THE SHEEP PASTURES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 616, 20 September 1909, Page 10

THE SHEEP PASTURES.

s Sir,—lread ; with great pkasnre ypiir interesting, /article of yesterday's issue on tho above, in the fanning columns. You,aro quite right in doubting tno, much-hackneyed' theory that, a flush - ofi feed in the/autumn, or during the .'topping season, , necessarily predicts,a big lambing in.the spnnß. -Although,•'all., other factors combiiiing,'such would undoubtedly assist in obtaining that result. But, sir, tho scientific grazier, whether he bo aided by a flush of grass in tho autumn or not, can, with equal .certainty; obtain -a big- percentage .qf healthy, lambs .in the spring, , whereas "the ig-' norant or careless flockmaster may have no better from his ewea,', although ■ they staitwjfh.ftp ]f tapping

season had been , dry and barren. Hence you will see that, after a'll.'.iK'is.'thb manager and not the.weather 'that' influences the crop of lambs from ewes which are artificially confined -ou unnatural pastures aud > civilised environment. Wero they;-'on the other hand, unfettered by fences and the work'of cultivation, tho autumn, flush would undoubtedly bo followed by an abundant lambing ( especially if it (tho flush) took place after, a dry summer, or a scarcity or feed. And here you "have it in a nutshell," viz., what conduces tho proverbial "good lambing after a growing autumn" is noticeable only when. owes, from one or other of these causes, havoreached the tupping season in poor condition, and suddenly find themselves.flushed with nbundanco of feed. ' And this' theory, sir,' applies to all animal life. ■ • . Proceeding, -yonr article speaks of the feeding of pastures as "probably the very beat mode, on the linploughable lands that carry our sheep, of renewing (and invigorating) old worn-out pastures. This, although truo in theory, is not always so in ' practice, because here again the scientific grazier recognises that, if inferior pastures or pastures containing a ■ percentage of inferior grasses, such, as fog, couch, and native grasses, be allowed to seed, the result is that the percentage of these undesirables are greatly increased, and the fattening or carrying capacity of the land much roduced, for this reason that,. in a growing season, sheep eat none but the' best. grasses; which are not allowed to seed, while tho inferior ones, being . neglected, seed profusely, and eventually the young seedlings smother, or crowd out what few'rich grasses the sward would otherwise contain... ■ ..■..■■ No Eomney. Marsh grazier of repute would allow even, those rich pastures to seed if ho could possibly avoid it.—l am, etc., •' ■. ■ . ■ .-'. • •. KENT.;.