FAKED SHEEP.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVI, Issue 264, 7 November 1912, Page 6

FAKED SHEEP.

A correspondent of the Lyttelton Times writes:—No one sees sheep in the paddocks of Canterbury as they appear at the Metropolitan Show. The leading exhibitors select their best sheep in autumn, olive oil their wool probably, cover them with calico, put them in sheds during rough weather and hand feed them; in short, treat the animals as fond parents treat their only children. Tie result, truly, is great carcased sheep carrying wonderful fleeces, but then they are not a fair sample of the breeds . raised in Canterbury. The exhibitor has, perliaps, only six or twelve or twenty such amono; a mob of possibly three hundred. The grower of robust sheep, unhampered ' and unfaked, cannot show his stock. In reference to particular exhibits, unsuccessfully shown, sheep men may be heard to admit: If that sheep had been 'brought out'it would have been a prize-taker." To the aspiring exhibitor the display of sheep, or rather the way sheep are displayed, simply fills him with despair. Many sheep are shown purely Irc-m mercenary motives, hence faked' sheep at shows. 5? Let me suggest the appointment of a wool expert as judge in connection with, a sheep breeder. The presence of such, an authority would prevent the deception of the judges by "faked" wool, and would also teach the public the exactly true type of wool grown -on the various breeds of sheep.