BREEDING HALFBBEDS

Otago Witness, Issue 2509, 16 April 1902, Page 9

BREEDING HALFBBEDS

By South under. The serious drop in the price of ooai-e cio.-sbred wool is having the very natural effect of causing flockowncrs to wish they had jet intact the merino flocks of 20 or 25 years ago. Thp craze for crossbrtxL brought about by tho expansion of the frozen meat trade led to practically all the merinos being ciO3sed, or rather mongrelupd, to meet the seeming necessities of the hour, and now times have changed once again, and the necessities of the present hour arc a fleece of fine wool and sheep of a haidiei constitution than the mixtures we have been breeding during recent years. How to attain these very desirable qualities without affecting the quality of mutton for export is a question of some importance to the flock-masters of the colony. To breed " comebacks " is the quickest and easiest way to get into fine wool, but it is alao thp surest way to injuriously affect the quality of our fieezers. As a sort of compromise halfbred ram a are being very freely used up north, and the demand which has put prices up is almost certain to induce some apprentice hands to attempt the breeding of them. My advice to such would be the much-quoted one of Punch to those- about to marry — "Don't." The experienced breeder will require no such advice, as he will weigh all the pios and cons before entering on an enteiprise of this kind, v. Inch, to bring to a successful issue, needs skill in eye and touch and in intimate knowledge of all the influences which govern the laws of heredity. To breed halfbreds which will, generation aiter generation, reproduce their kind tine to type without again having recourse to either of the original breeds simply means that a new breed has been established. The many difficulties to be surmounted before tint- is accomplished where the merino i» one of the original breeds seem to the ordinary breeder to be almost inseparable, as even by careful selection and heavy culling to start with there is always the possibility of the merino blood breaking out too prominently even after tRe lapse of several generation- It is no doubt a simple rnattei to cull out anvthmg whn'i docs not come up to tho cks-ired .standard of type, but the question is how long is this culling pioc-ca-, likely to be n'ce-sary? It may be argued that a certain amount of culling is neoe-sary pve.ll in purebied flocks m order to keep up the standard of quality. Quite so; but the culls, thought lacking in some points of conformation, still show unmistakably the leading characteristic-, of the brepd they represent, while in tho c-a^e of halfbreds it would be impossible, in some instances, to say wl ether they were first cross, three-quarter-bred, or what i» known as inbred halfbipd-. But though we admit that there are diffi(i.ltiCh 111 the v\ay of c-tablishing on these hiics a fixed type, yet the matter 1- one of Mich importance 111 the interests of flock ovvneia that the man who even attempts it 1- worthy of a mepcl of praise. The Corriedales of Canterbuiy are represented aheing a fully cstabu«hed breed, but they have not yet invaded tho southern portion of tho c-olony, which would suggest that flock nuirteis hero ure not yet convinced of their superior merits So far as the writer can judge-, what is required in Southern Otago 1- a very considerable increase- in the number of sheep jf the halfbred type, of a hauly rou-titution, carrying a good fleece of fine. wool, and when killed hanging up a caica-r of the "meaty" kind in favour by exporter-. To the breeder who can estab-li-h a breed to fulfil tiiese requirements there 1-, a foi tune waiting, a= no pure breed yet tn<*tl can be s-cud to be tin to the ideal for our large tracts of second-class land. The Leicc^tei merino cross closely approaches what we want, and to begin with a Leicester lam (I'ordei for pieftrenc-c), u^-ed on merino euv*-, sulecierl lor their being deep in the carcase, on fchort lt^s, and a specially good fle-eec\ would give us what is admittedly a cooj c ty'e of sheep ; but how to get them tc, brp.-d true to type within themselves 1-, v. c bc'ievo, a prob'om yet unsolved. To make a boginn.r.g on vv!iat is a beaten path would be safer, aid therefore more profitable, than to launch out on unknown vvateis, especially when we have such to follow in tho caoe of th' Border Leicester-Chevkjt cross al TTcme. riic»c hf-ve bred as halfbreds for many fr< nriHfio.is vvti. a dogiee of succor which hr-s lii-t, yij bi 1 o '•'. attended any eirr.fiar experiment <>J 'h« l'u_ # J ; but tjio-jg!i iujiiaed emu on tulftred ewe; {■rodu.fct *.*.-

r.elleni typical shcr-p. yet they cf.inoi h«~ called .-v piire breed, as the rains art 1 a'wuys rhp first crors between th» trro orijrvnat' breeds. Now. v,-hy rot foi loir en tho sair.e lines hero? We have in the merino a. stronger blood ihan in ar.y of the British breed?, so that the making of a perfect solution between it and that of any other breed is really where the difficulty lies. We require, therefore, to keep in check this prepotency o£ the merino as much as is consistent with the object in view, and our contention is that in breeding halfbreds, if we continue to use rams only of the first cross, we are introducing the strongest opposing element to mPrino blood which we can afford to do, and following tho surest course to produce animals showing a similarity in type.