SHEEP FARMING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22046, 28 February 1935, Page 4

SHEEP FARMING

QUALITY OF WOOL It is to be hoped that the New Zealand sheep farmer is not becoming innured to criticism, especially where it concerns the quality of the wool produced in the Dominion. Many hard tilings have been said about the crossbred fleece that bulks so largely in the North Island clip, and the trouble is that they cannot be contradicted. The manufacturer knows what he wants and he is one to insist on getting it. Complaints from him cannot be shelved for future reference. It is pertinent to ask if growers, as a whole, have been as energetic in attending to them as they might have been. What have been the causes of deterioration? What have been the contemporary facts in breeding practice and tlock ,performanceH The subject has been raised once more by a well-known contributor to The Weekly News. He discloses weaknesses which must be strengthened by the adoption of commonsense principles on the farm itself. Tharo was a time when wool was the only commodity the sheepman had to bother about. To-day there is the fat lamb to involve the position. What the farmer has to do is to decide which of these he wants. Attempts to compromise by diverting some portion of the progeny of longwoo! flocks to the freezing works as fats must be held accountable for much of the retrogression. When sheep farmers are content to specialise in one branch of their industry they can expect to hear less about deteriorating wool quality.