Breeding for Profit

Southland Times, Issue 11901, 24 November 1891, Page 4

Breeding for Profit

By \Ovis, 1 inN. Z.

Country Journal. I

At this period of the year, when specimens of moat jof. the best bred stock in the country are on display, a few remarks on the ■abject of breeding, in its bearing upon the Ike production of sheep and wool, will be seasonable. It is one of those questions, with regard to which every country must in a large measure gather its own knowledge, for in no two countries are the conditions which affect the character of the stock quite similar. There are, doubtless, certain laws and principles, which underlie the operations of breeding that are more or less understood, bat it cannot be said that they are yet thoroughly understood, and probably they never will be. With all the spirit of research that characterises the age in which we live, the key to the more subtle operations of nature remains hidden. It is asserted that* like produces like,' which ia a broad and general sense holds true enough ; but every breeder knows that, let him mate his stock >ith what judgment he will, the results are always a matter of uncertainty. Can any breeder or scientific man explain why it is that a racehorse is now and again produced of such surpassing excellence, that other horses of his day cannot be named by the side of him. His pedigree is known to his remotest ancestors, bnt there is nothing in that which explains hi* great comparative excellence, since there are other horses that are equally well bred, bnt by no means so good. The same remarks apply to other •pecies of stock. In more than one wellknown flock of sheep, the special and most desirable traits which it exhibits can be traced in a large degree back to one particular Sire, but why that one animal should ha*« possessed such specially high qualities, together with the power of transmitting them, is a matter that is not so easily explained. It has been well said, that tke rules which guide the breeding of stock have been learned by direct experience, and are to be regarded rather as contributions to science than as deductions from it. In the ordinary sense of the term, a wellbred animal |is one that is true to a certain type, but from the practical standpoint, the best bred animal is that which yields the largest profits under certain conditions. In matters relating to breeding, there isa strong tendency in the direction of utility being lost sight of in the pursuit of features of imaginary excellence, but flights of fancy are bound to be corrected in the Ion? run by the stern requirements of reality. It has been estimated that in the second thirty years of this century, the weight of mutton produced in Great Britain was doubled in proportion to the number of sheep, to great was the progress made in the improvement of the various breeds, This of coursejdoes not mean that the weight of carcase was doubled, the increase of production being larger, if not mainly due to improved fattening qualities. This is a fact well worth the attention of New Zealand sheep breeders. The maintenance and increase of the outpnt of mutton, being now one of the most important questions which lie before them. It is pretty certain, however, that the great estimated increase in the mutton supply of Great Britain daring the thirty years mentioned, was not wholly due to breeding alone. The attention given to the improvement of breeds would naturally go hand in hand with a better supply of food, and according to the old saying, a good deal of breeding goes in at the mouth. This also is a point for the consideration of colonial Btock-owners. In considering the probable and postible expansion of the mutton trade, due attention is very seldom directed to the waste of time and material which goes on continually. A former chairman of the Christchurch Chamber of Commerce once pointed out the enormous waste of mutton which takes place in this land of plenty, due to the want of thrift and economy on the part of consumers. No doubt it is very great indeed, and a natural consequence of cheapness and abundance, though not at all defensible on those grounds; The waste for which producer* are answerable takes a different form. Take for example, a hundred breeding ewes of a breed and character suitable to the land on which they are kept ; feed them well throughout the year, and give them proper attention in every other respect ; then reckon up the return upon the flock at the end of the year Compare with this flock of ewes another flock the same number, not so well adapted to the land, keep them short of feed for perhaps two or three months in the year, perhaps for a longer period, and neglect them more or less in other respect?, and it does not require a very wise or a very experienced man to predict with safety, the market being the sam«*, that the returns from this flock will fall from 25 to 50 per cent, below that of the otber If all the sheep in the country were properly fed and cared for as they should be, the increase of production would be something lurpriiiag. The increment would be felt in the quality of the products as well as in weight and number. As a first step towards the improvement of his flock, * sheep farmer mast see that he has feed in sufficient quantity to support the class of flock he hopes to establish and maintain, otherwise money spent in the purchaie of stock of good quality will be money thrown away. The great majority of the paddock ■beep in New Zealand may be classed as crossbred, and probably a more crossbred lot it would be hard to find in any part of the world. That they produce mutton and wool of fair or good quality is due rmre to the nature of the country than to any effort in the direction of improved breed on the part of a tolerably large proportion of the flockowners. It is not so much that flockowners do not recognise the value of good breeding as the want of su» tained and uniform effort in aDy given direction. The first step in the process of crosK-breeding is utually to cross merino ewes with one or other of the English longwoolled breeds — say, Leicester. The result is an admirable fhe<p,a little slow in coming to maturity, but hardy, healthy, and carrying wool of valuab'e character, with plenty of it if well fed. Unfortunately when once the process of crossing is begun there is no stop* ping or looking back. Halfbred sheep are not of fixed type, and considering the widely differ eat character.of the two breeds of which they are a blend, it is unlikely that any breeder will ever succeed in fixing a type that will embody and sustain the characteristics of the halfbred sheep. With regard to the subsequent crosses, if the same lorg-woolled breed were adhered to all through, the result would be a flock of uniform character more and more nearly approaching the pure English breed, though with variation resulting from the influence of soil and climate. Instead of this being done, however, rams of English Leicester, Border Leicester, Lincoln, and other English breeds are used indifcrimioately, according to the fashion of the time or the particular fancy of the owner. The result is a complete muddle,and in many — if not most — crossbred flocks it is difficult to find any two sheep bearing wool of precisely similar character and quality. It is probable that this muddle of breed tells more against the valoe of the sheep as wool prodncers than as mutton producers, Uniformity in the character of the wool is obviously of importance, for when the same bale contains fleeces of widely different description i as almost every bale of ordinary crossbred wool does, it must tell against the value of the whole for the .'purpose of the manufacturer* The aim of this article is to treat the subject from the point of the ordinary breeder of sheep, rather than from the aspect of the stud breeder. The stud breeder must furnish the rams whatever the class of sheep may be, but the after value of the rams will depend very much^on the uses to which the ordinary breeder puts them. In selecting his breed the sheep owner makes a fatal mistake if be does not give due weight to the nature of the soil and climate. Lincolns, for instance, are bound to degenerate on dry light land, although for the matter of that, any kind of sheep will degenerate anywhere if not sufficiently fed ; but a breed of sheep, the natural habitat of which is damp heavy land, is not likely to thrive on land of precisely the opposite description. This is very elementary teaching in sheep<Jarming, but lodging by what is to be seen in various parts of the country, there is room for tbe sntpicion that a good many fkekowners are wanting in even the elementary knowledge of their bus 1 ' ness. There is no absolutely beet breed of sheep, the value of any breed depending on contingent circumstances. Tke Romney Marsh breed, for instance, now finds little favour in Canterbury, but in partt of Southland, where the climate is wet and the pas. \W§ iicb, it ii highly nloed, 01 lats yews,

owing to the demand for mutton, the fierce ha* lost in value relatively to the cares se. If this continues, as there is every reaion to think that it will, it is probable, indeed it is certain, that the Down breeds, especially the Shropshire Downs, will grow in favour. Every breed of sheep is capable of assuming a variety of types.the varieties being brought about by selection acting in conjunction with climatic and other influences. In no other breed is this so clearly exemplified as in the merino, and no other breed lives and thrives under so wide a range of latitude, altitude, •od climate. This tendency to variation of types, common in a greater or lesser degree to the Sngliah breeds as well as to the merino might be turned to good account in ordinary breeding if more attention were given to it. On every farm where a permanent flock has been kept for [a number of years, the rams alone being obtained from outside soarces,the flock gradually assumes so distinctive a type that the owner,if he has a good eye for sheep, can 'spot' one of his own sheep with tolerable certainty among another flock j of the [same breed without reference to brand. By watching this tendency to variation and aiding it by selection, it is probable that a good deal might be 'done in the way of [establishing a flock specially salted to the natural conditions of the locality. What is true in this respect of a farm or locality is in some measure applicable to the whole country. Modification of the types arising from natnral causes is slowly going on, and in some purebred flocks is already very noticeable; and unless frequent recourse is had to the Home flock? — a measure by no means necessarily beneficial — a marked variety of type is certain to be the outcome. The e&isteice of a demand almost invariably leads to a «upply in the long run. The demand of the New Zealand sheep farmer is for a class of sheep of which English breeders have no knowledge; that if, for a sheep combining in a measure the dense fleece of the merino, with the tendency to early maturity, as well ai the fattening qualities of some of the English breeds, Possibly our sheepfarmers demand an impostibiHty, as it seems to be a law of nature that perfection of carcase is only to be obtained by the sacrifice of tbe fleece. Sheep-breed ins: in New Zealand has not got mnch beyond its infancy, althongb the efforts already made in that direction are by no means to be despised ; but the country is so essentially a sheep country, the natural conditions of it so favourable for the production of wool and mutton, and the value of the pastoral industry so great, that it will be strange if we do not produce sheep breeders of more than common original capacity It is to be feared j however, that there is one influence at work which will have the effect of deteriorating the character of the sheep atock of the country in ?pite of all that may be done in the way of bigb-class breeding. Daring the past two or three years such numbers of ewe lambs and maiden ewes have been consigned to the freezing chamber that it seems scarcely possible for the breeding flocks to have escaped injury. Tempted by the offer of good immediate returns, the best of onr breeding stock have beensacrificed wholesale; and if the same process continue! it will be remarkable if the result does not become apparent in the quality of the general sheep stock of the country. The position of the country at present is that of a man who annually fattess off a proportion of hi* best ewes for mutton and breeds from the culls.