SPLENDID ROMNEYS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 781, 2 April 1910, Page 13

SPLENDID ROMNEYS.

;-; i ;.:/: ; ;;:./OFF.TO.yAMEBiCA. v v . : ; PICK SHORT'S FLOCK. .; On April 21 the I lonio will Bail from Jlew . Zealand for ■ South' America with SO Bomney Marsh sheep on board be : kngingyto Miv Ernest Short, of Paro- "' rangi,;; Feilding. :Mr.. Short holds ■ an undisputed position as the most sucpessfn] breeder of. :Romneys in New Zealand, and, the' sheep which be is Sending away he. considers to be tho best he has.ever bred... Mr. Short has Bever showed outside the Dominion before. 'There is no doubt, however,',that be ■ could sweep the board in Romneys . anywhere south i of the Line, .-and; - the : .one- thing ■ necessary .'for • : him / finally to ; establish -..his ■reputation as the most successful Rorauey Marshy breeder of his day-r-which many;competent, judges now told him to be—is 'for. him to, meet the leading English Bomney Marsh men. This is precisely what ho will, do in June next, for'among exhibitors at tho International Show will be Mr. Charles Files;vof Eltham, Kent, who holds the bjue.'ribbqn at Home. , Among the exhibits,' moreover, will be the ram with which. Mr. Files won the championship at 'the Royal Countica Show at Reading last year. • Against him in all probability, will;be -pitted Mr. Short's Record Breaker, Hl—"absolutely the very best Romney I have ever bred or seen anywhere.'-' says his owner • of him.

this score, for tho lambs are just about equal in eize to an ordinary two-tooth sheep. . ■ .; ■■;• The Entries Described. : : Before describing tho sheep it will be as well to explain how tho Romney sectioh is arranged in the Argentine Show schedule. Tnere are threo claßses. for rams and three for ewes. In each class pens of threo sheop are to shown 1 . The classes for rams are as follow: — , Class I.—Three rams born before January 1,-1909. In this class Mr. Short's one-shear sheep will have ;to compote'', against. English two-shear sheep, as, owing to the difference in the time of lambing, the English sheep have six months advantago in every case over those born; south of the Equator. Mr. Short has two" entries, in this class. First, a pen consisting of Record 52nd, Record '48th, and Elevation 2nd, all four-tooth rams. In the second pen are.three two-tooth rams, one by Rβ■cord Breaker, , and two by Record 18th.. Two extra entries hayebeeni made in this class for exhibition only, and in ' case of four-tooth ram by' Earl Godwin, 1 which was champion, at Hastings last year, and a two-tooth ram by Record 21st. ' ' . .- , Class ll.—Threo rams born between January 1 and • April, 3Q, 1909.. As lambs are not. born in the Southern Hemisphere between, theso dates, competition, will be confined to EngUsh-bred sheep solely. .!. .' :■ : . ■; Class lll.—Three rams born between Jlay 1 and October 31, 1909. In thia class tho English sheep will be excluded, as southern breeders were in Chiss 11, and competition will be between Mr. Short'erßbmneys and those bred in; South America. In this class is entered Record Breaker HI, Mr: Short's best sheep, in company with

;.•-...;v: ;.•■.....This, sheep■is the'most'.oomsistent and' successful'Eomney sire in Neir '..'■.: [.: : -. '■■■ ■ '...:.:. Zealand...Hβ is the. of the ;.■;. twentyV:sheep Mr.:■,■ Short';«';■' Y •■.: Ajgentiiei^VofiiV/" ■'->:••■:■'.■ ■;'■ '" ■-V ; .■■■•■■ ; ' v ■'•.;'•■-"-•■ ■:•..•.;;■ .-

,TMs is the lam that iron, everywhere -■for Mr-Short at,the,.spring,shows last year as a shorn ram hogget. It is not yet finally settled' whether he is to go to the Argentine or to remain in New Zealand. The Crack Sheep To Co. Mr. Short naturally wishes to give tho Englishmen a ran for their money, as the saying is, but at the same time no breeder- fancies the idea of parting with his masterpiece. It is probable, therefore, that Record ■Breaker HI will-acquire distinction as the first eheep to circumnavigate the 'globe/ and that he may go on to England after the Argentine Show is over, land come oot to New Zealand again, by one of the direct liners. The Eomneys ■at the show wffl be judged by English llreeders, and no one can tell until after [the event how the judges will look on 'the developments in the breed that have been mado in New Zealand. The Englishmen do not pay much attention (to the wool, and from the circumstances of their country do not keep in their ,eje the production of a well-fleeced sheep that will get about in rongh bush {pasture without losing its wool. Tho . things the sheep-farmers here need may therefore be little thought of by the judges at Buenos Ayres. Under the «nnous rules of the Argentine Rural Society, there are no classes for single Bheep_; everything is in pens of tlrreo, fead in tho Lincolns alone will any

two other lambs by Record Breaker and another for exhibition only. < The three classes for Romney owes are arranged on exactly the same plan as those for tho_ rams, and in them Mr. Short's entries aro distributed as follow:— Class I.—Three two-tooth ewea, ono by Record 2nd, one by Record 37th, and ono by Record Breaker. A owe by Elevation is being sent for exhibition ,- Class lI.—No exhibit for samo reason as in the case of rams. < Class ELL —Three ewe lambs by Record Breaker, and one for exhibition only. Some Features, To anyono who has followed up the development of the Romney in Now Zealand, it is'sufficient to say that this lot of twenty sheep is the pick of Mr. Short's stud flock. All the characteristics ; of the breed : are exhibited in the highest perfection in which they have been seen in this country. Of the fourtooth rams the Godwin sheep is the best framed, but not tho best woolled. The other three are all too even to bo separated. The two-tooths in this class are also a beautifully even lot. It is about Class lIL that tho principal interest centres, for in this is RecordBreakor in, the outstanding sheep of the whole Bhipmont, and one which marks another step forward in .the development of New Zealand's Romneys.

championship for an individual sheep be allotted. This seems an unfortunate arrangement when., breeders are taking picked sheep many thousands of miles to.meet one.another. . . . ■ ; A few. days ago thp .writer drove round ..with Mr. Short from Parorangi Vo the' stud farm on tho Waituna Road, where the twenty. Argontine llomnoys and Mr. W. Perry's four Lincolns; also Argentine-bound, are :now: under . thb care of Paroraiigi's head shepherd, Mr. W. C. Small. Mr. Small is.a man with a : particularly sound knowledge of the Roniney, and was stud shepherd to Mr. Charlqs Files, in JKont, before Mr. Short' induced him to como to Itov Zealand. Near was a big patch of carrots and swedes for use on tho voyage across, to South America. Needless to say the sheep themselves were in the' pink, of condition. The Argentino loves a big-framed shqep. nnd ho Svill not guarrel with Mr. Short's Bomneis on

He is going to bo a longer sheep than any Mr. Short has before produced, and ho has a perfect Romney head, a level back, is well-boned, and finally has tho marvellous wool which distinguishes the Record strain above all other New Zealand Romneys. By his bold carriage Record-Breaker lIL shows his points. to perfection, and-catches the eye at once. 'He was first at Palmerston. North last spring, and first at Christchurch. His brother, Record Breaker IV, in tho samo pen, is. probably tho second best sheep of the twenty. When Mr. E. J. Riddiford was up at Parorangi a week or two ago ho was most enthusiastic in his praises of Kocorcl Breaker 111, and said lie had no idea that there was such a sheep'in. Now Zealnnd. In his opinion Mr. Short ought to be able to get a thousand guineas for tiiia ram if offered in the Argentine. South America

is the land of big prices for stud stock of the ".first quality. Record Breaker ilia top price in New Zealand would probably run at about 300 guineas. •The four shearling ewes which are going over' are all in lamb to Record Breaker'(tho most consistent breeder Mr. Short has ever owned) and other crack Parorangi rams, and their purchasers should therefore have ovctv prospect of getting somo fine lambs from them. Tho ewes form two remarkably, oven lots, that the Englishmen should find some difficulty in beating. It should bo an education to Jlnglish breeders to examine the wool on these lambs. The same thing may bo said of tho whole consignment.

i How Tho Flool; Bosan. I By 1897 Mr. Short was requiring from sixty to eighty rams; a year. He was finding that no matter what he I paid and no matter what breeder he went to he would never get tho rams he wanted. Tho rule in thoso days was for brooders to run out tho re- " quired number of rams, good, bad, and ' indifferent, and for tho purchaser to take or leave tho lot. Sheep wero not classed, and the breeders' objected strongly to tho buyer attempting to " pick- and ohoose. Mr. Short got tired j of this, and decided to breed his own ' stud sheep. Accordingly, ho laid the fopndations of his present stud flock by'/ tho purohosc of 150 stud owes in . lamb' from Mr. Robert Cobb, of R&ukawa, AsWiurst. Mr. Cobb's stud flock was established in 1877 from sheep purchased from Mr. Ludiam of the Hutt, who introduced tho E-omney into the North Island. Up to .1897 Mr. Cobb's was the loading prize-winning Romney floclrin New Zealand. ; ■ To appreciate, the development that has taken place of late years it _ is necessary to look back at the condition of the Romney in 1897- Thero was. a great variation in typo in tho breed, as there has always been in New Zealand. The sheep were generally very, coarse on the britch, and it was almost impossible to get. a ram without this defect. 'All the old Romneys, moreover, had fuzzy backs, 'wero very light clippers, and were hollow behind the shoulder. This latter fault Mr. Short states that ho succeeded in avoiding from the very beginning, and having done this he made up his mind that the next thing was to breed' lengthy sheep with as , straight land wide .a 1 back as it was possible to 'have on a sheep. Mr. Short found it very hard to-get information as to the best methods of .breeding. Nearly everything ho had to '■ pick up from actual : experience. Mr. Cobb, who was the leading breeder of his day; and knew the Romney in'its native Kent, was one of the few'who were willing to help a'.beginner, arid everything Mr. Short did not learn himself 1 was taught him by Mr. Cobb. ' '. Tho Record Strain. In the first year after trying Mr. Cobb's sheep, Mr. Short bred a ram, Parorangi, which he considers to have been the making of hia stud flock. Up to 1903, however, he was breeding just good ordinary Romneys, with no features to distinguish them from anybody else's atud flocks. In that year came tho first great stop forward. The old Romneys have very little crimpy or locky wool in their fleeces. This wool, by reason of its elasticity, is much more valuable to the manufacturers than an ordinary straightgrowing staple,'and a crimpy fleece is worth anything up to threepence a pound more than an ordinary ono. Mr. Short made it his ambition to get crimpy wool all over his Romneys. The best English breeders have never succeeded in getting it beyond the shoulders, and in a few cases along the back. By mating his rams ai'd owes with the greatest care, Mr. Short hid at last the, satisfaction in 1903 of getting fifty lambs, with crimpy wool all over them. Tho sheep that established what, has since ' become known as the Record strain was a ram , called Favourite. Ho was an ordinaryißomney of his day, without a 'bit of the desired crimpy or locky wool on : him. Mr. Short'went carefully over, his stud flock and picked out.; fifty ewes showing . signs of crimpiness; and put/them' 'to this' ram. ■Their by an extraordinary -"bit'.'.of good luck came tho lambs, the only Romno.ys in ■this/.world with .this ■■''• mrich-sougiit wool. -'I might,", says. 1 , Mr. Short, ■ 'have tried a thousand, • times , and nover have done it again. It was a freak of, nature that' mado the Parorangi sheep. " ■■- ■;.•'■,:. . .. .■■■• Record Breaker in is a great-grand-son,of Favourite, and in these last four generations , is. .'to',be :soen the whole evolution of'the most remarkable strain of blood known in New Zealand.vsheopbreeding.. ■ Favourite "densewoolled. aheop, with'-fesh'ort;<nnil ; > per-

A-Comparison; On this page appears a piotaro of Record Breaker Hi, and it is interest- | ing to note how Mr. Files's champion compares with this sheep. The I'iles ram, unless it is much maligned by its portraits, has nothing like so bold and characteristic a head, its back also lacks the beautiful lovelness of Record Breaker 111, nor has it the fino brisket shown in the picture. The line along the flower part of Mr. Sho'rt's sheep, it will bo noted, slopes downward from the hindquarters to the forequarters. In. the English ram the line runs upwards, and the chest development; is evidently inferior to that shown in the picfoe. :<-'■ ■:■ ■ • . ■'■■;■

These twenty sheep from Parorangi and-Mr.. Perry's four Lincolns are having a special honour conferred on them by tho Government. They aro to come down from Feilding to Wellington bj the Main Trunk , express on April 19. Shoep on New Zealand's'only flier will be something of a'novelty. The Main Trunk comes down quicker frokrji'eilding. than any other train, it''makes fewer, stops, and when it• does.,stop it starts -without' the* goods-train jolt that: is apt to knock show sheep about, i . -..; ■■:.-.....

'. At a cost.of between £200-and £300 Mr. Short is having printed a handsome illustrated catalogue of his sheep. This forms a book of. some sixty pages, and contains more than forty illustrations. .It is being printed both 'in English and Spanish, the' Spanish version being prepared by Mr. J. onech, of Avellington. Besides describing his own sheep, Mr. Short is inserting information as to the cost.' of transport to the Argentine, is giving full ■ particulars .of ■ the . New Zealand Eomney Breeders' Association, and furthermore, a,; list of. .the. principal Rom.iioy, breeders in the Dominion. . .' '■ -."'•:'

Australia" is sending only a few simples of wool to the .Argentine Exhibition/. .New,: Zealand's entry' in'a'show;

where from 7000 to 10,000 atable-fed bulls are expected to be on view, may not be large in. point of numbers, but enough has been said to show that in quality it will be difficult -,k> v beat.