NOT TIED DOWN BY TRADITION

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 11, 28 March 1947, Page 3

NOT TIED DOWN BY TRADITION

N.Z. SHEEP BREEDERS “New Zealand sheep breeders appeal to me as possibly the most progressive in the world, because they are not tied down by tradition and they are not afraid to go ahead and model their production according to the demands of the market,” said Mr Cosmo Gibson, a visiting representative of an Argentine firm of stock and station agents, when he was interviewed recently by a contemporary.

“A few years ago,” said Mr Gibson, “I was bold enough to write an article that was published in the Argentine maintaining that New Zealand was the stud sheep farm of the world. This was rather a rash thing to say, as, at that time I had never been to this country; but now that I am here I can say with pleasure that I was quite justified in writing that article. “Argentine stud breeders have always been most generous buyers of cattle, blood stock, and sheep and so long as New; Zealand can provide top quality stud sheep—and I am confident that she can—she will always find keen and interested buyers in that country,” said Mr Gibson/ ‘One thing that sheep breeders must maintain, however, is the heavy carcase and bone in their stud stock so that it can counteract the deficiencies in the Argentine and withstand the rigorous climate. Sheep in the Argentine must be able to stand up to pretty severe heat and a rather severe winter.”

Mr Gibson, who himself is a stud breeder of sheep, is a member of the firm of Gibson Bros., which for many years has imported stock to the Argentine. It is his object to see every notable stud stock farm in the Dominion before he leaves. Mr Gibson recalls that his firm had been connected with New Zealand since 1893 when Sir Herbert Gibson introduced New Zealand sheep to the Argentine. Nowadays most of the Argentine sheep breeders favour New Zealand Romneys, Lincolns and Corriedales and they had always been generous buyers of the top lines of these.