PEDIGREE STUDY IN SHEEPBREEDING.

Otago Witness, Issue 3398, 30 April 1919, Page 9

PEDIGREE STUDY IN SHEEPBREEDING.

In sheep-breeding on purebred lines it is essential to study pedigree just as much as it is with cattle or horses, albeit as in the case of other pedigree stock the flock must not be allowed to suffer through pedigree being carried too. far to the detriment of the more useful attributes of the flock. The keeping of a Flock Book and the entering up of the pedigrees of each individual ewe therein entails a good deal of time and trouble, inasmuch as it means the ear-marking of every lamb almost as soon as it is dropped, and the identification of every single sheep by the earmark before it is entered in the Flock Book. However, there is no doubt that the keeping of individual pedigrees is of great value to the breeder, enabling him to find out at a glance the breeding capabilities of the individual members of the flock. Good shepherds, as a rule, know their sheep, but memory sometimes fails, and there is the assistance of the Flock Book always at hand where one is kept, so that those sheep which fail to breed satisfactorily and true to type can be culled out, and the best breeders retained. There is certainly not enough value placed on the keeping ot sheep pedigrees, too many flockmasters being quite satisfied as long as their sheep breed well and maintain their form and type; but, satisfactory as this may be as far as it" goes those who breed in this haphazard manner have no proper guarantee 1 to give to would-be purchasers as to the descent and purity of breeding of their sheep, whereas when a flockmaster can open his book and show the individual pedigree of each members of his flook for four or five generations, what better guarantee as to purity of blood and careful breeding can be given than that? Foreign and colonial buyers have always been very particular as regards the full pedigrees of any sheep they buy for exportation, which shows that they and the breeders for whom they purohase are fully alive to the value of pedigree in sheepbreeding. They are never satisfied with less than the pedigree of the sire and the dam's sire, and prefer much longer pedigrees than that. Taut those, as a rule, are obtainable only from the most highly bred flocks. As long as constitution and conformation are not allowed to suffer, or size either, breeding can be conducted on much safer lines when pedigree is studied and where pedigrees are properly kept. We by no means always find perfection in the most highly bred animals, but by breeding only from sheep of true descent fixity of type is more assured, and animals of this class ere much more certain to transmit their characteristics to their progeny than those of uncertain or no pedigree at all. The keeping of accurate pedigrees is the orly way to ensure purity of blood and maintain true type in the flock; and in all ihose flocks which are noted for their true type, symmetry, and generally high bred appearance it will be found that pedigrees are, and for years have been, careFully recorded, and animals are never under any oiroumstances put into these flocks whose breeding 1 will not bear the strictest investigation Impressive sires "in sheep, just as m cattle-breeding, are few and far between, but they. can only be sought for in flocks of good and pure descent, where not only form and type have been carefullv studied, but blood and lineage as well. It Is only sheep bred on these lines that can be trusted to beget progeny true to type, and in pedigree sheep-breeding type stands for everything in the wav of cood breeding. The Family Likeness. — • A flock without trueness of type and character is nowhere, and in the most carefully bred flocks every individual sheep appears to have been cast in the same mould. Where this is so—and the writer has in his mind's eye several flocks of great renown where the sheep bear that resemblance to each other—it will be found that individual pedigrees are <parefully recorded. These results are not brought about" by any haphazard methods, hut by skilful mating, coupled with a close study of pedigree. It is this combination which enables the best flocks to carry off all the_ honours of the show yards from time to time, and it is these flocks. that those in search of the best blood must resort to for their sires. There are numbers of flocks, and really good flocks from a commercial point of view, in reality quite purebred, but where pedigrees have neither been kept nor studied, and what do we find as a rule? A general lack of type and character. The sheep which comprise these flocks are often not typical of the breed to which they belong, neither do they possess that family likeness which is to be found in flocks bred on strictly pedigree lines. Anv breeder of a nm-ebred flock should the greatest discrimination in the n of any sheep to put into his flock, and on no account must he disregard pedigree, or how will be know what the antecedents of the sheep aro, and how_ is he to know that he is really purchasing purebred animals? There are plenty of ewes to be seen showing many of the characteristics of one breed which have in reality been sired by a ram of another, and vice versa, so that it is quite possible to be deceived, unless something Is known of the breeding of the flock from which thev come, and it is quite easy to take as granted that some ewes are rmrebred which in reality have a cross In them a generation or two back, and so It comes about that in rmrehnsing ewes to put into a flock as purebred but without any pedigree a breeder nwv be deceived and his stock suffer considerable harm. Studying the Ram Problem,—■

It is very necessary also to study carefully the pedigree of each ram brought into the flock for service to enable the breeder to see whether or not he is too olosely related to the ewes with which he is to be mated, and if he is bred on suoh lines as to be likely to prove a suitable size, and to maintain the type and characteristics of the flock. Even In cross-breeding, now so much In favour, the better bred the sire the more prepotent will he prove, and the more certain to put his stamp on his progen>

In cross-breeding much depends on the rani and his good-breeding, lor the ewei are often of very moderate class, and so long as they tacldo their lambs well tha ram must do the rest. Blood will tell, and good breeding shows itself in a sheep aa much as in any other class of stock, and thq writer has seen old ewes of distinguished lineage carry themselves with the style and grace of a Duchess of Geneva. Well-bred, animals, even when in store condition, always maintain a well-balanced appearance, no feature being either too prominent or too little developed. Although the maintenance of pedigreei to any length may be deemed by some aa quite unnecessary In a sheep, yet it cannot be denied that such pedigreet are • guarantee of pure blood if not of excellence, and it is quite certain that those who do take the trouble to record lie pedigree* of their sheep realise to the full its value as a help and guide to them in their operations.—Live Stock Journal.