Agricutural and Pastoral.
SIIEEP-BKEEDING AND WOOLGROWING.
In the Sydney Mowing Herald of the 12th insf. appears the following important letter from the pen of Mr. Shaw, of Darling Downs :—: —
"Sir, — Li your Usiieof Aptil 30 last appealed si letter from Mr. Bayly, of Mudgee, in which he stated that he had lately read a pamphlet, and, more recently, a letter of mine in the Sydney Morniny Herald. Mr. B.iyly says that Iwiito oil shcen-bi ceding- and their general management, which statement is not correct, for both pamphlet and letter treat on breeding nlone.and there is not in either anything about general management. lie then bays that the statements advanced by me are directly opposed to all established and well-known principles of breeding. I am quite aware lie means Australian principles. lam not surprised that Mr. Bayly does not agree with mo in this particular. I should wonder if he did, because he has been trained up in those principles. What are nil the Australian established and well-known principles of s'ueep-brecding, of which Mr. Bayly speaks ? They are all embraced in one woid— import, I Jknow no other established principle in the colony of Queensland and in that of New South Wales. Import fresh blood, and that is the alpha and omeg.i of the generality of Australian sheep-breeding. With this, of course, it necessarily commenced, and according to Mr. Bayh's theory, and, possibly, practice, it must cud ; so that, with all Mr. Bayly's twenty-seven years' experience, lie has not taken one step in advance of tho introducers of sheep into Australia. This system of breeding I, in my humble opinion, condemn as unsound in principle, aud of all things most injurious in practice, as directly opposed to all laws of nature ; as entirely contrary to principles laid down by nil the most experienced, scientific, and successful brccdeis in tho world. TKey one and all condemn it as fraught with the greatest evils, and attended with the most pernicious consequences ; and so it has proved in the colonies of Australia with which I am acquainted. It has been tho gioundwork of all the defects and evils that have so frequently distressed many of our flockmasters. II has been the chief bar to the full development of all those rich and valuable qualities in Australian w,ol s-o much appreciated, and qualities communicated I\> no other climate ; ha^) kept the flocks in a perpetual state of confusion without any true character, always changing, but seldom improving ; it has introduced into them debility, weakness, and, consequently, premature death. It the true father of catarrh. I have traced it to its very core. All the small, weak, delicate sheep, so universally complained of as light both -in point of wool and carcass, are its offspring. It is like a canker-worm, gnawing at the very vitals, and neutralising every effort to bring our flocks to perfect health and vigour ; and Mr. Bayly is evidently and naturally desirous of having his lately imported fresh blood extensively circulated amongst them, and thereby making so much more confusion. It has ruined raanj a squatter, and has been a dead loss to the colonies to an extent it is impossible to calculate. Is this state of things to 'last ? Are our flocks to continue in this disorganized state ? Are the interests of these colonies to bo sacrificed ? Is this* climate never to have a fair chance of bringing to fujl maturity all the rich "and valuable qualities in wool so peculiarly it? own ? Is its great superiority over that of all others never to be fully developed, merely because a number of woolgro'vers, acting on false principles, and ha\ing invested money in improper stock, with the intention of making largo profits, try to vindicate this fiilse p inciple, not by argument, but because it is an established and well-known one 'i No, the ice is broken, the subject is fairly before an intelligent public ; truth must in the end prevail. I thank Mr. King for his letter, also the Sydney Morning Herald for their remarks, and in both instances the absurdity has been so fully shown of a superior climate relying upon an inferior one, for ft conetant supply of sheep, in
order to keep up the quality of its wool, that I have no occasion to say a word on that s,core. Mr. Bayly says, 'I believe that no person but Mr. Shaw will attempt to deny that, ho we ye» perfect we may have our flocks, a cross is very desirable every four or five years.' I think that Mr. Bayly is a little wrong heiv. I confess, wh«n I first began to agitate this subject, I stood alone, but now I have several influential and powerful supporters, and a great number more or less convinced, and rdo-not- despair of making even Mr. Uayly himself a convert. It is very unpleasant to toll a gentleman of Mr. Bayly's experience that he has been wrong— laboring hard, but on wrong principles ; and I cannot conceive it to bo still more unpleasant to be fold so ; but this cannot be helped: the evil must be eradicated at all risks ; it haa continued too long, and already has .lone too much evil. No doubt, M<\ Bayly has been more successful than many others," he having avoided the greater error which they fall into, viz., crossing with coarse English sheep ; but stiil the principle is the same, and the evil great, though to a less extent. When the most suitable sheep for the pasture and climate have once been established in any part of these colonies, and care taken in their breeding by selecting the most perfect fur stud purposes, under the influence of this climate a decided improvement is effected. If the sheep are from a foreign country, this improvement never shows itself much until the third generation—that is until the ewe becomes a great grandmother. By that time sheep have undergone a change — they have become partially, if not altogether, Australian. During this change there is universally a degree of weakness and sickness in both, the animil and wool: after this, with the same care in breeding — always selecting the most perfect for stud purposes — the improvement goes on rapidly, the sheep regains health and vigour, it rapidly improves in size, its propensity to fatten increases, the wool regains it 3 soundness, the staple improves in length, and the fleece, becoming closer, grows much heavier. Now, I say, to cross these sheep with any other sheep from any other part of the world is riot only not dosirable, but it would ba so to destruction. Had these sheep been crossed in their weakly state during the change with others in an cquil state of debility, this debility would have been much increased, and it would have taken a much longer time to redeem them. This is what is now taking place at present, crossing these weakly iinacclinritisiC I sheep one with the other, not once, but mmy times —connecting sickness with sickness, and adding debility to debility ; hence arise all the delicate, light-woolled sheep — they
aye bred out by continual crossing. These are not my sheep which Mr. Bayly lias very kindly given to me. I decline the gift. They belong a. great deal more to him than me. My colonial sheep are of a, Jar superior stamp. Mr. Bayly says, 'fresh blood we must have.' Fresh blood certainly "\ve mnst, but no cross ; fresh blood and a cross are two very different things. Fresh blood simply means blood from a sepnrate or distinct family of the same description of sheep, in order to avoid too clos3 a family connection. A cross always implies the introduction of a different kind or breed of sheep, in order to changthe. character of the flock. When fresh family blood is required for sheep domesticated, settled, and doing well, bMng in character suited to the pasture and climate, all the most experienced breeders advise that a selection be made fro-n the nearest neighbour having similar sheep to their own equally improver! breed, under the sama circcimstances as to pasture and climate, and having the same habits, so that nons of those characteristic* imv be interfered with or disturbed. In this way, family blood is circulated through the {lock without doing any in jury;j ury ; the fresh blood is gained, nnd nothing lost. But what is one to do in such a ease ? —fresh hlool is wanted for these domesticated or acclimatised flocks above mentionc I — they have become Australian in character. The climate has done its work and made them its own ; the contest is over, and the sheep have recovered their health and strength. In character and habits they are suited to the pasture on which they were reared. The climate is oongenial to their growth, and, with enre in breeding;, a great improvement can be made. I see all this, but I want fresh family blood, but I want no change, no quality destroying what has been already done. I want no rams equally domesticated, of at least equal quality to mine own ; but, alas ! where am I to get them. There are a few exceptions ; there are a few gradually creeping out of the mass, but this tikes time, they are so surrounded with Gernnn blood, it is difficult work. Will) these axceptions *eirc!i the colonies of New South Wales and Queensland and they are not to be found — all have crossed— the colonies are deluged with German blood, which is carrying everything before it — destroying all character, and t ho Australian quality in sheep andwoolXo; rams ara not to b3b 3 so thoroughly acclimathid and possessing qualities equal to the ewe. To us, ranis, the offspring of thp lately-imnorte I sheep, is to cross and destroy qualities it Ims taken seven years to establish. It is, indeed, a deplorable fact, that if fresh rams are wanted you aye forced against your own will to cros^ and introduce into the sheep b'nod that yon are certain wilt do you injury — not only stop the intended improvement, but throw you many years back. Mr. Bayley says tint many spirited flo^kraastor3 have, nt various tinv>B within the last twenty yoars, imported the brat r.iins they could procure, whfoh have brought our wopl to that hish state of perfection for whirii it _ was si iubtty celebrated. I say our wool 3 are not in a Ivph state of psrfeition— far from it. The qualities fiey do posse??, and which has made them so justly celebrated, are tli3 peculiar rich qualities communi ct&l to them by the climate. The virtue is in the climate, not. in the <.li2ep the pcntlemen have at various times introduced. Had it been in the shr>cp, how i^ it that the fheks from which they were t\ken never rose to that c^eb.'ity. Wh"n these sheep arrived here, it is quite evident their wool did not possess these celebrated qualities, it had to undergo a. complete change, the original quality had to be de» Htroyed, and new and richer qualities, whilst that grown by the sh^ep left behind remained as before without such celebrity. It is very easy to take credit to ourselvfs for what Nature has done for ns, and often in spito of our direct opposition. Sheep introduced at various times by these gentlemen although they ould do no good, and were few and fnr between, they could not do much serious harm the climate having had time to rectify the errors of the fir.tf. cross before another Uke3 place. But, now, when it has became an immense trade, a commercial business of lar^e extent, and adopted by nearly every bree ler in the colonies, it has become a very serious matter. These importers are finding too much work for tho cHmate ; they are going too fast for it. Hefore time has been given to rectify the crors of one cross another takes place, then another, and so on. This is not breeding, it is crossing— the whole system h crossing ; the flocks are already in such confusion there are no two breeds alike ; in many of them there are a taw good sheep left, bur they are disappearing fast ; our sheep are gradually decreasing in size, and consequently have less wool. This cannot take place without the constitution of the shpep being seriously injured. Continue the system a few years longer, and the consequence will be sickness, disease, and death to a serious extent, as it was throughout the whole of the Maneroq district sixteen years a<?o, or thereabouts, which, I believe, was caused by thp very svsfceru pursued at present, viz., 'cross-biveding. That instance was_ certainly whore a ciarser description of sheep prevailed ; but the system is the same, a>id is certain to lead to the same results. It may he slower in the finer breeds of sheep, but. the result will be the same if the system is persisted in. I was in the Maneroo district during that awfid calamity— catarrh ; I watched its progress, and have no doubt, of its cause. Depend upon it the climate will not be beaten ; it will stamp everything within its influence with its own character — it will kill or cure.
" The Australian ftackmasters are the greatest of all enemies to the character of their own climate, While the whole of the manufacturing community is pronouncing it to be the most perfect of all others in tho world for the growth of fine wool, the importers of sheep are condemning it in the sight of the -world as defective, by continually introducing foreign sheep with the avowed intention of keeping up the qualities of their wool. Mr. Bayley asks me to examine his sheep. In what I have to say on the subject of sheen-breeding I think it would be unfair to make any public remark on any individual's breed of sheep, and thus I am much curtailed in my argument ; hut as I am invited, I will sny this nmch to Mr. Bayly — that I believe his idea of perfection and mine differ to a great extent. No doubt Mr. Bayley has a few good sheep,"accordiiig to the present standard of goodness, but I think this standard too low. I am not a stranger to Mr. Bayley's breed of sheep, having seen some of them on three or four different occasions, and I am convinced that had Mr. Bayly and the neighbours he mentions for the last sixteen or twenty years adopted a natural, true and scientific system of breeding, nnd ncted on the principles laid ('own by all the most successful breeders in the world, i. c, by bseeding by a continual selection of the most perfect animals for stud purposes from their own stock, and strictly avoiding all spurious blood, especially from nny foreign country; had they nil been doing ,lhfs at the same time, having the snme description of sheep to commence with, they could easily haye supplied each other with ram 3 similar in character, yet remotely connected, .equally-acclimatised and improved, arid thus fresh family blood w6uld have been secured without destroying any good quality in the ■wool, or in any way disturbing their adaptation to the pasture or climate. Hod they dose this for tho last
sixfcoen or twonty years, they would now be in pou« session of the most valuable sheep in the world, far superior to any Mr. Jiayley now possesses, much larger, with a sounder and stronger constitution, with for superior fattening proparties, aud consequently growing a raucli more valuable fleees, ina-smujh as it would bo far heavier and. far more sound in staple. I yield the palm to Air. Bayley, as regards letter-writing, and hope that the importance of the subject will induce you to find space in your valuable paper for thi3 letter of mine."
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW18620726.2.7
Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 556, 26 July 1862, Page 2
Word Count
2,645Agricutural and Pastoral. Otago Witness, Issue 556, 26 July 1862, Page 2
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