SOUTHDOWN SHEEP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20074, 11 October 1928, Page 5

SOUTHDOWN SHEEP.

j EVOLUTION AND SCIENCE. BRITISH PIONEER BREEDERS. THE NEW ZEALAND FLOCKS. DY H.B.T. Prior to 1750 there were many distinct breeds of sheep in the British Isles, hut most of these had reached their tiien state of development more through the process of natural evolution than through intelligent mating. About that time, however, a number of practical farmers made a study of animal improvement through selective mating, and so great was their success that in a few years' time it would hav« been almost impossible to have recognised that the original stocks and their progeny were of the same breed. Among these men, who may be considered as the pioneers of British stud breeding, were Robert Bakewell, who improved the English Leicester, Thomas Bates, the founder of the Shorthorn breed of cattle, and John Ellman, who developed the Southdown sheep. It is significant that each of these breeders achieved their lasting success not oy crossing the existing breeds, but by improving, through selection, native breeds which had proved their suitability for the different localities in which the breeders were farming. Evolution of Dominion's Stock. Founded on the Merino, New Zealand's Hocks have gradually developed toward the generr.l utility long-wool sheep and their crosses as the value of the frozen meat export industry became more evident. Of recent years, however, the profit U be made from the export of fat lambs has centred interest in this branch of sheep farming, with the result that the Southdown breed lias achieved great popularity. A ; Though cross-breeding may not be advocated as a method of establishing a permanent breeding flock, there is no question that the result of a first cross between ' suitable breeds often produces an extraordinarily fine and early maturing animal. This result- has been obtained when the Southdown ram has been put on almost any of the long-wool breeds, This constitutional vigour was very noticeable in the native sheep of the Sussex Downs, which are undulating chalk hills covering an area of approximately 200 square iniles. From the character of their surroundings, only the hardiest and constitutionally sound sheep haa survived in this original stock, so John Ellman was Blessed with good, sound stock on which to work. That the breed of those days, even after considerable improvement had been effected by Mr. Ellman and his compatriots, was hardly what wo would consider good to-day, is evident from the description of a " very well bred" sheep of the day as given in the " Memoir oif Mr., Ellmen" 1834). It says: " This true Southdown, when very well bred, has the following points:—No horns; a long speckled face; clean and thin jaw; a long, but not a thin neck; no tuft cf wool on the forehead, which they call owl-headed, nor any fringe of wool on the cheeks; thick in. the shoulder; openbreasted and deep,; both fore and hind legs stand wide; round and straight in the barrel; wide upon the loins and hips; shut well in the twist (which is a projection of flesh on the inner part of the thigh that gives a fulness when viewed behind, and makes a Southdown leg of mutton remarkably round and short; thin speckled leg, and free from wool; the belly full of wool; the wool close and hard to the feel, curdled to the eye, and free from spiry, projecting, or staring fibres. Present Standard Southdown.

The standard aimed for "with a Southdown ram to-day is somewhat as follows: —A bold, masculine head, wide and levtil between the ears, with a full face of one even mouse colour, and light under jaw. The eyes should be large, bright and prominent, while the ears should bo of medium size and covered with short wool. Tjie neck should be wide .at the base, strong and well set on to the shoulders, and the throat clean. The shoulders should be level with the-top of the .back, the chest wide and deep, the back level, with a wide, flat loin, and the rihs well sprung, thick through the heart wil;h flanks fully developed. The rump should be wide, long, and well-turned, tail large, set on almost level with the back; legs of mutton well let down with a deep wide twist. Xhe' wool should be fine, dense, and as long as possible, covering down to the knees and hocks, and right up to the cheeks with a full fore-top, but not round the eyes or across the bridge of the noise. The skin should be light pink in colour, the carriage bold, and the legs short, straight, and mouse-coloured, and set on outside the body. Though it is strenuously denied by Southdown breeders that there is anything but pure, original Southdown blood in the stud Southdowns of to-day, it is more than suspected that the fineness and weight of wool was secured by Mr. Ellman crossing his ewes with a Spanish Merino ram, one of a number of Merinos presented to him by King George 111. in 1799. In any case Mr. Ellman was taxed far and wide with having introduced this cross,-though I can find no record of his having either admitted or denied it. In any c.'ise the breed lost nothing in strength of constitution or prepotency by the introduction of Merino blood, though tiie latter may have helped to shorten the length of carcase, and introduced the tendency to footrot which was not a feature of the original breed. There is no doubt that as the fat lamb export trade develops in New Zealand the Southdown ram will be moro and more in demand, as a sire for crossing purposes, and those breeders who have supported this sheep through years when it lacked the popularity it now enjoys will reap a rich reward.