SYDNEY’S ROYAL SHOW.

Waipa Post, Volume XXI, Issue 1242, 13 May 1922, Page 2

SYDNEY’S ROYAL SHOW.

A MEMORABLE FAUL

VIEWS OF A NEW ZEALAND JUDGE PALMERSTON N., Friday/ Mr W. M. Tapp, secretary of the New Zealand Jersey Cattle Breeders’ Association, has returned to Palmerston North, after judging, for the second time, the Jerseys at the Royal Show at Sydney, which was on the present occasion the centennial fixture of the New South Wales Royal Agricultural Society. Mr Tapp, in the course of an interview, remarked upon the enormous area of the exhibition grounds, which were large enough to include all the leading show grounds in the Dominion. So far as getting ready cattle for show, the New Zealand breeders were not in it with the In £pite of the fact that many of the animals had come distances of over 5000 miles, they came forward in the pink of condition, and this he attributed in a great measure to the railway and trucking arrangements for pedigree stock which were far and away better than those existing here, and consequently the animals were landed in splendid condition, which could not be said Tn most cases of stock coming off the New Zealand railways. The Ring a Great Feature. With regard to show matters generally, Mr Tapp was much impressed with the great use made of the ring which was kept alive with jumping and other equestrian events during nine days and five nights. The whole grounds were brilliantly illuminated by electricity in the evenings, and the stands were constantly packed with thousands of spectators. All the jumps were of a permanent nature, and some gieat leaping horses were seen in action. A pony called Musician, who was credited with a record of 7ft Sin jumped 7fit 4in, while another pony named Thumbs Up cleared 7ft 3in. The public evinced great interest in the jumping and trotting events, which were a great success, the trotting races taking place on a cinder track which was banked, and on which the dust was well/ kept down.

Other points of interest to New Zealand A. and P. associations were that the name of every animal exhibited at the show was displayed on a board in front of each pen The cat-tle-judging rings were surrounded on three sides with tiers of seats which enabled thousands to witness the judging to advantage. Stock at the Show. In speaking of the exhibition of stock, Mr Tapp said that the Sydney Royal Show gave evidence of the growing popularity of the Jersey breed among the dairy herds of N ew South Wales. However, what had impressed him greatly was the immense range of quality. Some of the leading animals were undeniably good, but at the other extreme there were some very weedy specimens, and the tail of these was a long and very bad one. This showed that some of the breeders had a very inadequate idea of what should appear in the ring. There was therefore room fora good deal of educational work in this connection. The mode of judging cows in milk was not in accordance with the practice in New Zealand Here cows were examined and afterwards milked and re-examined, while at the Sydney show the judge had to adjudicate upon them with their udders full, and did not have the advantage of inspecting them again- after milking. Under such conditions it was next to impossible for him to firm any accurate opinion as to their actual qualities for milk production. The Future of the Jiersley.

As an enthusiast in Jerseys, Mr Tapp, in speaking of the future prospects of that breed, 'said that from impressions he had gathered at the Royal Show in Sydney he was more than ever convinced that this was well assured in all countries. Original prejudices on the score of constitution •being too delicate and their being too highly strung to endure the average conditions of normal dairying were rapidly dying out, while show sales indicated that the breed was growing in favour with dairymen. It was only a few years ago that Jerseys were mostly found in certain strongholds, but now they were everywhere and in a country whose staple products were butter and cheese it was the fat content of milk which counted, and the breed which possessed this in the most marked degree was bound to win out. Of all the dairy breeds the Jersey stood out as the most popular at the, show, and in New Zealand they were also the " favourites in all the scheese as well asi the butter districts.

Mr Tapp emphasised the fact that the most important lesson learned at the show was that it demonstrated the fact that breeders' aimed at securing and keeping at the head of their herds bulls whose prepotency was impressed nfiare in the female than in the male lines. Leading 1 Prize Winners'. Dealing with the Jerseys exhibited, Mr Tapp mentioned that the champion bull, Thom of Banule, between two and three years' old exhibited by

Sir Anthony Horden, was a high-class animal with plenty of Jersey charaetei*s and it had also secured the championship at Melbourne Show. The animal was bred in Australia and purchased by the exhibitor who paid 450 guineas for him. The champion cow, also an Australian-bred animal, was a classy little four-year-old, Ruthinia Third of Yaralla, owned by Miss E. C. Walker, one of the wealthiest women in New South Wales, and although showing the true characteristics of the breed, was a little on the small side. She had many of the same characteristics as Mr S. R. Lancaster’s (Palmerston North) wellknown prize-taker Fox’s Patch 11. Mr Tapp also greatly admired a couple of yearling heifers, also owned by Miss Walker, which were first and second in their class. He had never seen two more beautiful heifers, and if they went on as they should do they should be hard to beat in the future. Influence of Sitfes.

A feature of the Jerseys, said Mr Tapp, was that although there was a great deal of competition and a wide range of exhibitors, the whole of the female section with the exception of the yearling classes were either the daughters of Matilda’s Noble or descendants of his. The sire of the champion and reserve champion cows was by Ret-for Mariposa, a son of this bull. The fact that these animals were of such even type and character showed the great prepotency of Matilda’s Noble.