SHEEP HUSBANDRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1861, 22 July 1887, Page 7

SHEEP HUSBANDRY.

In Great Britain, and other countries that have been long inhabited, there are breeds of sheep distinctive to certain districts, and these various breeds are for the most part the outcome of the natural conditions of soil and climate. On the low lands and on rich pasture we find the large long-woolled breeds, aud on the hills and downs, breeds of lighter carcass and short-wool. The various breeds of Great Britain have been greatly modified by selection and artificial feeding, but notwithstanding the exercise of the breeder's skill, and the wonderful results of selection, the broad division lines laid down by Nature are not obliterated. It has indeed been found that the secret of success in breeding is to question Nature and to follow out her dictates. Under a system of sheepfarming so artificial that the sheep are almost entirely hand-fed, and fed largely on purely artificial food, the influence of the climate and soil of a district is reduced to a minimum ; but this sort of thing is only possible on a comparatively limited scale, and except in the case of stud sheep here and there is practically unknown in this country. In the early days of Canterbury, and also other parts of the colony, the flocks were confined to the native pastures, while the tiller of the soil devoted his attention almost wholly to graingrowing. The open and grassy character of the Southern districts of New Zealand rendered the country admirably suitable for sheepfarming in its most primitive form. 'Millions of acres of native pastures lay ready to hand. No clearing and no cultivation was necessary. There was no natural enemies to contend with, and all that was wanted was the stock; but without the merino breed of sheep these great resources could not have been fully utilised. The adaptability of the merino to varying conditions of latitude and country is something extraordinary. It is equally at home in the Alpine districts of New Zealand and the burning plains of Australia or South Africa, and is capable of developing a variety, and at the same time a fixity of type, with a facility quite unequalled by any other breed. In North America, for example, it carries a close dense fleece so saturated with yolk as almost to resemble pitch, and has a body of great depth and Weight ; in parts of South Australia it develops a size of frame almost rivalling that of tire larger English breeds, with a strong open fleece of great leagtb. of staple; and in Tasmania, where perhaps the merino has been brought,to the highest pitch of perfection, there is considerable weight; of* carcass, with wool of beautiful •quality and of distinctive oharacter, But the

merino, though eminently suited to the native pastures of New Zealand, is not found so well adapted for cultivated land, is not, in fact, the most profitable farmers' sheep, aud, consequently, decreases in comparative numbers, and is driven back into the broken hilly country as cultivation advances. Though the mutton of the merino is of excellent quality, it is more essentially a wool producing breed, and is too slow in coming to maturity to meet the requirements of the farmer. But this is a point which need not be dilated upon, as it is a generally recognised fact.

In the early stages of settlement in Canterbury — and the same remark may be applied to other parts of the colony — the farms were mostly of small acreage, and the price of corn generally ruled high. Farmers therefore, except where dairying was carried on, found that they could get very satisfactory returns for their labour by graingrowing alone, and it did not appear to strike them at first that there was such a possibility as the exhaustion of the soil by continuous cropping ; and indeed, to this day, there seems to be a good many who are equally oblivious of this fact until it is forced upon them by stern experience. The writer of this article well remembers what he believes to have been the first crop of field turnips grown in Canterbury, and the enterprising turnipgrower, who had had English experience, was regarded by his neighbours as a species of harmless lunatic. Among other things he was told that merinos would not eat turnips, but the merino in this, as in other respects, showed its capacity of adapting itself to circumstances by taking very kindly to the turnips. The writer also remembers gazing with astonishment at some of the first long-woolled sheep introduced into the province, and as his previous experience had been confined to merinos, these importations struck him in the light of monstrosities. The farmers of those days little thought what a great future there was for the turnip, and for sheepfarming in its truest sense, in this country. It may almost be said that the turnip forms the keystone of our agricultural system, and is to a great extent the source . of our already enormous and steadily growing frozen meat trade. If the man who first ventured to sow a field to turnips was looked upon as a visionary, what wouid have been said of the man who had ventured to predict that in less than a quarter of a century we should be supplying the people of Great Britain with fresh mutton, and to the extent of hundreds of thousands of carcasses per annum ! The wildest imagination would not have been equal to anything approaching such a feat, and after witnessing such a marvellous development of scientific discovery and industrial enterprise, is it possible to lose faith in the future of farming in New Zealand ?

When farmers first began to include wool and mutton growing with other branches of agricultural industry, there arose the question, What if the most profitable sheep to keep? but to which no satisfactory and conclusive answer has ever been returned. Most practical and experienced men have, however, concluded that there is no such thing as a " best sort of sheep," and that the value or the profitableness of any particular class of sheep is ruled by surroundiug conditions. With regard to the native pastures of the country, there is no doubt that the merino is the best sheep, and practically speaking the only possible sheep ; but when we come to a more advanced state of things, with artificial pastures, root crops, chaff feeding, &c, there is a wide choice, and room for much difference of opinion. In the initial stages of sheep husbandry, to use the most expressive term, the merino necessarily formed the basis of our flocks. The importation of sheep has always been an expensive undertaking, and therefore there was no other course open but to work up gradually from the merino. Moreover it was found that although the pure merino was unsuitable for farm flocks, a strain of the merino was most valuable, and very desirable to retain. The cross between the merino and the courser English breeds yields both mutton and wool of the most valuable character, as everybody knows, and a fixed type of sheep embodying a fair proportion of the qualities of the merino and the coarser breeds is a consummation much to be wished, but which no breeder has as yet succeeded in establishing.

The fixture of a crossbred type of sheep is a matter which has at different times been much discussed, and there does not appear to be any ground for thinking that it could not be accomplished, but it could only be done by the exei'cise of great patience and judgment. Some of the most valuable English breeds are the product of crossing and selection, but the difficulty of establishing a type half-way between any English breed and the merino is probably greater than in the case of any two English breeds, on account of the more marked dissimilarity. The crossbred flocks of New Zealand at the present time are of a most mixed character, and present a great variety of quality and character. They include a large number of useful sheep, but also many that have little feo recommend them. When the trade in frozen mutton was first opened up, there seemed to be good reason to think that the carcass would become so valuable that owners of paddock flocks would be in a position to rank the wool as a very secondary consideration, and to direct their efforts wholly in the direction of producing mutton suitable for the English market. Had these hopes been realised, there is no doubt that the various Down breeds would have gradually superseded all others, at least in the case of the smaller paddock flocks. But apart from the question of expenses involved in the export of mutton, the increasing competition of other countries seems to make it evident that New Zealand farmers must always pay careful attention to the quality and quantity of their wool clips. Wool occupies the leading place on our list of exports, and there can be no auestion, that large as is the revenue of the colony from that source, it might be largely increased by more accurate knowledge and more careful attention being applied to its production, and that quite apart from any increase of cultivation.

The production of crossbred, wool in .New Zealand has increased enormously during the past 10 years, from about 50,000 to upwards of 140,000 bales, and the limit of production has not been reached, nor anywhere near it. In Australia the crossbred clip has fallen off, the country, with the exception of certain

not very extensive districts, having been found unsuitable for crossbred classes of sheep. It is a hopeful fact for the farmers of this colony, that the flocks of the great exporting countries are mainly composed of merinos, while -there is a growing and special demand for crossbred and long-wools in the Home market. This may be partly accounted for by the fact of the European flocks having, according to statistics, fallen off considerably in numbers of late years. The character of the climate and soil of this country is su^.h, that jt is the fault, of our farmers if they do not produce crossbi'ed and longwools equal, if not superior to anything else of the sort in the world. As it is, we export a great deal of superior crossbred wool, Dut also much of what must be classed as decidedly the reverse of first-class quality. It should be impressed upon the mind of every sheepowner, whether he is on a large or a small scale, that a bad sheep eats as much as a good one, probably more, and looking upon a sheep as an animated machine for working up the raw produce of the soil into marketable commodities, the inferior sheep is a source of d irect and serious loss. No farmer would think of using a plough or a reaping machine ill-suited for the work required to be done if better implements were within his reach ; but it is not unusual to find good machinery and inferior stock in the possession of the same owner.

With wool, as with all other produce, uniformity of character is of the first consequence. This is one of the great difficulties with which breeders of crossbred sheep have to contend. In the case of the most carefully selected flock there is nearly, if not quite, always a considerable diversity of character in the wool; and when no particular care has been exercised in selection and culling, it is difficult to find two sheep in a flock bearing fleeces of exactly similar character. A really good even flock is to be met with here and there, but it must be admitted that the general run of the crossbred flocks are anything but a credit to the country. They have been bred for the most part with no fixed aim in view, and present a greater variety of type than the English nation itself. Breeding, it is hardly necessary to remark, however judiciously carried out, is ineffective unless backed up by good feeding; but it is unfortunately only too patent a fact that many farmers fail as much in the one point as in the other, and when there is an absence of selection combined with over-stocking at certain periods of the year, the result cannot be such as to make glad the heart of the individual farmer, nor to reflect lustre on the reputation of the colony in the European wool markets.

The business of the shcepowner is to grow as much feed as his land is capable of producing, and to convert that feed into the largest possible quantity of wool and mutton of the best possible quality. Of course it is not meant for a moment that the land should be forced up to the highest pitch of production regardless of expense, for as every practical man is well aware, there is a limit, beyond which it is not judicious to expend labour and capital in the cultivation of the soil. The productive power of the land in the agricultural districts of New Zealand could, no doubt, be immensely increased by the adoption of a more artificial system of farming — a system such as is. followed in Great Britain ; but the value of produce, the cost of labour and material, to say nothing of the want of capital, all stand in the way at present. The adoption of a more advanced method of cultivation can only take place gradually, and in accordance with the circumstances of the country. The combination of sheepfarming with other branches of husbandry is an important step in advance, for without sheep or cattle the cultivation of the land is a purely exhaustive process. Wherever sheep are kept there is a fertilising influence at work which ensures the return to the soil of a certain amount of the necessary elements of plant food. Of late years many of our farmers have found it profitable to go somewhat further, and use artificial manure for the turnip crops. This is an improvement in husbandry, well within the reach of every farmer, and one with regard to which the results fully justify the expenditure. Not only are the crops surer and heavier, and the stock-carrying capacity of the land proportionately increased, but by feeding off the turnips oe the land where they are grown, there is a substantial addition to the amount of nitrogen in the soil which is bound to be felt appreciably by ensuing grain crops. By manuring the turnip, the productiveness of the farm is increased all round. — " Ovis," in the New Zealand Country Journal for July.