Amuri Hoggets Impressed

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31083, 11 June 1966, Page 8

Amuri Hoggets Impressed

In the year of its fiftieth show the Amuri Agricultural and Pastoral Association held its first flock hogget competition last week. The competition got away to an impressive start and the president of the association, Mr C. Burrows, believes that it is likely to be continued.

There were some 13 entries of woolly fine wool hoggets, and nine hoggets of shorn fine wool hoggets. These were reviewed over two days by Messrs R- B. Kellock and G. Lawrence, of Hawarden, and mobs of up to 2000 sheep came before them.

A high standard had been expected, but this had been surpassed.. Mr Kellock said, when he was questioned after the competition. With the standard so uniformly good and with the large mobs the competition had been impressive.

The winning woolly hoggets from A. G. and R. F. Mclntosh, of Eskdale, Culverden, had been quite outstanding, said Mr Kellock. “Here was everything that the judges were looking for—high-class sheep with size. The wool possibly could have shown a little more character but was

so well grown that possiblv this was rather too much to expect.”

Mr Mclntosh, who is a member of the well-known family of Friesian cattle breeders at Prebbleton, and his wife, who is a daughter of Mr D. Johns, of Culverden, took over Eskdale, which is adjacent to Culverden, only 18 months ago. In the competition they had 303 hoggets which were born about the middle of August and weaned on the last day in November. On their 750 acre property they have 1400 ewes and 560 hoggets. of which about 360 are the first of their own breeding.

Mr Kellock said that in some cases owners had drafted their competition sheep too hurriedly and had given too much emphasis to size only, culling good but late lambs and leaving in big sheep only. In judging emphasis had been given to breeding as this would determine the value of these sheep as four-year-olds. A general criticism, he said, was that there was some strong britch and some sheep were rather poor on the hams.

Of the shorn class, where the top exhibit was that of R. H. Fleming, Mr Kellock said that this class had also produced some excellent dual purpose sheep with wool showing excellent quality and good carcases. Mr Kellock noted that there was no class for tussock sheep and this was something that the association might consider having in the future.

A pleasing aspect of the competition was the good following of spectators that the competition had attracted by the end of the final day, Mr Kellock noted that nearly all of these were young men—this augured well. By following such a competition it was possible to make a fair assessment of how the spectator’s own sheep compared with his neighbours’ sheep. Even in this predominantly fine wool district a section for strong woolled hoggets was able to muster an entry of six —a sign of the changing times with farm improvement and topdressing. Here there were mobs of up to 800 sheep and these were judged by Messrs A. B. Anderson, of Claverley, and N. Judson, of Oxford.

All of these sheep had been very well grown, said Mr Anderson, but farmers had to make up their minds whether they were going in for strong or fine wool Romneys and stick to it. In the high rainfall area around Waiau it was his opinion that they would be better to go in for a strong wool sheep. Platings in the various classes were:

Woolly fine wool'hoggets: A. G. and R. F. Mclntosh 1; F. Beaven and Son 2; J. G. Dalzell 3.

Shorn fine wool hoggets: R. H. Fleming 1; estate R. L. Jameson 2; J. 0. Black 3. Strong wool hoggets: James Gardner 1; J. ChapmanCohen 2; M. Robinson 3.