Women Sheep Breeders

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18763, 20 July 1935, Page 10

Women Sheep Breeders

T HJ •1 women of . Australia are now i taking a practical interest in j every phase of the wool industry—which has played and is playing a vital part iu the development of the country. They began by '.supporting “use-more-wool” campaigns; members of the Country Women’s Association have suggested that women might employ their time profitably in the home with hand looms; and now women are breeding sheep and' exhibiting them at shows.

Women breeders were represented at the .Sheep Show last month. They ire piouoers in this field, but they are onfident that .sheepbreeding is a suitible occupation for women, and that, is tin l years go by, their numbers wii: increase.

A young woman and a middle-aged man stood talking by one of the pens at the Sheep Show. They discussed tin.merits of various types of sheep and methods of breeding, for the young woman was a breeder wita three years’ experience, while the man had spent his life at the job. When the young woman was called away from the discussion, the man commented: “Amazing! Amazing! She is a youngster, yet she knows ai most as much about it as 1 do. Ami, mark you, she has definite opinions o. her own formed from three years’ experience. ” One well-known breeder (a man) said that the women of Australia wore gradually becoming wool conscious. Although, in the past, the basis of the industry—the breeding of sheep—had been in the hands of man, women and children were the greatest consumers of woollen products. “Speaking as a breeder of many years’ experience, 1 welcome women tutu the field of sheepbroeders, ’ ’ he idded. “They are few in number yet, but they will increase. They wui succeed if they have patience, an unbending optimism, and skill. The life is a healthy one and not very dilii cult if there is someone to do the heavier tasks. If we have more women breeders, it stands to reason that more women will recognise the importance of the industry.’’