WOOL IMPROVEMENT

Taranaki Daily News, 13 November 1934, Page 12

WOOL IMPROVEMENT

DISCUSSION AT FORDELL TALK BY PROFESSOR PEREN. VOLUNTARY SCHEME . SUGGESTED. More business in sheep breeding was advocated at a meeting of farmers at Fordell last week, when a voluntary wool improvement scheme, as suggested by Mr. W. J. Tripe, was discussed. Mr. A. P. Melville presided, and addresses were given by Mr. Tripe, Professor G. S. Peren, Mr. R. Waters and Dr. Oliver. There was a large attendance of farmers, states the Wanganui Chronicle. Mr. Tripe referred to the necessity of improving New Zealand wool in the face of competition from other materials and also in view of the deterioration of New Zealand wool in recent years. A prominent buyer had told him that New Zealand’s wool was not improving, but on the other hand was deteriorating. The wool trade reqtiired wool and not hair, which the Dominion was showing a tendency to produce. Not only was there hairiness in the fleece, but also unevenness. Many investigations had been carried out by the Massey Agricultural College, and it had been proved that the tendency to grow either pure wool or hair was hereditary at base while diet and general health of the sheep also played a smaller part. The Benzol test had been evolved to estimate the exact percentage of hairiness in the fleece. What were the farmers going to do about the position? asked Mr. Tripe. Were they prepared to carry on as at present, or were they going to make Attempts to improve their wool? OF PRACTICAL VALUE. Professor Peren referred to the instances in which the Benzol test had been proved to be of practical value, and said that several had approached the college to carry out tests, and the point had been reached where it had some 2500 stud sheep for testing. He pointed out the value of the systematic testing, and said that it had been found that, where ewes of good standing had been mated with rants of low standard wool, the wool of the progeny had invariably dropped below that of the ewe in question. With, the aid of the test, however, and the systematic recording of the results obtained, hairiness could undoubtedly be eliminated in the course of time without loss of body conformation or constitution. Professor Peren pointed but the undesirable features of hairy wool from the manufacturer’s point oi view, and said that if farmers wished to obtain a good price for their crossbreds, whether strong, medium or fine, the Sheep should be as free of medullated fibres as possible. New Zealand’s customers had been drumming this into them for Some considerable time. He suggested that, as a matter of common business, it would be wise to listen to the people who were buying the wool. He referred to the method of testing and said that the price charged by the college for testing was Is for six samples or £5 per 100 sheep. VALUE OF TESTING. The walue of testing a whole flock lay in the fact that it enabled A breeder to know exactly what he was working with. It was true that he had to study constitution and conformation, but the testing eliminated guess wdrk and enabled him to arrange his matings so that as time went on he could .steadily decrease the percentage of hairiness. Professor Peren also stressed the fact that the college did not advocate fine wool but good wool, whatever the count. Dr. Oliver referred to the value of uniformity in the fleece, afid said that it had been found in Scotland that New Zealand fleeces were too variable. In one consignment he had found variations from 64’s to 48’s. It required a good deal of sorting, and the Scottish manufacturers did not use it for their trade. New Zealand wool, he continued, had deteriorated in since the war, and it was not as good as in pre-war days in that respect. He drew attention to the fact that many years ago Australian wool had always been placed ahead of South African. The Boers, however, had taken advice froffi Huddersfield people, had imported rams from Australia, and, to-day, South African wool had improved out of all recognition. If Scotland wanted fine wool today it did not look to Australia but to South Africa. Mr. Waters outlined the methods used in connection with the Benzol test, and referred to diagrams to illustrate his remarks. BRITAIN’S ATTITUDE. Mr. H. C. Jenkins, who was asked to speak by Mr. Melville, referred to the fact that the British Government, In terms of the Ottawa Conference, was prepared to place a limitation on New Zealand meat. There was every indication that the market for ewe mutton might be considerably reduced, so that the matter of improving the Dominion’s wool clip in order that the farmers’ returns should not drop was one of urgency. Any scheme that could assist in giving a better wool which would be more acceptable to the buyer, should, therefore, be furthered. Personally, he knew of no better scheme suggested than that by Mr. Tripe. There was one thing certain, and that was that if the farmers did not get a scheme, and that right soon, they would be heavily penalised for lack of interest. He urged them to join in with the scheme, which was workable and the only one put forward so far. It would be well to form an association and to remedy any defects of the scheme as progress was made.

(Mr. Melville also referred to the necessity for wool improvement, and said he thought that the farmers had stood in their own light by not adopting the Government proposals put forward recently. He asked the farmers to join in with Mr. Tripe’s scheme, which would be to the benefit of all. He thanked the speakers for their addresses. Several questions were asked of the speakers. No decision was reached by the meeting and no resolutidn passed.