WOOL RESEARCH.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20494, 12 March 1932, Page 10

WOOL RESEARCH.

TESTING FOR PRODUCTION. [By D. J. Sxdbt, B.Ag., H.D.D., C.A.C., Lincoln.] The stud sheep breeders of this country have always aimed at producing a fleece which combines as far as possible quality with maximum quantity. That many of them have been successful in their endeavours is obvious from the. fact that our long-woolled sheep probably have no superiors of their own type in wool production in any other part of the world. However, {ho fact that the average production pershecp in New Zealand for the years 1926-30 was only 5 per cent, greater than the average production foi the period 1916-20 .1916 is the first year for which we have official figures), while- over the same periods our dairy cows show approximately a 30 per cent, increase, demonstrates , that there sliould be-a possibility of increasing still further the weight of wool clipped per sheep. Iho improvement in our dairy-.wws has resulted partly from the fact that herdtesting allows breeding and culling operations to he carried out on a basis of production and partly to the stimulation which herd-testing has given in better feeding and management of the COWS. , . ~ . It has been felt at this college for a number of years that a, scheme for testing the production of our sheep on somewhat similar lines to herd-testing would be one of the most profitable lines of wool research. "With the object of finding out the possibilities of. such a scheme, the fleeces from the stud slieep in the college flocks have been, weighed individually for a of years, and the results obtained last shearing from a slight modification of the work arc sufficiently interesting to show how useful a scheme of wooltesting would be if generally adopted. Sire Testing. That the sire plays.an important part in the average production of his off-, spring is shown by the following tables, where the average weight of the greasy fleeces of the progeny of each ram is shown: — TABLE I.—BREED X. j Avge. weight ' j of fleece Age.' . j

It, will be noted from the table that in each case the progeny of ram A have produced lighter fleeces than the offspring of ram C. Since ram A was purchased we ate in the unfortunate position of not knowing anything about the production of his sire and dam.,Kain C, on the other hand, was homebred, and the average weight of wool clipped by his half-sisters indicates that their sire also produced heavy clippers.

Run E in this ease is'the sire of ram C mentioned above, and ram G is the sire of rain B above. In both instances it will be seen that it is a case of "like father—like son" as far as the production of their offspring is concerned. Table lll.—Breed Y. Aver, weight of

Here it will also be noticed that ram X stands out as siring low producers. In this ease,' however,' there is no_ direct evidence that ram N- inherited the factor for poor production from his sire since the production of his halfsister's is above the. average. His dam on the other hand, "was a purchased ewe, and it may be from her side that the poor producing strain ha§ come. _ The cases of ram A in breed X and ram N in breed Y illustrate ho»v it is Often impossible to judge by appearances the value of a sire for improving the standard of a flock. Brno A was purchased because he was considered to have a heavy fleece of good quality wool, but ho certainly lias not maintained the standard of production which the home-bred sires have set. Earn X was an outstanding show-yard animal and we have, in this case, an excellent argument for tjie necessity of combining production : results with treed standards in the judging; of our show sheep. One of the chief objects of our stock shows is the improvement of the . stock of the country, but "so long as stock with such poor producing capabilities as ram N, are given the premier awards it-cannot be said that the ?hows are fulfilling to the utmost the object they.wish to attain; Dam Testing. The case of ram X -illustrates how necessary it is to know .something of the production of . both the sire's and the dam's side of a pedigree-when selecting stock to improve a flock. This point is -further emphasised By. the figures obtained from one .flock in which every hogget could be associated definitely with its dam and where the influence of the sire- could: have no. particular bearing on the results.

Table IV. Weight of wool Their hogget clipped per progeny aver- ... ewe. • a g®,d Over 81b .. • • 9 - 511 lb Under 81b ,: :• • 8.6211b It is obvious, from thiS; table .that if all the ewes who clipped. less than 81b of wool had not been -bred from that the average weight of wool clipped by the hoggets would have been increased by 10 per cent. Necessity for a Wool-Testing Scheme. From the promise given by the figures set out above it is obvious that the work should be carried out on a larger scale . next season, iii order to find out whether or cot it is advisable to. put ,int \ operation a scheme of wooltesting which would cover the chief wool-producing breeds -of , sheep. It should be Understood quite clearly th&* it is not advocated that the only aim of the : breeder should be quantity of wool. Just, as at the present time breed standards, carcase, quality of the wool,and the constitution of the animal are studied when selecting a sire, so they must be continued in the future. However, if the breeder had the additional knowledge of the production of either the individual sheep or of- the production of the strains on both sides of the pedigree it would help to prevent the use of a sire which might lower rather than raise the standard of a flock. Also when culling a flock it would be useful to have as a guide a knowledge of the producing capabilities of each sheep, particularly those which are borderline eases. While wool-testing is only just being' considered in this country a certaia amount of work on.it has been carried out in America for a number of years. In California, for example, the Rambouillet (a type of merino) breeders have added an advanced registry to their' flock book. To gain admittance to this advanced registry a ram must clip more than 7.7 pounds, and a ewe' more than 5.25 pounds of clear- wool for 12 months' growth. The Animal. Husbandry Division of the U.S.A. Department of Agriculture has also ob-

tained much useful information with ■ regard to wool production froin their research work. One point of interest is that they have been able to explode,* the popular theory that, frithin the < Bambouillet breed, sheep with a covering of wool on their faces haye!-a_ heavier fleece than sheep which, are free from face covering. Eesoafch work in. this country might also be able, to prove that it is not. necessary to -hare. • a heavy face covering, as"we see-in some . of our sheep, to produce a heavy fleece.Another factor which must be borne in mind is that a necessary accompani- ■ ment of improved production is better U feeding and management. Such, ail improved standard of in most cases automatically accojspajiied £erdtesting and bo doubt the satae < thing ,when .wool-testing' iff fctattwfc M, fact it -k qaestionablo if" some slieep-farriers"M fte-prijMßW..- ; should not be improvement of WW | duction of those sheep *a^er\'ttonr:keeping.inc*easea;igrt^s^ r ;-".^

of progeny. of ewes. Rani. lb. A B .. 11.471 3-shear; , 12.203 3-shcar • C ... 12.740 3-shear A ' .. 11.903 2-shear H ... 13.312 2-shear C .. 12.442 2-shear

. TABLE II. Avge. weight Age of fleece . of progeny. of ewes. .Ram. lb. 5-shear E .. 11.672 P ■ .. 10.312 5-shear 6 .. 11.843 5-shear

of fleece of Kain. progeny. A ge of ewes lbs. L .. 9.954 2-shear M X .. . 9.GG2 2-shear .. 8.854 2-shear () .. 10.500 2-shear L .. 9.377 Hoggets X .. 8.821 Hoggets P , , ., .9.437 Hoggets