QUALITY OF FLOCKS.

Southland Times, Issue 19123, 15 December 1923, Page 10 (Supplement)

QUALITY OF FLOCKS.

CAUSES OF DETERIORATION. OFFICIAL EXPERT’S ADVICE. Much has been said recently concerning the deterioration of the New Zealand flocks as regards quality of wool and fat lambs. Not all of the criticism may be disinterested, but some of it is perfectly true. With the object of placing before farmers what they should avoid in this respect, a statement has been obtained from Mr J. G. Cook, wool expert to the Department of Agriculture. “it is quite true that there is some deterioration going on,” said Mr Cook, “it is not so much as our rivals would like to see, but enough to sow the seeds of trouble, unless it is checked.” If some farmers went on breeding, he said, as carelessly as they had been doing, it would take them years to bring their flocks up to the standard that was required of New Zealand produce. “I keep this as an awful example of the result of the continued rise of inferior rams, and the continued breeding from ewes that should have no place in the flock,” Mr Cook said, producing some wool over a foot in length, the last five inches of which were not wool, but hair, absolutely straight in fibre, harsh to the touch, and dry white in coiour. This wool even where it was fairly greasy near the skin, had little elasticity. Inis is not the result of using old rams so much as using the wrong kind of ram altogether. Young rams arc to be pre.erred, because they are keen, but a good ram need not be discarded because he is no longer young. He should be mated with fewer ewes, when the results will be quite satisfactory, but there is no economy in inferior rams. , lhe quality of the ram spread through the flock more rapidly than that of the ewe, and the employment of good rams should be the first step in improving the flock. How many farmers wait till the end of the ram fair to pick up the cheapest scrubs they can, regardless of the fact that the few shillings saved in this way are lost a hundred times over in the clip, and in the works. Breed only from the best lambs.’’ As regards a farmer who caters solely for the fat lamb trade, Mr Cook continued, there was always an excuse for him selling everything when ,it was ready or had answered the purpose for which it was bought, but there were a large number of farmers who always bad sheep. These men sold the best and well-conditioned lambs either for local or export trade', and among these lines there were the best ewe lambs. Therefore the farmer was only keeping the backward and inferior lambs. He bred from the ewe lambs left on his hands, and ’it was no surprise to find in a short period that- the flock was going back in size, developing weak constitution, wrong conformation and unevenness of quality of wool, any of which was detrimental to the farmers’ interest.

RESULTS OF TOP-DRESSING. A marked increase in the cultivation of hay has been noticeable in Southland during the recent season, and farmers are finding it profitable winter fodder. The decrease in cropping no doubt accounts for some of the increase, there being less straw to feed to animals wintering on turnips. Without good pastures payable crops of hay cannot be obtained, and those farmers who contemplate providing hay in lieu of straw for winter fodder would do well to treat their pastures to a top-dressing late in the winter or early in the spring. The North Island farmer has found out the advantages of top-dressing pastures, and on almost every farm a liberal top-dressing of suitable manures is applied in the late winter. In Southland the farmer goes in for short rotation pastures and does little top-dressing, only an occasional man going in for it. Many contend that, it is not profitable to fertilise pastures, but all records have proved otherwise. One of the most recent of these was obtained by Messrs H. North and Sons, Rosevale Friesian Stud Farm, Omimi. The test was carried out over three plots of one acre each, the plots being treated as follows: No. I—No manure, check plot. No. 2—Basic super 2 cwt. per acre, applied in the late winter. No. 3 —Basic super 2 cwt, applied in late winter, also 1 cwt of nitrate of soda, applied in the early spring, just when the young grass commenced to shoot. When the plots were cut the following yields of dry meadow hay were obtained:— E. C. Q. Increase. Plot I—3 13 56 Plot 2—4 10 84 23.5 per cent. Plot 3—5 12 40 52.8 per cent. The plot receiving phosphates alone gave an increase of 17 cwt 28 lbs per acre; while the plot, which received the nitrate of soda in addition, gave an increase of 1 ton 18cwt 96 lbs per acre. These results were obtained under ordinary farm conditions, and prove conclusively that it pays to top-dress pasture. Even an application of lime without any other manure will assist to rejuvenate old pasture. In instances where lime has been applied the clover has come away vigorously where it had apparently died out.' Every year Southland farmers depend more and more on their pastures and the only way to keep the grasses young and vigorous is to top-dress systematically, and take hay crops off before the growth gets too rank. The returns from top-dressing have always been favourable and it is surprising that so many farmers ignore this method of treating pastures.