GREAT INTEREST AROUSED

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18587, 22 December 1934, Page 6

GREAT INTEREST AROUSED

DORSET HORN SHEEP

GISBORNE IMPORTATION

Great interest has been aroused regarding the importation of Dorset Horn sheep by Mr. C. C. Laver, Ngatapa. The 38 ewes and the single rani arrived at their new homo in excellent order, and the owner is very pleased with them.

Discussing his purchase with a pressman, Mr. Laver said that the sheep had a very rough trip from Adelaide. The voyage took 9£ days, and the decks were awash for six days. The sheep were quite secure, however. They were boarded up under cover on deck, and were given the utmost care and attention.

When the sheep were landed on the Napier' wharf, they were the centre of attraction by a small crowd of sheepfarmers, about) 30 or 40 of whom came in specially to view the Dorset Horns, for these were the first to be imported to the North Island, and so far as is known the first stud Dorset Horns to come to New Zealand. The Hawke’s Bay men, said Mr. Laver, were impressed with the close typo of wool, very; much after the same type as Southdowns, and also with the broad shoulders and rump and with the well-ribbed nature of the sheep. So greatly were they interested that one man prdfessed his intention of making a purchase lor himself. Clisborne district and Hawke’s Bay conditions should be little short of ideal for the Dorset Horns, Mr. Laver said. His new sheep had proved to be a bigger boned sheep than what were to be found anywhere in the Bay nt present. The ram, which was just nine months old, was now bigger than an ordinary mature Southdown, and when he attained the age of 18 montli3 lie should he a great beast, the owner added.

The conditions here were ns near those of the original home of the sheep that it was possible to get. Dorsetshire had ; ono of the best climates in England, biit. the Dorset Horn was a very hardy sheep. It was reported to be doing well in Scotland, where the climate was almost opposite for that of the breed’s original home. It was also claimed for the Dorset Horn that it was the only breed of sheep the characteristics of which had not been altered by crossing. The breed had been improved solely by a Erocess of selection of the best, and its istory dated back many hundreds of years.