SHEEP AT THE SMITHFIELD CLUB SHOW, DECEMBER 1897.

Otago Witness, Issue 2295, 24 February 1898, Page 5

SHEEP AT THE SMITHFIELD CLUB SHOW, DECEMBER 1897.

While occupiers of pasturages at considerable elevations mumt content themselves with the Jareedirg and rearing of the hardy bu'u Blowmaturing breeds of sheep, it is becoming every Any more apparent that; the lowland.flocks must be bred'and fed with the aim of ensuring tarly maturity. Those who have studied the matter cioseiy assert that New Zealand flock-masters will be unable to compete with foreigners in the production ol* mutton for outside markets unless the early-maturiiy system be adopted. There is a genial demand for small and not too fat joints. Compared with that ot the older there js a larger proportion ox lean to fat in ths carcaae of the youager sheep, and consequently ib Eaust b«' highly aOvant^gtous to farmers to breed and gr:-ze the kinds of siieep which will not only yield mutton of the best quality, but the greatest, quantities of it in the least; time? It stands to reason that when the lamb is fed from birth so as to yield a mutton carcase at from 8 to 14 months' old equal iv weight to what is usually obtained from wethets a jear older there must be a great saving of food. The system of forcing lambs onward so as fco yield mutton carcases at a year oli of greater weight; than the fcwo-year-old wethers ut^ed to he fed to haw f-tooti the taxi of loiig experience. Although the SmithSftld Club did uot fo>rn i*-s lamb clashes until 1876, tho practice ot feeding lambs while in growth so as to mako heavy carcase* at from 10 to 14 mouths old h'\d neen very generally adopted by »ll the best farmers in the Home country quite 20 years previously, and accordingly the nif.eteenth-oenbnry creations of r,e«v breeds — the Border Leicester, Hampshire, Oxt'or^shh'e, Shropshire, Suffolk, Devoo, longwool, Werslesdale, and other lest important varieties — were nearly ait ot them grounded on the general aim to have flockf of better grazing capaoiliLies than those ot oldan times. An inspection of the weight records of the Smuhfield Club show affords trustworthy infos ma tion iv regard to the breeds best adapted for carrying out the early-ruaturiug system, or, in other words, those which arrive at the greatest live weight in a Jinoif>d period. In the subjoined ana'y j is of the 1897 brin f hnekl Club show (he higneet and lowest daily gains in weighe of wethers and wether lambs in the prize pins only are given. ' Average Daily Gain in Weight of Pjitzs i Wethers and Wether Lambs Exhibited ', at .Smitiifxeld Clcb Show os" Fat Stock, j 1897

* Only one pen of exhibits in each of the classes for wethers of the Border Leicester, Ootswold, and Oxfordshire bieeds. In the " (Jarcaoo Competition" therf» were three classes for sheep, the first ot which was for " one long-woolled wether lamb of the Leicester, Border Leicester. Cots wold. Lincoln.

X- ntish or Romnpy Marsh, a?id Devon, &c, tweeds not exceeding 12 months old " In the Mark Lane Express report of the proceedings it i? sfcited that although there were five entries the judges declined to award a first priz---, the R"coud going to rhp exhibitor "f a B^i-der Leicester Thi-< exhibit gsve 62 per cent, of eircase ou the live weight, the figures bei><g3qr 271b live weight, and the carcase weight Bst 51b (81b per stonf-) In the next class — viz., for "one short-woolled wether lamb of the Southdown, Hamt-shire, duff-.-lk, Shropshire, Oxfordshire, Dur;-eti, add cross'ureds not tsecidiug 12 monies old'' — fchcra was ke-n coaifjetitioa, and s.rnongst the exhiliitors v.as *;he Prince of Wales, who at owed a labher fat Southdown. Mr L. H. B*rendiUe was piaced firsb with a Hampshire, "which cut up exceedingly well. There was plenty or lean on tbe chop, and the meat was of good colour." The live weight was lews 2qr 121b, and th« carcase weight 14-st 41b, thus {jiving 64 per ceci\ of enrcase weight. -The secoad p=- was gained with a Southdown, which worked cub to 67 per cent, ot carc&be weight. " This was a lamb phowiDg plenly of meat of a good colour, and not afc all fat." Ia tbe third ela&s, for " one wether sheep of the Cheviot, pure or cos-bred mountain, or Bxmoor breeds, above 12 and not exceeding 24 month* old," the carcase of a black-faced sheep, showing only a moderate amount of fat, had the preference. The live weight was lewt, 2q' 6tb, and the carcase vs eight 13*t 6 ! .b, thus sihowuig 63 L >er cent. ; "hut this average was seriously beaten by the takers of the tecond and third prizes, though it is only fair to mention that the winaer of the fi.st prize was two months yourger than thp ethers." The second pr ze went to * Cheviot, which had rather more !at on it thsm tha winaer of tfec firsb pnzt\ and the relabion of the carcase to the live weight worked out at 70 per cent. The third-prize winner wan another Cheviot, which showed 66 per cent of carcase weight. At the sale of carcases exhibited iv the competition", bssf made from 3s 2d lo 8s per 81b, and tmittou from 2s 8d to 6s Sd, the average being 4s 7^d for beef and 3* 10£ d for muti/on.

In a pamphlet just, ifsned by the Department of Agriculture ia detailed an Freezing account of an experiment made Butter. at Welluigtcn by Mr A. A. Thornton, Government produce grader, with a view to *oe what trff-,-cb tret zing had on the characteristics of bubter. II- has bepu held by mauy t.hat freezing v.ould have an injurious effect;, inasmuch as ib would cause rupture ot the cells and thereby destroy the graiu and keeping qualities of the article, Mr Thornton pieced the buster in the frecziug chamber on October 28, it then being graded and giving 98 points oub of a possible 100. It rf > rn»ine f l there until December 23, and was removed to a room at the temperature of 60<ieg to defrost. The tfmperature of the freezing chamber averaged 15deg. On the 2'Uh of December the buWer was taken to the grading room, and its temperature was found to be 4-Odeg. It was then inspected, and found on examination of the poiuts to have Rcored in the centre exactly the cam« as when received on Oe-ober 28— namely, 96 out i/f a possible 100. The report continues : "At she sides, tcps, and bottoms ot the butter tie. flavour was tainted with the wood of the packages ; consequently, the score for the flavour of the butter ckse to "the wood tell from i3deg aa on the 28th of October to 38deg. On the 31st 01 December the bubter, which had been kepb standing in fhe grading room at an average temperature of 53dt<g Fa.hr. from ihe 24fch of December, was again inspected, wnen ib was found ibati the butter close so ihe wood was of a decidedly wood\ flavour, aud th'it the centre of the butter was nor quite so clean ia flavour as when last inspected. The next examination was msde on the 12 h of January, 1897, when it was Sound that the butter nexc the packages had nob only a woody flavour but had also become slightly tallowy. The temperature of the butter was or. this ditte 55deg Fahr.. and that of the room 53ii«g Eahr. I may also men' ion thafc the buttt-r when recived wes weighed, when each box waa iound to contain 561b net. It was again weighed on the 23rd of Drcember, whon e<ich box still contained the 56. b neb." Thrf conclusion to be arrived at from the experiment is thab fretziug does not ii> jure batter, but ib appears that grctttr earn in uye<'sssry hi selpcting the wood from which ths packages are msnufVctured. From note-; of further experiments it appears th'it, ib took 66 hours to reduce the temperature of the butW from 58det; to 17deg in the centre, and 96£ hours to reduce ib to'l2deg.

j Wethers over ] j Monti .2 and v bs Old. ;der 24] Wether Un'ici Moutl "Lambs 'L'u-elve ii Old. a a JO Q d I Leicesters . 'Border Letters 1 *Cots'volds ... Lincoln.3 Kunt i s h oi lio nineyMariib Devon or other longwo oiled ' breeds. .. Cheviots Mountain iSouthiioyvns ... ITamps tires .. Suffolk^ .. Shropshire? *Oxford<=!iiies Doifut or 01/hei j short-woolloil! i breod Cro.sslirert l'irst eros?, from i Cheviot, Scotch and mountain breeds lb. 0 46 O^ 0 49 061 lb 0-42 lb 0 6^ 0 58 073 o'7o lb. 0 57 0-43 0 71 0 70 0 5i 0 45 o-io 0 67 0-62 0-i7 0.-o 031 0-43 0 4fi o n 0 43 0-4C> 0 3i 0-30 0 30 0 41 0 41 0-3!) 0 7o 055 0 73 0 75 0-05 0 69 0 71 0 51 0(51 o*7o 0-55 0-61 O-'itJ 0-39 0 43 0-03 075 OflO 0-6' l 0 53 0-50