THE IDEAL SHEEP.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4426, 5 August 1901, Page 7

THE IDEAL SHEEP.

(By J. 11. W. Augerstein, Paraparaumu.) The article that recently appeared in the “New Zealand Times’' entitled “Tne Model Sheep/' by “John in the Bush" will doubtless have been read’by numerous farmers, as the subject of wliat is the ideal sheep to breed is one that is engaging tne attention of sheep farmers, not only in New Zealand, but throughout the Australasian colonies, indeed throughout the world. “John in the Bush" has certainly hit the nail on the head as regards one point, i.e., the foolishness of continuing to send ,‘heavy, wasty, tallowy carcases of mutton Home, as the English buyers will not have it; but otherwise, I do not think he can claim to have thrown much light on the subject, or trbwn out any hints which could be used to advantage by sheepfarmers. As regards the suggestion that Mr Gilruth is the identical man to solve the problem, that gentleman may or may not have studied the subject, but I fail to see why his successful efforts to keep out the dreaded plague should render him competent to state what is the ideal sheep to breed, or how to breed it. Mr Gilruth has just returned from England, and can no doubt endorse te statement that a great portion of the mutton now sent Home is too fat or wasty; big meat firms in London are continually trying to impress the fact on the minds of New Zealand growers, without avail (as witness the reports in the “Pastoralists’ Review”}. As regards the purebred stock, recently purchased by Mr Gilruth on behalf of the New Zealand Government, I submit it is fully early to bestow praise as yet, for as regards the horses, many competent judges unhesitatingly give the preference to the "Clydesdale” as against the "Shire,” and it is a moot point whether we have not here in New Zealand thoroughbred stallions admirably fitted for the breeding of remounts, if only mated with the right class of mares. It is in mares ,I submit, we are deficient, -which, as I have before pointed out, a deal of ignorance and want # of foresight are displayed by many farmers when mating mares, and hence the large number of nondescript horses reared Before leaving the subject of "John in the Bush,” I would assert that he is altogether wrong in his sweeping assertion that purity of breeding is only required in the horse and hut sparsely in the ox or the sheep. Whv take beef; if you want to raise good beef you must have breeding. Can you beat the purebred shorthorn, Hereford or polled Angus? If you desire crossbred beef, you must mate distinct breeds together, as witness the productions in England of the famous “Bluey Greys,” the progeny of the polled Angus‘and shorthorn. What about the high distinction recently gained by Mr Stuckey in the London markets with some of his noted purebred Herefords, entered, I believe, last year at Palmerston North in the class for beef best suited for the Home trade, and earning the highest praise and warmest encomiums. The London salesman the hardest class of butcher in the world to please) could bestow praise that must have made Mr Stuckey a proud man. No, breeding is as necessary in sheep or cat-tv as in the horse, as “John in the Bush” may live to learn, and certainly will if he is a farmer. To revert to the “ideal sheep,” there is no doubt to my mind that we shall have to call the long-rejected merino to our aid. I myself am now testing on medium class hilly country (two and a half sheep country) merino rams on Romney ewes, many of the latter with a strain of English Leicester, and the progeny, now hoggets, are a nice, neat, level class of sheep, which will cut a fleece with a good price, as prices go, and ’ will, when two tooth (the wethers), provide a neat carcase, weighing, I estimate, from present appearances, about 501 b, which is the limit re/ quired, for the highest price,-in the Home market. No less a judge and well-known breeder than Mr E. J. Riddiford saw these sheep as lambs, and informed me I was "on the right track” (he is breeding this way himself); adding the remark "XTse a Lincoln ram again with them and you will have a neat carcase, of maturity and a dense, fine fleece;" and this is what we want. Large breeders in Victoria have recently also brought this class of sheep under notice, through the medium of the "Pasteralists’ Review,' and give their vote ib favour of it. Now that the Farmers' Union is an accomplished fact, no doubt farmers will he brought more together and the recounting of their various experiences in sheep breeding will go a long way towards finding a solution of the problem, “What is the sheep to breed?” It is indeed a matter for congratulation that farmers have at length united, and if they unite with one mind and one will throughout Austrsvlasia, they will, without a shadow of doubt, reap an enormous benefit, whilst the sound of their voices and the weight of their opinions will be heard and felt throughout the world. Even the suggestion of Mr F. T. Moore, as regards amalgamating to raise the price of wool (large order though it seems, I admit, on first thoughts) will be brought within the hounds of possibility.