LINCOLNS AND THEIR WOOL.

Otago Witness, Issue 3102, 27 August 1913, Page 18

LINCOLNS AND THEIR WOOL.

FROM THE NEW ZEALAND - BREEDER’S STANDPOINT. Mr B. Sefh-Smith writes to the Pastoral Review : Thu remarks made by Mr S. B. Holli ngs in the March issue of the Pastoral Review on Lincoln sheep and wool are so interesting, and, as the subject is dealt with from a general producer’s standpoint, it may be well to consider it from a New Zealand breeder’s point of view. No one deprecates more than I do the fact that there has been such a falling-off in the numbers of purebred Lincolns in New Zealand; but of course there are reasons for this which cannot be overlooked. They arc to some extent as follow: (a) The steady increase in price of the fat lamb and the huge expansion of the industry through the opening up of new markets. (b) The unaccountable weakness of young Lincoln lambs when just dropped. (c) The supposed delicacy of the hoggets compared with the Leicester, Shropshire, Romney, and Southdown breeds (though personally on by country I have not found this to be the case). (cl) The steady high and increasing prices of the fine-wools. (e) The low prices obtained for Lincoln rams for a number of years. (f) The fact that the Lincoln, to do him well, keep h : s fleece from felt-big, and maintain length and lustre, must have heavy country to run on. unless a good deal of forethought is exorcised in providing a succession of green winter and spring fodders, in which case he will do well on the medium country. (g) The expansion of the dairying industry is fast absorbing all our Canterbury arid Otago heavy lambs, and driving the sheep to the hills. It has been repeatedly stated by farmers (who probably have never owned a L ncoln) that the breed “cats as much as a cow.” What could bo more natural than that a sheep which is the brgest of all British breeds, and carries the heaviest fleece, should be somewhat a gross feeder? But what, again, more natural than that the said sheep should produce more woo! and mutton than _ almost any other breed to make up for the extra he consumes? In the past 10 years I have more than once averaged from my stud owe hoggets 191 b of skirted wool, with length varying from 12in to 17in. Meet of these ewes had only 14 mcntlia’ growth. The wool fetched 9ld per Jb, or equal to 13s net per fleece. The feeding was entirely free from artificials, the sheep being run all the winter at the rate of one to two acres on Dun oats sown late in April. The ram. hoggets in 1908 averaged 221 b under the same treatment, but they received a little sheaf chaff and bran to help bone development. Recently I received from a North Island breeder li sample of Lincoln hogget wool 19in long, showing wonderful lustre and strength of staple. This wool was from a double-fleecer (but was not two years’ growth), which had only run on ordinary pastures. Such ,a fleece would, I am sure, weigh no less than 24!b unskirted (provided the points had not been badly rubbed in scrub country), and its value would be quite 3s per lb in America. As Mr lloliings so emphatically corroborates Mr Jackson’s statements/ as to Mr Levussove’s unlimited demand for the 20in article, let us consider how such wool can be most easily obtained bv the breeder without upsetting his fat-lamb breeding. Presuming that a Lincoln hogget fleece such as the one described above weighed 18ib after skirting, and it fetched 3s per lb net, or 54s per sheep, breeders would, I

think, agree that the little, extra trouble and expense detailed below would be worth The market is undoubtedly established, and all that is now required is the suitable article, and the jfricc will rise as the quality improves under experience. BREEDING. In many districts, provided the farmer would take the trouble, it would not bo difficult to adopt the English system or lambing very early (say in July, provided the ewes would take the ram), have a plentiful succession of green foods and pitted mangolds (the best of all foods tor milk), to keep the e've and lamb going W* the second week in September, ,or till the natural spring pasture is good enough .o prevent any possible check through a dry or cold spell of weather. It should hardly he necessary to reiterate the fact that lambs for longwool production must bo kept going from the day they are dropped to develop robust constitution and sound longwool. Special care must be exercised after weaning in seeing that the lambs .are not left too long on one sort of green feed, rape, etc. Small paddocks and much forethought are necessary to ensure a good succession and variety of food, and I would recommend that mustard be sown with every class of feed, except perhaps on sweet ■ limestone land. SHEARING. By shearing these Lambs in the following January twelve-months, 17 to 18 months’ growth would be obtained, and quite the 17in desired by Mr Levussove’s factory. At shearing all short-stapled ewes-would be culled out, and placed in the main flock for the purpose of Lincoln merino halfbred lamb-rearing or to mate with a Shropshire or Southdown for fat Lambs. The remainder of the selected ewes would bo of no use again for Icngwqol production, but would be added each year to what might be termed the “long staple” flock. SPECIAL POINTS. There arc a few points specially worthy of notice during the growing of longwool: (a) It will be. found of inestimable value to cover the back of each hogget with a pie>ce of calico canvas (about 2ft bin wide soaked in either hog lard or mutton fat, “PW- Three to five inches on each side should be turned in before sewing on the cover to provide for growth of sheen, and the cover should be removed every two months. To preserve the lustre of the back wool, the cover must bo sewn all the way round, and not tacked at the corne'rs only. It may scorn quite useless to urge special forethought in providing green fodders in succession for midsummer, but I have proved that in hot, dry summers when feed is scarce Lincoln wool suffers very much, and I would urge the use of from £!b to Hb of linseed oako per day, given in the early morning, together with a little sheaf chaff (to encourage them to cat it). The hoggets would probably have to be penned for a couple of hours for the first three weeks. The best way to got lambs to take to cake is to give it to the ewes as soon as the lambs are eating grass freely. There is no question but that the Lincoln wools grown in West Victoria and in a few districts of New Zealand arc very lustrous on the native pasturage, but whore those natural advantages are not a feature of the neighbourhood much could be done by selection of only lustrcus-woollcd owes at the inception of a flock, and by the judicious use of artificial feeding, especially linseed cake. It is a thousand pities that this valuable food (which improves the land so much as well as the stock) is so dear in New Zealand. * The ‘.‘Waterloo” cake, which is almost as valuable as linseed as a fodder, can bo bought in Hull at between £6 and £7 per ton, and could probably bo extensively used here at £9 per ton. The late Mr Henry Dudding and Messrs Deans and Howard, all largo Lincolnshire breeders, use it extensively, and the quality and size of their sheen is sufficient guarantee of its excellence for the purpose named. Mr Jackson, of the School of Minos, Adelaide. is endeavouring to assist Lincoln breeders to increase their incomes by soliciting samples of Lincoln longwool from breeders throughout Australia and Tasmania. Th's he grades, packs, chips to America, and reports on free of eost. The objection may be raised that, as there is apparently only one outlet for the production in America, the article would soon bo grown in sufficient quantities to glut the market. Mr Levussovo ernrhaticallv states that there is no risk of this, as he could enormously increase his manufactures were sufficient quantities of the 17'u to 24in staple procurable. From what both he and Mr TTollings point out. there is no doubt that verv fancy prices will ly* given for the suitable stuff. If long mohair ic worth about 8s per lb. what, is to prevent lopg lustrous Lincoln wool from fetching at least half or more of that figure net to graziers as time goes on? In conclusion, let me exprrss the hope that this matter will bo further discussed in your columns.