MERINO SHEEP IN VICTORIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 1559, 24 September 1881, Page 7

MERINO SHEEP IN VICTORIA.

A cruel fate, which kept me tossing in the South Pacific for nearly eight days between New Zealand and Melbourne, has been the cause of my being a visitor to-day (by special favour) of the grandest show of merino sheep in Victoria. To one who has a weakness in that direction this was no mean compensation.

THE SHOW commenced yesterday, and was held in Goldsbrough and Co.'s Btore, three storeys up, in; a room over 300 feet long, and wide in proportion. The pens were floored with straw about six inches deep, and oaten hay^oats, carrots, bran, and green barley were administered ad libitum. The race for the prizes was over, but the w.eighing-in had not commenced. Seeing? a man with a catalogue, I took him for ; the secretary, procured an introduction, and got the numbers of all the prize-winners. Thus armed, the process was 'simple. I took the numbers in order, found the person in chargfe, and politely requested him to fallow me to examine, which he kindly permitted me to dp. REMARKS. ' Mr W. Oumming's champion ram is in evei;y respect a remarkable animal, large, wellformed, with, wool fine, long, dense, and bright, and altogether brought out in perfection. He, however, shows a very slight tendency to weak wool on the Bide of the bellj| ; does not stand well on his legs (though not so bad as most others present)! and has a black

spot on his nose. • . • ' ' | By a curious 'arrangement two prizes are not awarded to the game individual in the same class. This was given me as an explanation of the strange fact that a, ram- of W. Cunaming?s got no prize in his class, and was yet adjudged the second-best ram at the Show. There is Burely something out of joint here. Where a)l were so excellent, it is difficult to select any for special remark, bufc'among the ewea Mr J. Oumming's first champion appeared a model of her kind, and Mr Buchanan's second prize ewe in Glass Y. took my fancy as a profitable ode for breeding purposes. Aa a sheep for New Zealand I would £iave placed her first. j The grass-fed sheep were certainly not creditable, as a whole, to Victoria, Qharity forbids me regarding them as a fair specimen of the grass-fed Bheep of a Colony which exports 165,000 bale's of wool. Several of the entries would not have passed muster at a local Bhow in Otago. The stall-fed ' sheep have almost driven those who live at large from this Show. The whole system of pampering sheep, especially ewes, solely for ab.ow purposes,- may for a time bring fancy prices to the successful exhibitor, but I fail to see how it can improve the general standard of the ordinary flocks. There are already indications of decay in this Show in the abspnco of several of the wellknown breeders of Victoria. :

LONG WOOLS

consisted of a few Lincolus, chiefly from two exhibitors, Messrs Mackenzie and Hood. The former got nearly all the prizes. There was nothing about them demanding remark. They were not an equal lot, but as fat as usual. I ventured to touch one with the point of my staff, when the man in charge called out, " For God's sake don't touch her— she cannot rise I" What would they say if Victoria should send Home such crime-producing mutton as that? It would certainly not fetch 7d per pound in London. There were no Leicester (unless I reckon one which Mr Hood showed as a Lincoln), and no other breeds. The Show was altogether a Merino Show, and as Buch I scarcely expect to see its like again.

THE WEIGHINa AND MEASUBING

was a novel feature to me, and afforded amusement, if nothing elße. First the sheep was marched out, hiß height and breadth (why not his length ?) carefully measured with the usual apparatus for measuring horses, &c., then the length of his wool was measured with a rule— the figures all being carefully registered by the secretary. The animal was then shut in a box, which was wheeled on to the Ecalea, aud weighed to a nicety. I applied to a good many persona in my endeavour to learn tha object to be attained by thia weighing and measuring, but could get no satisfactory explanation. It appeared supremely ludicrous to eoa a crowd of most intelligent men working hard, in all earnestness and sobriety, for result 3 which could give no information, and which were not meant to affect the relative positions iv the Show of tha exhibits weighed and measured.

Merino.

Melbourne, September sth.