RUSSIAN SHEEP BUYERS

Southland Times, Issue 23180, 22 April 1937, Page 6

RUSSIAN SHEEP BUYERS

Visit To Southland PURCHASE OF N.Z. STUD RAMS PROBABLE Four of the Russian sheep buyers who are travelling through New Zealand inspecting stud flocks to ascertain the suitability of Dominion sheep for their purposes arrived in Invercargill yesterday. They are Messieurs J. Mayoroff, Velokovsky, Gnedash . and Owsipov. The head of the commission is M. Mayoroff, who has spent several years in England, where last year he was responsible for the world’s largest stud sheep deal. In an interview last night with The Southland Times, M. Mayoroff said that the commission represented Rasko Import, the only organization in the Soviet Union authorized to import livestock. Last year the organization had purchased 6000 stud animals in various countries. Although 2000 Merinos had been bought from Australia in 1929, this was the first occasion Rasko Import had turned its attention to New Zealand. The immediate object of the commission, said M. Mayoroff, was to gain a thorough knowledge of the Dominion’s flocks before concluding purchases, the extent and value of which would depend entirely on the result of these investigations. Dual Purpose Sheep “We shall buy a lot or buy none.” he remarked. “It depends on whether your sheep are suitable for our country and also on the prices we are asked to pay. Our aim is to secure dual-purpose sheep of equal utility for meat or wool. Apparently sheep in this country differ somewhat from the English types, with which we are familiar, and that may compel us to select differently from what we expected. Above all, we are anxious to secure rams of proved health and stamina.” M. Mayoroff said that if the commission’s purchases were, sufficiently extensive, a special ship might be chartered to convey the sheep to Russia, where they would be distributed through European Russia, the .Caucasus, the Ukraine and Asiatic Russia. The delegation includes veterinary surgeons, and any animals selected will be subjected to a rigorous test before purchase. The visit to the Dominion by the Russian sheep buyers may result in extensive purchases of New Zealaind stud rams for export to Russia.