SHEEP INDUSTRY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21470, 19 April 1933, Page 18

SHEEP INDUSTRY

MIXED BREEDING FLOCKS NEED FOR ESTABLISHED TYPE ' . BY H.B.T. The original importations of sheep to New Zealand, made between the years 1773 and 1842 were almost exclusively of Merinos from Cape Colony and New South Wales. This breed was then practically the only one procurable from adjacent colonies which was valuable for its wool, and then the only sheep product of value for export and the best suited to the light ©pen plains and hill country available for grazing. In the open tussock country of the South Island, the breed thrived and proved a valuable foundation for the various longwool breeds which have latterly been crossed with it on the lower country, with the object of combining wool quality with a more desirable carcase far the export trade The original Merino foundation in the North Island was quickly submerged and almost completely obliterated, following the introduction of the English Leicester, Lincoln/ and Romnev Marsh breeds about the years 1843 to 1853, for these sheep thrived admirably on the virgin land then being reclaimed from forest and swamp. These longwool crosses sprang into almost universal popularity with the establishment of tho export of frozen meat, for they showed a greater propensity to fatten and produced a much more attractive carcase. Popularity of Romneys As the fertility of the heavily grazed land diminished the hardier Rjomney Marsh sheep, largely crossed with the bigger-framed and heavier-fleeced Lincoln, came into popularity, and though a comparatively slow-maturing sheep with anything but a perfect carcase, was acclaimed as a valuable dual-purpose type. It has certainly proved adaptable to worst types of North Island grazing and is also extremely popular with breeders in Canterbury and Otago who seek the ewes as mothers for lambs /sired by Blackface rams. Obviously the breeds of sheep which constituted the bulk of the early importations were chosen chiefly on account of either tho quality or weight of their fleece. The combination of breeds and types, however, often mingled rather indiscriminately, lias left us with a very mixed type of breeding ewe throughout the majority of the Dominion flocks. The mixed origin of our flocks could produce nothing other than we have—a wide range of wool types and grades, and many obvious carcase defects from the fattener's and batcher's points of view. \j, The Southdown Breed The profitable industry of fattening Jnmbs for export accounts entirely for the rapid climb to popularity in NewZealand of the Southdown, Shropshire and other purely mutton breeds. These rams, when crossed with almost any ewes, and particularly with the Romney-Lin-coln, produce a well-shaped, small-boned, early-maturing lamb which finds favour with consumei's in Great Britain. Admirable as it is in all other respects, tho Southdown-Longwool cross lamb is of little use as a wool-producer, and it is therelore imperative that the lambs of this cross /be fattened and disposed of during .their .first year. The idea! sheep for New Zealand conditions where wool, early maturity in the lamb and ultimate mutton production are the. paramount considerations, is a breed or cross which would combine a moderately heavy fleece of medium to fine wool, an early maturing lamb with the desirable qualities of the Down-cross, a sheep with a constitution which would enable it to thrive in practically any locality and a. type of carcase which is well-fleshed and attractively shaped when matured. In fact what New Zealand sheepfarmevs urgently require to-day, is a real dualpurpose sheep. A difficult attainment, tome might say, when one reviews the mixed? foundation stock which comprise our flocks, and yet not so difficult as to be impossible, for in the writer's opinion jrs already have the breed in New Zealand would convert our mixed flocks to Such a desirable type. Essential Qualities Where one wishes to establish uniformity of type in a mixed flock or herd three qualities are of paramount importance in the sire to be used. He must be prepotent: he must embody all the qualities which it is desired to establish in his progeny; and finally he must have great strength of constitution. Provided that an old breed of sheep combines all the qualities which ye desire in our ideal dual-purpose anilnal we cain with confidence mate it with our mixed flocks, certain "that it will rapidly establish uniformly good qualities .throughout the flock. Strength of constitution is frequently •s much a breed as an individual characteristic, indeed this should be so in any breed which we intend crossing with our mixed flocks of to-day. Strength of constitution must always be the foundation of rock on which we can confidently build the qualities desired by the woolgrower and lamb-fattener, for weakness in this respect will nullify all other good qualities. The essential qualities of weight of fleece, fine spinning count of wool, and Ehapelv carcase in the writer's opinion ure embodied in Ryeland sheep. Examined from every point of view this breed measures up to the requirements of the woolgrowar, the lamb-fattener and the butcher, and lias besides the prepotency inherited from countless generations of forbears bred/to the same type which qualifies it to impart uniformity of type to a mixed flock.