FERTILITY IN SHEEP

Otago Witness, Issue 2842, 2 September 1908, Page 6

FERTILITY IN SHEEP

A good many farmers disapprove of the old adage about breeding from twins, holding the opinion that one lamb is as many as a ewe can rear well ; but the yearlyincreasing necessity to obtain a greater ;

' return from their land will compel them T to change their practice. The production of twins is not a matter of chance : it is a well-established law of heredity. Sheepbreeders who have reserved the strongest of their lambs, ram and e\re, for breeding purposes, disregarding this point, have found their percentage " of lambs dwindle until it has fallen below par (there are few flocks without a greater or less numi ber of barren ewes). On the other hand, certain English flock-masters who have made a practice of selecting for their breeding flocks sheep which were twins have thereby cultivated the prolific quality to such a degree that they have a regular ; lambing of 200 per cent., and their lambs and adult sheep- are as profitable as those which were "singles." This fecundity haa been most successfully developed in. some of the Down breeds or varieties, and has no doubt assisted in a great measure to gain them the great popularity as profitearners which they enjoy amongst sheepfarmers. Along with the proclivity^ for "twinning," there has been also developed the ability of tlie ewe to rear her twins we ll__to convett the food which is provided for her into abundant milk for her . lambs. The fanner, too, has acted his part in the scheme of evolution, by dis- , covering and cultivating the crops which i will "be of the greatest value to his ewes 1 and lambs. , In a word, the system of sheep -breeding and sheep-farming has in regard to several breeds 'made a great adJ vance in the direction *of larger returns,. i and there is evidence that owners of flocks of some of the breeds are aiming at the same object. Border Leicester breeders, it is pleasing to know, are included in the latter category, and ' an instance that the quality of this most useful breed is nofr suffering from the pro- , cess is found in the 280-guinea ram which , Mr Thomas -Little, of Ngapaisa, bought in Scotland a year ago, and it* twin- brother, i which also came to New Zealand, after winning the highest honours at Home. The present owners ol these sheep deserve to reap equal success with the breeders, and with the extending use of the Border ' Leicester in farm flocks there may grow up a more prolific race of sheep than is at present general. On hill country, how- , ever, at present, one lamb is as many as | a swe can do justice to, the feed in such situations being as a rule somewhat sparse-; J but improvement of hill pastures is one of the most important point* in the development of the pastoral resources of the I Dominion, and as it is attained so can ' the fertility of the flocks be increased. i