BREEDING FOR TWINS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21216, 10 December 1938, Page 15

BREEDING FOR TWINS

AIMING AT A HIGH PERCENTAGE SELECTION OF BREEDING STOCK A good proportion of lambs make a : big difference to the final percentage ; and it is the hope of every’ flock owner 1 that he will have a high percentage 1 of lambs. Investigations made by the ! Cambridge School of Agriculture indi- ■ cate that, to ensure this, the breeding stock should, so far as possible, be selected from twins. If, as is often done, the breeding . stock are selected by picking out the ’ best and biggest animals from the : flocks at six months old, or whenever 1 selection is made, the majority of those . chosen will be singles, for owing to the disadvantage at which they are placed | as regards milk supply, twins are not so well developed on the average as ; the single lambs. This applies alike . to rams and ewes, and it will often ' follow that the more carefully a man ! selects his breeding stock for size and , development, the more liable he may, be to decrease the proportion of twins ' born in the flock. Owners of pedigree flocks are naturally cautious in introducing new blood on the female side, states an exchange. Ewes from outside sources are seldom brought in as frequently as rams. Yet the occasional introduction of a few judiciously selected ewes from outside will help to maintain size and improve constitution without much risk of altering the type. In the ordinary commercial flock, too, it is important that the ewes should be worthy of the rams that have been brought in to run with them. A good standard of merit is necessary on both sides of the parentage if the progeny are to be satisfactory. Even though the ewe flock may not be treated as a “flying” one, with wholesale clearance and replacement every year, a certain proportion, comprising the oldest section of ewes—as well as those which are defective in mouth or udder, are customarily cleared off, and their place taken by young and vigorous stock, prior to another breeding season. This process of culling, drafting and remaking the flock forms the most responsible and interesting part of the flockmaster’s duties. It is worth while to bring the discarded ewes into good condition by extra feeding on a good pasture with perhaps a small ration of some concentrate before marketing them. Condition is an important factor in the sale of stock of thifc kind, and the increased return obtained as a result usually repays the cost of the extra feeding.