EAR-MARKING SHEEP.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1861, 22 September 1913, Page 10

EAR-MARKING SHEEP.

NEW SYSTEM CRITICISED. Mr. W. F. Doney, Mtfrchison, sends the following interesting communication to a northern paper. ■ In the "Journal of Agriculture" of Jflno 14 is publfshed an article on the ear-marking of sheop which should rcceivo the attention of every slieep- • firmer in tlie Dominion. Presumably "• tlio system set out in this article is ( jlacecl before the fanning world, so iSSt 1 it may be considered by all in- . terested; a sort of challenge to all concernetl to find a flaw in it if they can.

Unfortunately for tho author of the scheme there is no great difficulty in finding, a number' of flaws. In fact, it is surprising that nftor giving the system an 18 months' practical trial, its shown by photographs, etc., it should have received any further notice by tfio Agricultural Department. Its detective naturo' is sufficiently shown by the reproduced photograph, representing breedei- 398. In this photograph it may be'seen that code-three

tvill easily obliterate both,. code-mark » nino and code-mark eight. | By such a manipulation breeder 398 .can bo changed into breeder 334, or to breeder 338, or to breeder 39-1; that is if those, breed- ■ ers should belong to. tho same district. But even supposing they, did not belong to tho same . district,, the district codeinarks are also defective. The codemark representing district 1, as shown in the -photograph of breeder 988, can be changed to district 7, or to districts ' A, 5, 11, 13,, 15, or 17. . '. Such a possibility of obliteration or - tliango is.sufficient-to condemn tho system, but. such defect is as -nothing when compared to other, faulty features of tho system. ,To show an instance I will just cite tlio case of breeder 159, sn district .37'. It may be observed that this breeder at docking time would havo jto use all tlie 5 code-marks. Just iinfrgme.the case of the unfortunate lamb, be operated on: after-suffering the fortura of castration and docking, to be further tortured with having five hieroglyphics snipped out of its ears to the slow timo of the careful handling of fivo separate instruments.; and just imagine the paticnco and precision needed by Itlie shepherd in handling those five sepi Grate instruments. Tho same case ; would occur to many other breeders' under this code numeral system. 1 .Another instance of inefficiency of the system in practical sheep-farming is found ini -tlio fucf that there is no provision shown for the second, third, Jourth, or fifth markings of sheop when ■changes in ownership take place. In fflQt'tho author, shows in every feature oi' tlio system/a, lack of practical knowledge in tho marking of sheep. He «veu shows by-stating-"That under his system 70 separate and distinct earmarks can be obtained by using ono pair of pliers," that he does not even comprehend his own system; for not one singlo ear-mark can bo obtained under the system that does not necessitate two I pair of pliers. The articlo,under criticism was written by Mr. J. L. Bruce, assistant-direc-,-tor of tho Live Stock Division of tiie 'Department of Agriculture, who also devised tho ear-marking system which lias been so roundly condemned.' On being asked by a Dominion- representative whether he had any remarks to mako regarding the critics' condemnation of his ear-marking system, Mr. Bruce said that-," judging from the newspaper report, the writer seemed to have committed himself to an expression of opinion on th&')nlatter before thoroughly grasping the details, or having inspect- • ed tlio mplements with which tlio markings are made oil tho ears of the sheep. Had this been done, it would have been found that it is -utterly .iinpossiblo for on.e code-inark- ; to. be so. , used -as to obliterate imy/'other marie. It' is possible to deface;a .mark, .but not to destroy it to stick an extent; as to render thp original mark unrecognisable. To demonstrate this Mr. Bruce took the code-marks mentioned and submitted them to tho test. Tlie district' codeinarks were similarly tested and not in any one'case could the'original mark be obliterated With regard to the reference made that a number of instruments ■would bo required in some districts in order to make . the owner's registered -.brand and the district code-mark, Mr. Bruce said that.tin's was not so. In tlio niajority or cases the same tool hvmild serve - the two purposes. Under liis system each of the five tools could be used to n;ake five separate and distinct markings, making a total of sev : tnt-y. Ho did not anticipate any difficulty in that direction. One absolute essenlfhl for tlie successful working of ■the system, lie concluded, would be that ■ iill punching irons would necessarily need to be of uniform size, and preferably they should be supplied by the Government.