EAR-MARKS FOR SHEEP.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 594, 24 August 1909, Page 8

EAR-MARKS FOR SHEEP.

The ear-marking and branding 0f..: sheep, discussed at the recent .conference at, Wellington,.. arc the subjects of an 'interesting oommunicatioai to the. "Otago Witness", from ',J.W." Ho says:—''l notice/that it was fe' oided at the A. arid'E. Societies' Conference that the Government' be asked- to 1 ( iiivito. schemes for. the' better ear-marking of , sheep. It will be pretty hard to find a.schemo tliat. will afford any. improvement, as sheep change owners perhaps l a."down times in their' liieand:each;owner wants to put his owir ear-mark on. his stock. One only 'wmts to attend, a big public saleyard and he will see. 'all the ear-marks under the snn, perhaps in one mob of,, 500 aged. ewes. I would suggest that some'improvement made: in thebrandinrjof 'sheep!. Every sheep-owner I luis, or ought to. have,/,a registered brand, which consists, ..of a ' combination. of' letters cod joined. .When jt via.stuck, on a sheep it* is . nothing . but a largo blotch, and: as ; the sheep^and 7 wool.,grow ,the\brand expands i to the; size,of a full moon. ' .If the brandVwicre smaller,'and • only ; siiiglo r letters^or were used, they; would bo more distinct, and

if the next owner of tho sheep were to put his brand apart from the last one, and not on tho top of tho : first onej as is-often the case, Hhat would bo a considerable improvement. In "the case of stud, sheep I' would, suggest tattooing with Indian,ink inside the ear,, with the breeder's name and the year of lambing, only one figure being used; this season's' lambs would undor this plan bo marked 9, next year's 0, thon 1, and so on. The sheep's breeder and ago would thus bo known las long as , tho sheep lived. , Such a mark might bo obliterated, but it would not bo removed, and a good heavy fine would prevent its obliteration.": i