VETERINARIAN’S GREAT WORK IN PERU.

Otago Witness, Issue 3595, 6 February 1923, Page 12

VETERINARIAN’S GREAT WORK IN PERU.

PRODUCTION OF FINE WOOL. In November last Colonel R. J. Stordy, C.8.E., D. 8.0., who has' had a long and varied career as a scientist, lectured in the Royal (Dick) Veterinary College, Edinburgh, on Peru’s “Potentialities as a Wool and Hair Producing Country.” Colonel Stordy at the outset (says the North British Agriculturist) referred to his Alma Mater, the Royal (Dick) Veterinary College, and said that if the public appreciated what it owed to the veterinarian in this country he felt sure there would be no lack of funds for the equipment of that splendid building—equipment necessary for the proper training of these on whom must depend in a great measure the walfare of their live stock industry. It was to the British Isles that stock-owners came from every quarter of the globe to obtain the robust, pure-blooded stud animals for which this country was just famous, and to maintain their flocks and herds at the highest standard the services of the veterinary surgeon were essential. Surely, if this were more fully appreciated, ihere would be no shortage of financial support for the teaching of veterinary science in the world-famed academic centre of Edinburgh. Sheep Fanning in the Andes.— Giving an account of his visit to Peru in 1919, the lecturer said that a sojourn of six months in the Republic enabled him to state that the stock industry of Peru, if developed along sound and progressive lines, should prove to be ihe principal industry of the southern portion of the Republic. Peru, some 532,000 square miles in extent, was nine times the size of England and Wales, 17 times the extent of Scotland, and nearly four and a-half times the size of the British Isles. Rain seldom fell, and it was because of this phenomenon that the guano deposits on the islands off the coast of Peru remained so valuable, for, were it to rain, the rich ammonias and nitrous constituents of this world-famed fertiliser would be washed away. It was with a view to studying the many problems pertaining to sheep farming in those high places of the earth’s surface that he had made a visit to a farm at a height of 14,000 feet, and he felt not only well repaid for any inconvenience caused him by the rarefied atmosphere, but edified and encouraged from an inspection of the work which had been accomplished by the manager, Mr Mackenzie, and his brother Scotsmen in that far-off portion of the Andean Cordillera. First Importations from Europe.— 4 In pre-Hispanic days the Incas knew* not of horse, mule, ox, nor sheep, and it was not until 1532 that importation of the domestic animals of Europe was made by the Spanish. From then until now fresh strains of blood had been introduced at such .rare intervals that the once pureblooded Spanish merino sheep presented a woefully degenerate picture—so degenerate that the live weight of a full-mouthed sheep, a sheep four years old, turned the scale at 40!b to 501 b, produced a fleece of 11b to 21b, and yielded a dressed carcase averaging 251 bin weight. With ease the Indian flockmaster slings a sheep oil his back to transport it from place to place. It would be a matter of some surprise to him were he called upon to carry some of our early laqjbs to the sale yards at Gorgie. Generally speaking, the climatic conditions of the regions were prinia facie favourable to the breeding of sheep, as was evident from the fact that sheep had existed there since the middle of the sixteenth century, and to-day there were approximately 6,0C0,G00 head in the Puno Department of Southern Peru, grazing over continents of land which cculd maintain a much greater number, as there was no fear of drought. Again, there was a plentiful supply of native labour. In his opinion, the Peruvian Indian was one of the Repulic’s greatest assets, and when properly looked after exhibited a real appreciation of just and humane treatment. He was intelligent, and was the first native with whom he had come in contact who knew the value of a straight line or used a square with skill and accuracy. With handshears the Indian was rapidly becoming expert, and the best of their workmen could shear some 60 sheep in a day. As their pay was 80 cents per day—i.e.. more cr less Is 6d —it would be readily acknowledged that mechanical shearing as an economic factor was not likely to bo adopted tn Southern Peru for some time to come. A Scottish Crossing Experiment.— The merino sheep of Peru, reared at great elevations, under every condition of climate, fed on a none too abundant pasturage, and without receiving a particle of artificial food, were, though small, robust and hardy, and as they produced a very fine wool, experts in this country had turned their attention to ihe possibilities of mating this mountain breed of merino with the coarser fleeced sheep drawn from the bleak uplands of Scotland and England, in an endeavour to develop a finer fibred wool, at the same time retaining that natural robustness, which had been an outstanding characteristic in our mountain breeds for ages past. Southdowns for Model Farm.— The records of bis preliminary survey having been laid before the Government of Peru he was commissioned in 1920 to establish a model farm in the Peruvian Sierra, to demonstrate in .practical form what results could be obtained under modern methods of sheep, farming. In August, 1920, Colonel Stordy returned to England, and tn February, 1921, a shipload of stud animals sailed for Peru under the care of Captain W. W. Henderson, M.R.C.V.S., and a number of Scottish shepherds. The stud sheep included representative rams of the Southdown. Hampshire. Suffolk, and Shropshire breed’s; four Soay rams obtained through the kind offices xtf Professor Cossar Ewart, of Edinburgh University; and the. National Stud Fold of France supplied five rams of the famous Rambouillets train. Of the 152 sheen taken out to Peru, 38 had been lost, to ili" present date. The deaths had been due to fighting, accidents, pneumonia, and sturdy but gastro-intestinal trouble was the most frequent cause of ..the mortality. On the. credit side they had some 2000 crossbred lambs running on the farm tevday, and bv the end of the year they anticipated a further 1200 lamb-s—a fair record, Colonel Sturdy thought, for 19 months’ work. Of the various classes of rams taken to Peru, the Southdowns had proved themselves the superior. Their compact frames and short legs made them indubitably the ideal sheep for the Peruvian Sierra. They possessed a remarkable capacity for always looking well, never lost condition, and in fact kept fat even during the winter months, when the grazing was scanty and poor.

Peru, for the present at any rate, could not hope to compete in the mutton marts of (he world, and as the demand for frozen meat grew annually greater sheep farmers had been encouraged lo cross their finefleeced merinos wilh the carcase-producing English breeds, resulting in crossbred wool which, while eminently useful, had to a great extent lost its fineness and soft handle. Thus the quantity of line wool grew less and less year by year. Conditions for Wool Production.— Ihe conditions obtained on the Andean tablelands were emiently suited for the production of fine wool; Ihe pasture lands were free from burrs, grass seeds, and other vegetable impurities which militated against sheep farmers in other parts of the world, and which necessitated the application of the expensive carbonising process, with its attendant deleterious effects. The sheep farmer in Peru had at hand an economic method of dealing with his discarded coloured anil useless animals by turning them into what is locally known as “chalona,’ a variety of dried meat similar to South African biltong, but which demands two conditions fer its preparation—sun by day and fro9t by night. . High Tribute to Scottish Shepherds.— Colonel Stordy referred to his high appreciation of the excellent services rendered him by the Scottish shepherds, xf'ey were, he said, doing splendid spade work for the sheep industry of Peru, and while life on the “roof of the world” is healthy and invigorating, there were times when its solitude, its remoteness from the busy world, and even the great immensity of its wonderful tablelands, made life monotonous and dull. Peru, the speaker said, having only some 5,005,(XX) inhabitants throughout the length and braedth of her vast realm, required a working population, but it was for the capitalist to < reate conditions under which colonisation could become possible. The Governments of South America Republics held no great reputation for stability, but even the deposing of a President and the setting up of a new Government was a small matter in comparison with the commotion created by such an event as our own general election, and it was only right, to say that, no matter what the political crisis might be, such a crisis did not in any way jeopardise private enterprise and investment.