SHEEP INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20419, 22 November 1929, Page 7

SHEEP INDUSTRY.

'• BY H.B.T. . ■ '

EWES IN THE WOOL. POINTS FOR ATTENTION. BREEDING A ONE-TYPE FLOCK.

Shearing takes place at a time of year when there are generally a large number of other jobs calling for immediate . attention .and the farmer cannot ' devote that undivided attention to bis flock and the wool which is their due, and on which largely depends his success; as a sheep farmer. In many parts of the country" the dry sheep are now going over the board and at the same time the farmer is striving to finish sowing his rape or potatoes, complete subdivisional fencing that has been delayed by rough weather or shortage of labour, or to prepare pits, silos, etc., for the, silage crop. , Eves at the expense of neglecting some other, work, the farmer should make a point of studying individually ; every breeding ewe or ewe-hogget at or immediately preceding shearing, when it is carrying a full fleece and when defects in growth quality, character and soundness can bo actuated. Wool is too important a product to be neglected, and it is impossible to form such a correct estimate of the wool-producing capacity of . a sheep at any other time of the year as it is at shearing. ' " - » - ' The Best Type ol Wool. : The ideal wool to grow will nacuirally vary with the type of country. 'Whatever the farmer's personal prejudices may be, it is safe to. say that the greatest profit will be made by producing the heaviest fleece that the country w'H grow without sign of breaks or tenderness. If the sheep are gone through carefully, opening the fleeces for examination always in the same place, the farmer cannot help recognising the type of wool that his country grows to perfection, and that is the only class of woo] he should strive to produce, irrespective of ~ whether it is fine or coarse, in immediate demand or neglected* in the. market. To strive to follow the demand of the' moment in wool production is the most fatal mistake in sheep farming, for on the average small farm, where the soil : does not vary in quality to any great extent, only one type of wool can be grown to perfection. . Once, a farmer has determined, the fcypie of wool that his country grows best, it will pay him to run these sheep off by themselves and study them in order to fix in his mind the general characteristics of the sheep that he mnst breed for, and also to obtain an idea of their proportion in the flock. In the majority of cases it would, of course, be impossible to immediately cull 'all sheep of undesirable wool type, but by always culling most deeply from the undesirables, and by using rams with the wool that you wish to establish, the flock can be levelled up in a comparatively. few years. A Common Mistake.

A mistake many farmers make is to buy two or more types of rams—as regards the coarseness or fineness of their wool—and mate them with ewes of opposite type (the fine rams-to the coarse., ewes, and vise versa), Employing,- this method it is to; recure evenness in wool tiiroughoiit a'flock, I for although a fairly large proportion ; of: the first generation may have .wool, that is a halfway blend of Sire and dam these sheep hold propensities which cannot be j calculated, and confusion is certain., tqV 'follow. The only method by which success in establishing a flock of even woolI type can be achieved is to consistently use rams of'the desired type, when in four I generations evenness will be established" and the ewes will'"continue to breed' true

to type. , • - Every farmer knows that the fewer classes he has in his'clip the better, for the larger offerings, provided the range ia quality is not too wide, command better competition. If he could so/ breed bis flock that all his fleece wool was included within a range of fonr counts he would undoubtedly get the highest price paid for that class of wool. This may not be possible under practical farming conditions with crossbreds, but it certainly is possible to breed these sheep to produce wool so similar that it can be classed into two lots of sound wool with not more than eight counts between the finest and the coarsest. ; Advantages of Evenness. Apart from oddments such as IvJlies, pieces and locks, this would mean that the farmer' would have two big - lines of fleece wool, and a small line of cotted and tender of tho same class and the two lots of sound wool would always elicit keen competition. Further, sheep that are even® in wool always command top prices when they conve on tho 'market, hence the farmer profits again when he has his surplus stock for salo. Wheu the farmer goes through his ewehoggets and breeding ewes either immediately before shearing or on thi shearing board, he can tell from a study of the wool how the sheep have " done" during the preceding twelve months. If the wool is weak or tender throughout the length of its staple he should immediately snspebt weakness of constitution, End if this is confirmed .by finding a narrowness of head, a longish weak neck, narrow shoulders and a shallow girth the sheep should at once be marked for culling, as it will never develop into a profitable type. It may be found that the is weak or has a break at one point only, • or there may bo a tendency to " eoff" at one point. Either of these faults will reveal the fact that tho sheep experienced unfavourable conditions or treatment at the time when that wool' growth was being made. As tho position of tho break in the staplo indicates the time of year when tho unfavourable conditions were experienced, it should not bo hard for tho farmer to find, by consulting his diary, whether the fault was in his management, or whether the sheep was not constitutionally sound enough to withstand, unharmed, tho seasonal conditions experienced in the locality.