IMPROVING THE DOMINION’S STOCK.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIV, Issue 90, 24 March 1924, Page 7

IMPROVING THE DOMINION’S STOCK.

THE ROMNEY MUST GO. AN ENGLISHMAN’S DISCOVERY. Sonic little time ago the ninny hun i dreds of breeders of Romney Marsh ■ sheep in New Zealaiul were distinctly amused by the wording of a cabled message from Sydney' intimating that 500 Romney rams were being shipped to N.Z. from Australia with a view to effecting an improvement in the N.Z. Romney. The sheep arrived in the Dominion alright, -but as to what has happened to them since no one seems to know. If one was to make a guess it would be that they have been boiled down in some of the Nor therm freezing works, but while a venture of the kind was only of sufficient interest to N.Z. breeders in so far as it created amusement, the articles at present emenatiug from England, together with the utterances of the Prime Minister in reference to Romney wool call -for different treatment. The Prime Minister of N.Z. is a farmer, but at no time has he been credited with expert knowledge of our breeds of stud sheep and the class of wool they produce. Without attempting to give offence it is quite safe to say r that the Prime Minister, lacking much knowledge,.-was fair game for Mr Aykroyd, of Bradford, when that gentleman tackled him in regard to the class of wool being produced ini New Zealand. At first sheep breeders and pastoralists in the Dominion were only amused by the articles written in England, in regard to the, necessity for improving our Romney wool, particularly when it was put forward that the only satisfactory way to do this was by using the Wenslcydulc breed, but as the Prime Minister found it necessary to endorse the comments made in these articles and his words have been taken up and reechoed by smaller politicians, pt is time that attemiit.'f were made to bring out the real facts. New Zealand is justly proud of its Kommey sheep. There are now at least 600 breeders of stud Romneys in Now Zealand and hundreds of other owners of Romney Hacks. This is the dominant breed, in New Zealand, and has been for many years. As the dual purpose breed for the production of wool and mutton, and from which to breed fat lambs, the Romney cannot be excelled over a wide extent of country in N.Z. The breed is a much improved type on the English stock of the same name. The English Romney breeder has paid little or no attentio i to wool, while N.Z. breeders have given the widest atttention to this. It is on account of its splendid wool as well as its good carcass that lhe New-Zea-land Romney has been able to surpass the English Romney in competition and w in a great portion of the South Am-. ■ rican trade in this breed. Fortunately in this discussion we nee J not be guided by our own opinion, for one of the leading experts in Bradford ! itself has replied to Air Aykroyd in a most comprehensive manner. Mr Ay\i royd drew Mr Massey’s attention) to the harm, that is being done to the NJz wool clip by the introduction to our flocks of the Romney, apparently being of the opinion that instead o/f being the

dominant breed of the country for many years past, the Romney w r as only now getting a. footing. Mr Aykroyd states: ‘ i The cross with the Romney ram which has been adopted to some extent in N.Z. while it may help the woolgrower to maintain the weight of the fleece, produces a wool which is most undesirable from the users point of view.” ‘ HOW TO IMPROVE. It is extraordinary, however, and convincing to, that Mr Aykroyd does not know about what he is talking when he goes on to state that ‘‘ An example of the right policy is funished by tile Argentine. When that country was building bp its flocks it insisted that no ram should be imported into the country that was not at least six generations purebred. Air Aykroyd in conversation with our representative, recalled the sale to the Argentine of a flock of Messrs B. and J. Wright’s, of Nocton, near Lincoln, in which the rams average £lOOO apiece. The result of this policy is that America, which started with the irregular breeding that New Zealand is coming to now, is going ahead by leaps and bounds in wool growing.” IN PLACE OF THE BOMNEY. To suggest that the Lincoln would provide a better medium with which, to improve the flocks of the Dominion is an opinion that no practical breeder will support, but apparently this is only a stepping stone us the interview witn Air Aykroyd continued as follows: — ‘ ‘ The sheepbreeder has two consid- i erations to bear in mind. It is to his' interest to maintain the weight of the fleece on the one hand, and on the other to produce a carcase which is not too big or coarse for the mutton trade. Air Aykroyd himself advocates to this end the crossing of the Lincoln and Leicester with a Weasley dale ram. The Wensleydale fleece is long in the staple and is silky and lustrous —there is no better wool of its,kind in the world. During his visit Mr Massey inspected the small flock of purebred Weusleydalc sheef) which Mr Aykroyd maintains as a hob- 1 by, and Mr Aykroyd promised to send out to him aWensleydaie ram lamb next year. ’ ’ ANOTHEB OPINION. i Writing from Bradford one of the leading experts in the trade states that the wool trade there has been greatly interested in the interview with Air Aykroyd as published in the Yorkshire •‘Observer.” t>o interested have the Home experts been in the discussion that a complete review of their opinion has uceu lorwarded to the “New Zealand 1 aimer,” and this should be carefully read by all interested us it is a full refutation of Mr Aykroyd’s criticisms, xiie expert in his reply states: — Air Aykrod complains of the use of the Romney as a sire. ‘ ‘ The fleece resulting from his cross” he says “has already become a great source of trouble to the Bradford trade and militates against the supreme importance of breeding where quality of ileece is concorned. The writer has moved in and cut among Bradford topmakers for 2o years, and this the first public or privates complaint he has ever heard about Romney bred wool. This breed must nave been in existence for hundreds oi years. Until now not a single complaint has been raised about it either as 1 a purebred, or as suitable to cross with! the colonial merino. Air Aykroyd coni-1 plains that the use of the Bomacy on ixew Zealand crossbred sheep resuus in the presence of the fleeces of thick hair-;, what he calls fibres that are several qualities below the bulk. To the writer—and the impression of New Zealand pastoralists must be the same—this *s a very serious charge, and one wonders, if Air Aykroyd could tell what sire had been used if half a dozen crossbred fleeces were put upon the sorting table without the breeding being known, to him. For Mr Aykroyd to say thatj you might find in one staple four or live i qualities of fibre and another staple may be found to be made up of fibres coarse and wiry at the base and gradually di- | minishing by several qualities is too i serious a charge to be allowed to pass ' unheeded. Exactly the same thing is ' found in crossbred fleeces, no matter I what English sire has been used. All men with, a practical knowledge ai j aware that in almost every fleece of ■ wool, three or four qualities can bo made by careful sorting. What fleece has ever been grown that does not differ in quality between the shoulder, ths britch, the belly and often the neck?; in certainly 90 per cent of the crossbrc J . fleeces. Mr Aykroyd seems to fav-■ our a cross between the Leicester and the halfbred. It would be interesting if he had told us tlfta origin of the halfbred, for in all probaility so far as New , Zealand is concerned, a Lincoln, Leicestre or Romney sire was used to obtain it. We must admit being very little impressed with this castigation of New Zealand wools. A combed top is just a;liable to have thick hairs in it as not, even when careful sorting has been done. It is not an uncommon thing to find a thick hair in a merino top after the best sorting. Gurely he would would not condemn a well-grown 64's quality fleece simply because a thick hair has been discovered here and there when combed.” ' 1 ARGENTINE METHODS. | Air Aykroyd says that the Argentine furnishes an example of the right system in sheep breeding. He points to the large use of the Lincoln as a sire. During the Lincoln boom the lute Air Henry Dudding sold more rams to the ’ Argentine than all other breeders put together, and if we remember right his ram was the only one that sold for 10UU guineas. It is patent that Air Aykroyd favours the Lincoln as the sire fox N.Z. Our reply i$ that if this system of breeding had been adopted by pas-1 toralists in New Zealand since 1914. there would have been thousands in. the bankruptcy court, and the number of those whose profits were reduced through growing coarse crossbred wool was quite large enough. We think Air Aykroyd will admit that the Romney is a finer fleece sire than cither the Lincoln or the Leicester, and we only hope his reference to the Leicester producing “straight 48’s” is not actually a Romney crossbred fleece. The coarser the fleece of the sire used, the more likely it is for those strong wiry hairs to apIjear in the fleece- The. very fact of the Romney being several counts finer

than either the Lincoln or the Leicester has 15 enabled the New Zealand pastoralists to produce an ideal mediuii fleece.” THE WEN ISLEY DALE. * ‘ Mr Aykroyd having taken the Wens leydale under his wing is evidently enamoured of its characteristics. It has been exported many times to New Zealand in order to give i,t a trial in corssing with the merino, and the building up of crossbred flocks, but it has never been in favour, and has not made practically any progress. The Wcnslcydale is essentially a local breed. It i.s a good upstanding sheep, nothing near the weight of the Lincoln or the Leicester, and it is largely used for crossing with Scotch black-faced ewes for the rearing of lialfbred lambs. If it were as popular as Mr Aykroyd would have us believe it would have made greater

r progress and would have been kept in i large numbers. If it had boon good : for crossing purposes.it would have been l exported more freely, but where one i Wensleydale ram or ewe has been ex- .* ported, we should say that 250 a-eices- , ters, Lincolns or Romneys have been - sent abroad. The breed matures slowly, another characteristic which does not help to make it a favourite with those breeding lambs for'the New Zealand freezing establishments. For ' these reasons the Wensleydale breed will , never bo popular with colonial pustor- ‘ alists.” A SUGGESTION t “Now that the point has been raised. 5 and the complaint made by Air Aykroyd 1 that the Romney is unsuitable lor New Zealand pastoralists has been ventilated, it behoves New Zealand pastoralists to look well to the stud stocks they are using, and to discard any ram which is faulty. It is inconceivable to the. 1 writer that the Romney breed of sheep • would have taken such an important part ' in building up the crossbred flock’s 01. •’ New Zealand if there had been anythin" > wrong with the fleece. It is very 1 strange that we have not had this com plaint before. The Leicester has. been an exceedingly good sheep, and is so still, but the trade does not want all I 48’s quality wool. Until quite recently it has been in over supply on the mar- . ket, but it has lately moved sensibly ju , conjunction with all other crossorod ‘ wools. It would appear that it i.s still the wiser policy of the New Zealand pastoralists to carry on as they are.” . I CONCLUSION. This castigation of Air Aykroyd’s en- ' deavour to discredit the Romney and push into the Dominion the Wensleydale ■ sheep, should be sufficient to prevent silly politicians frbm descanting further about our Romneys and the type of ’ wool they produce.