally upon the beasts under his nctic-. Ihey Avere not up to last years' stinkard excepting the Eerkshirea. There were ni?iiy Dcvons but they wero "not up." The Yerkbhirea piovided the beat pig ih the pens (Mr. While's). A jßne typo of Berkshire was shown by Slack Bros. Folks who enjoy a bit cf bacon with their breakfast will ba pleased to learn that iibout the best ciasscs in competition were those most suitable for bacon making. I EXPORT BUTTER,. I The judj,c ci t'ao butter classes for expoit (iMv. DUnford, of Makino), questioned by Tii-s Post representative said that although there were only five entries for this contest the quality wa&, so gfood that only half a point difference existed [ brtween the respective competitors. ! i{«'ingitikei scored 'lirst place with 93.V points, and this jrin will further show tho consistency 01 this factory which won I tho blue ribbon at tlio Pahnerston North i winter show. Awahuri was second (95) Cheltenham (924). R&t&> which is in the Huntarvillo district, scored 91^, and Bunny thorpc was next. They v/ere all we'-l made lines, without a trace of bad flavour in any, and tho winning lin-o ivrs paiticulurly cieau fla\oured tilid m ellmade.