LAWS OF BREEDING.

Otago Witness, Issue 3861, 13 March 1928, Page 12

LAWS OF BREEDING.

The relatively high price of sheep and the demand for fat lambs and small mutton during recent years has no doubt awakened wider interest than formerly, and the general tendency appears to be to fatten sheep earlier than hitherto, and before they have made their full growth. Consumers have indicated their requirements, and it pays producers to give heed to the demand or risk disillusionment. It is no use breeding stock for which the demand is slow or not wanted by the public. The results of breeding are somewhat uncertain. In most cases like produces like, but sometimes like produces unlike, and the characters of some ancestors may crop up with unexpected intensity in a given animal. Fortunately, the reasonable certainty that like produces like permits of the breeder venturing his money with some confidence in accredited males. “Like father like son.” Breed from the best if you expect to breed up and not down. In selecting a sire prepotency is of . first importance. Prepotency is the ability to put into the progeny the desired qualities present in the sire or in his ancestors. In looking for prepotency in a bull to lead a dairy herd, for instance, one should learn something of his immediate ancestors as well as depending a good deal upon the individuality of the animal itself. If his dam were a good milker, and if his granddams good milkers, and his four great-granddams of superior merit, it is wise to consider his merits seriously. In the selection of a ram it is possible to judge the animal’s masculinity, his coat or wool covering, and his general build, etc., but it is still more helpful to the buyer if he knows that the breeder of .the rani in question is a masterhand in the stud-breeding business, and culls ruthlessly each year in order to furnish a sheep typical of the breed. It is not enough to secure a prepotent male animal, however; he must be fed according to the work required. There is a close affinity between the digestive and generative systems; any functional disturbances in the digestive tract will be registered by decreased breeding powers. The generative system depends to a great extent upon the nutrition of the animal, and just as fattening requires specialised feeding, so feeding for increased potency requires specialisation. The food needs of the generative system are nitrogenous in type, in contradistinction to the carbonaceous foods, which tend towards the laying-on of body fat, .which is recognised by all farmers as adverse to breeding powers. Although we would not say “definitely that the ram should be fed differently to the Ijrtieding ewes, in the ordinary course it is reasonable to suggest that the male animal should be fed something different prior to the tupping season for the best results. The wise sheep owner stimulates the breeding impulse of his ewes by judicious feeding, and flushes the ewes by turning them on to some leguminous green crop or rape, and if stud sheep, may well consider fjirther measures calculated to tone up the system. A measure of feeding preparation will undoubtedly increase the working powers of rams, and w'hv not, therefore, key them up for the work ahead, and do one’s best to ensure 100 per cent, fertility in the breeding flocks. a here is no doubt that the wonderfully high lambing percentages recorded by the British breeds of sheep under their native conditions are due in a great measure to this practice of flushing. As we have pointed out, the feeding of too much starchy foodstuffs is inimL cal tb potency in the ram and fertility in the ewes. The feed in addition to the ordinary pasture should be low in carbohydrates and rich in proteins in the proportion of,' say, 5 to 1, that is to say, the nutritive ratio should be narrow. The characteristics of the ideal ration for stimulating breeding powers are, says an authority, as follows: 'The ration should first of all be rich in protein and necesarily low in carbonaceous material. The ration should be laxative and regulating in character, a matter which can be readily observed. The mineral requirements of the ration can be met by providing salt or mineral “licks.” Here is a suggested daily ration combining all requirements: Lucerne hay, approximately 41b; crushed oats, 4oz;

bran, 2oz; linseed sheep nuts, 4oz. The ewes would not require speeding-up in ordinary conditions in New Zealand other than on the lines indicated. The feeding period for rams might extend for, say, four weeks, and for ewes half this period; indeed, breeding ewes in fair condition should not require much in addition to good mixed leguminous herbage in order to promote the breeding stimulus. If rams are fed some concentiated foodstuffs daily, it is possible, though perhaps not the height of wisdom, to use a smaller number of rams per 100 ewes than is customary. One breeder, we understand, by feeding a valuable ram generously and wisely, was able to use him so freely that he sired some 300 lambs, and maintained Ins condition. To-day we require to increase our lambing percentages, and one pioved method is to feed sheep prior to the mating in a manner calculated to stimulate procreation.