NEW ZEALAND ROMNEY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2131, 4 March 1908, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEW ZEALAND ROMNEY.

SUPERIOR TO ITS ENGLISH ANCESTOR. During the past year a(sys the N.Z. “Times”) or since the raid on the Romney flocks of Kent by New Zealand brcedersj it has been declared that the type of Romney evolved in this country is a vast improvement from a money-making point of view on the type at present being bred in England. This has been denied, but palpably by people who do not know what they are talking about, for anyone who has compared a Kentish sheep with a New Zealand Romney (that is, of the true typo and having good bone and constitution) can at once decide the matter for himself. In saying this we do not deny that the bone and constitution of tho Homo type is desirable, but to thcso ueci.essary qualities wo must have tho fleece produced by some of our best .breeders. It is this happy combination which tho ’ Romney Association aimed at in setting up a standard of excellence for New Zealand breeders. There are men who go to' tho other extreme, as evidenced by tho judging at the late Masterton show. It is no doubt a matter for considerable selfsatisfaction to a breeder to think he can breed a sheep better at all points than can be produced in England, and probably he may succeed in evolving a type suitable to his perticular locality,but are typo and constitution mere shibboleths? The true position is that where those of our breeders who have a sufficient knowledge of their business to lead them to appreciate tho good qualities of the Home sheep and have been able while maintaining type, constitution and bone, to produce a good quality wool, they have sheep infinitely superior from a utility point of view to the English Romney. The best proof of this fact which has yet been furnished, apart from the expressed desire of one of the most successful breeders of Kent to secure some New Zealand blood in order to improve his’ flock, is that a breeder in Patagonia, who went to England to buy Romneys did not purchase a sheep owing to his dissatisfaction with tho wool, and has come all the way to this country to secu.ro the blood he desires. There is little doubt that tho best Romney flock in the world to-day, leaving out individual sheep, is that of Mr E. Short, and it is run fairly close by the flock of the late Mr Holms, of Southland.