THE MATING SEASON.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1714, 3 April 1913, Page 8

THE MATING SEASON.

AN'EXt'KRT ON 'uijEKDIXU. " 1 ' _• .... ■ .The mating ol' sheep i-. ,;i problem which sheep-breeders have to study at lliis liino nl' the year, and the remarks of an experienced. tirceder on this subject, published in tho "Fiiriucr.s' Union. Advocate," jire of interesl. Tim writer in r|ii--s!inn .siys:— "Tire stud breeder is t.ho inan. who lias the greatest difficulty in wliicli sheep to iiso-nn certain ewes, lie goes to sales and examines the rams ottered, ami Fees one which perhaps does not quite como np to his ideal, billy finding lie is by a certain rani, or of blond l:-o lias a. fancy tor, discretion is llirown to tho winds, 1 , and ho makes his purchase, sometimes to bo grievously, disappointed when lie nets tho sheep home and makes another critical 'examination, or, it may be,; to like, him better, though seldom to find hinv 'better than he thought. Tho purchase of any ram is a great, lottery, for.'in tlvii case, of sheep not -oidy' is it imperative that you havo carcass, constitution, and-breed-ing, but that you have covering as well. AVo would -put constitution above every-' thing, and wool second, although it. is this commodity which brings'the money into t,he poc-kot. . AVherever,.-a. flock master has failed to keep up the' constitution of his fioelc, it lias gone down rapidly in the estimation of tho public, who are shrewd judge;) of'the standard of any flock. There are, of course, breeds in which wool'is a. secondary 'consideration, for ■ instance, the Shropshire and tho. Southdown, these are of the shorf-woollcd breed, but oven in these breeds.tho wool is a. consideration,for if it is not closo there always seems less tendency in tho progeny to "fatten. , "There are three ways of breeding, viz.: it) In-breading, (2)' line-breedingj and (3) out-croSsing./, The -latter is divided into (a) a cli.ina.tic out-cross; (2) a'complete out-cross. "Some. .breeders stick to one system entirely, while others mix. them. The system most difficult to continue with success is in-brecding. ' There arc advantages ti> be gain«l by the use of .this system which are not possible.'in any. other way; If fixity of type is wanted, (hero is no .system so certain of result. Here,, however, in nearly every case tho constitution suffers. -It requires more skill to continue in-brcsding and yet bo successful than ■with any. other system. Soiho breeds of. sheep aro so constituted that in-breeding• does not seem- to affect the^n' as in, other ■breeds. The merino. is an instance• 'of this. Tho. Famden flock of merinos is nearly 100 years old, yet'there is a: small, floclt'of this. once-celebrated (lock extant which- has iuevor had an out-cross. ■ Liko the Chillingham cattle, they are kept as n matter'•of sentiment, for ji-j one - would nowadays use any of tho brccil for stud purpose.-. "All tho horn breeds seem to bo hardy eonstitutioned sheep. The Scotch blacklaced, tho Louk, tho Dorset-horn, for instance, but in this caso in-breeding is not resorted to.. ,ln the merinos, howover, many jbrefflers say they do not go.outside their own flocks for sires, though this is not jtho 'case in Tasmania, where breeders reciprocate to.a very great extent in the. ■uso of their best sheep. "Under these conditions of mora or lesa in-breeding,.' Australia.has', bred up during the century,.which lias elapsed since sheep became common, probably the finest and certainly the most valuable breed of .sheep in tho world. ■ They used an out-cross— the Vermont—but these are again, being discarded as having too many wrinkles and the tendency to'lwinp. About Lino-Breeding. "Line-bfeeding is more common perhaps in the long-wpolied sheep, for these breeds do not seem to havo the constitution, .it tho-merino, probably, because they are made-up breeds, while tho merino is quite purebred. The breed which stands in-breeding-worse than any is the Lincoln, but judicious line-breeding has been 'quite successful: Most stud breeders more or less use this system. "When a man gets to tho top of the tree in sheep-breeding, the difficulty ho has is to'get sheep to suit his flock, and generally it results in rival -breeders exchanging rams, probably with their own blood running through thos9 they get ■in exchange.. The "late 'Henry Ducming', 1 . it great breeder, one of the geniuses of his day, always bought his • sires from flocks' whero his own rams had been used, so thero was only a half out-Croiss reared on different country to his own; that is, tho mother of tho ram was the only part of the lino of breeding not his own.; Tho late Thomas Kirldwun Biscuthorpe, the greatest Lincoln breeder of his dav, so his son told tho present writer, always bought lite sires by rams of his own breeding, but bred in another floclc. Tho cross-breeding was tlius not violent. Breeders as a rule do not discuss l these matters very freely, nor ha.vo wo any knowledge of how 13akcwel.l improved tho breed (if which lie transformed in his ,own, ; lifei' time from a coarse common sheep to a very, fine useful with great propensity. to fatten. He, however, havo :gon© largely on the in-breeding principle, for ho had no contemporary breeder of like nolo to himself. Unfortunately there is no record of tho system ho used, but it could not havo been othc-i' than selection amongst his own- flock. '1 he third system of breeding/ viz., tho out-cross, is ono most generally in vogue amongst 1 breeders of'long wools. In most cases, however, in a modified form. ' Tho system is to go to another flock for sires, bom© import from the Kentish breeders every now and, again sheep from flocks which come-nearest their own ideals. Th 6; progeny of theso rams up to tho third goiwration from home ewes aro generally used as sires, occasionally longer; then recourse is again had to England for fresh blood. If any importation has been specially successful, it is continued by goim*to a flock of repute where a ram of the same blood has-heon used, and a sire by liim from the flodc is selected for-use. Any shsep brought in in this wu-y flr& gcncroliy iiFfd wiili caution, until* the breeder has had an opportunity of tho progeny, and if lie is satisfied with tho first crop, tho biro is used more frceJy by tho breeder. . '"f 1 , 1 ? - Vo V vSfc of out-crossing is that inero is a decided lo'iidenev to. get a variety of Hypes in the flock. 'The ewes ore fairly easy'J:o keep tu type, but the rams oilen differ considerably. Thero is oiio feature of this which is a benefit': If |h<;ije is a variety* of type, 1 hero will probably bo ono better ihan another, and if the use of tho bfst of the type is continued, and it is- ;l success, li.u, advance will probably lie niado' in tho flock in general. "Whichever system is adopted, it is after all tho master-mind of tlie skilled breeder which dominates tho flock. True, sheep, would bo of little value to slud masters if they aro not well brought out, and hero again experience and country, conies in, for it is atlai owl edged that the country on. which the animal is bred has a great to do .with his appearance. At a Tcceiifc mooting of the Farmers' Club in Loudon, Professor Wallace, of Edinburgh, read an interesting paper 011 the breeds of sheep. Ho stated that sheep should always bo bought bred on., poorer land and in a woi-so climate, several breeders of note gave it. as I heir opinion I Ikif: after a few generations sheep took on l.lie characteristics of the native sheep to a. large extent. If. is the same here. On the Riiulaniwha. I'laius this is yeen at this day." Aro you, sir, ns manager of a. cheese factory, satisfied that your product is lip to tho highest, standard? If you have doubts, study the "reasons why." For instance, greater efliciency and higher grade chcese (naturally leading to better prices) can lie secured wilh "Victor" Vats. Let tile experience gained by your brother managers guide you, and you will quickly insUil."Victor" Vals in your factory. Of course; the' (doping bottom with tho centre drainage is tho secret of the increased eflicioncy of the "Victor" Vals. All particulars from Albert J. IVidon, Plumber, Carlertnn.—Advt. r JNCUBATOI'S• FOR 1913—Now i> ihotirrfe to book your requirenienla for coming season. Full particulars on application. A.- and P. FOOD CO., Wellington.—Advt .At the Kent Assi7.es a. mail, guilly of money-order frauds on publicans was sentenced to five years' penal servitude. His method iva-s to obtain a money-order for 1.--, lid., turn- th? two strokes in the spa.-e reserved for pounds into the ligure ], and llwn induce a publican to cash it,