IN-BRED MERINOS AT BRANTRIDGE PARK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2014, 29 September 1892, Page 7

IN-BRED MERINOS AT BRANTRIDGE PARK.

(Field.) The home farm of Mr Finlay Campbell. (Brantridge Park, Balcombe, Sußsex)"maiatajn» a remarkable flock of merino^ sheep. \ The climate of the district is mild;. the s oaks and white thorns of that beautiful neighbourhood were quite as forward in their leaf as they are in what is considered an early part of Surrey^ I had seen merinos before. I took great mterest in them some years ago, wheu Mr.Thomas Drewitt, Catherine Hill, Guildford, kept a flock of 350 merino ewes. This was, for years, admitted to bo the most profitable flock in Surrey amongst those kept solely for. wool and mutton.. For the sake of comparison I may. state of that flock that tho weight of the washed fleece of one of the rams was more than 201b,; and actually reached one year 251b. The average weight of ewe fleeces was about 81b, tho wool beiDg ,more valuable than that of any other breed. , At that time it was not the custom to kill sheep under two years old, and as the merinos' weighed at that age 9st they must have been at v Meast equal to Southdowns in size, whilo their fleeces weighed considerably more, and were worth a higher price per lb. Mr Drewitt's merinos we rather coarser and loss well shaped and uniform m size, colour, and appearance, than are those I have ]U6t seen at Balcombo. A ,Bon of Mr Drewitt informs me that his father's^ menuos produced their lambs late iv January or in February, and bore many twins, a- characteristic due perhaps to abundant food at tho -time of coupfing. I remember something unsightly about the throats of the Guildford florikf* which ! perhaps was due to their having beeu "throaty. The Balcombe flock is free from th'rt defect, 1 and the horns of the rams, though massive' and very handsome in their double twist, arenot.ao prodigious as they were in the other flook.,- At two years old the Guildford merinos were remarkable for the large quantity of inside fat which they carried. The mutton was very highly esteemed, and for many years Mr • Drewitt t i fats sheep were purchased by the Queen's' butcher, Mr Slater, of Kensington, who willingly gave for it the top price paid for Southdown mutton. The authority already quoted informs me that the mutton of his father's merinos ueed, to be considered as good as that of , Welsh sheep, which it was thought to resemble.; , - In visiting Mr Drewitt in 1871— to report his admirable farming in the journal of the Bath and West of England Association— l found that the high price of long wool and the -reduction ia the price of fine wool had induded him to introduce a cross into his celebrated flock of pure merinos. His 350 ewes then consisted of crossbred Lincolns and morinos, and he ivas engaged up to the time of his decease,' in flying the type of a breed which should possess the merits of long wool in the fleece, and superior'triutton on the carcase. He had hastened maturity, and was selling the tegs fat in/ June arid July, after shearing them. He sold' ,the draft ewes in winter and early spring, whenmuttohof this class is in good demand. Mr' Drewitt acted in accordance with the fashionof' the times, by changing tho breed for one witiihlonger'wool and more mutton on the carcase. /On 'thtr same principle the Leicester sheep formerly overspread the Midlands. But it happens that the fashion has altered now in favour of short wool and small mutton ; and in obedience to modern requirements the short-woollcd breeds— mainly Shropshires— have taken possession "of the Midlands, and have almost entirely driven the Leicesters from what was once their stronghold. Formerly long-woollecl sheep in thia country greatly outnumbered those of the' other type ; now the proportion is believed to bo very much in favour of the short- woolled- breeds. -■ Under these circumstances it is notjmpossible that Mr Campbell may find that 'his merinos, representing countless flocks, once owned' by him in Australia, may possess more than the sentimental value which he naturally attaches to them. As an example of long continued in and in-breeding— without any .illeffect that can be traced— the flock at Balcombo is particularly interesting. In tracing the history of the flock it may be well ttfrecall the fact that before their migration from Spain to the dry pastures of Australia, Spain 'had been the home of the merinos for centuries. The Phoenicians and Carthagenians are said to have introduced them from Syria and Africa. The remarkable travelling powers and the fine wool of . the breed seem to have been acquired in the dry atmosphere of countries where— as a shepherd might say— the flocks have to work hard to live. Two consignments of merinos reached, an estate in New South Wales called Camden Park, and which was owned by Captain Macarlhur. . One of these came in 1804 from the Royal farm -at Kew ; the other was brought in- 1797 from the Cape of Good Hope, to whichVtJie ;sheep had been imported direct from Spaiii: ■ One of these types had moro dewlap than the, other ; and fleeces darker on the outside, with the. wool less fine but very close. There Ayasncver any other than the blood of tho.se two lots of merino sheep in the Cam Jen stud flock.. Although tho owners never hesitated to breed from the uearest relatives for the purpose of fixing any particular characteristic of Tvhich they were in want, no kind oE degeneracy resulted From their doing bo. The same plan has been followed till now by the several owncrr, who have handed down the Camrlen flock, which is the foundation of that