HAIR IN WOOL

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 131, 19 June 1937, Page 19

HAIR IN WOOL

The Value of Fleece Testing ADDRESS TO FARMERS "Hairines in wool doea .not tell the whol© stox*y any more than- the measuring of the butterfat of the herd give the whole business. Hairiness does not tel anytliing aboui eonstitution on bred character any more than does the babcoek test," said Mr. R. "Waters, of the staff of the Massey College, in his report on •fieece-testing at the reeent conference of sheepfarxners, at Palmerston North, when bo stressed that many farmers based their opinions of stock largely on appearance rather than on performance. The great value of the latter feature was yet to be realisod. ln agricultural shows, Mr. Waters said that the basis on whiqh jtidgnient. was invariably made Was jndividlial performance. No attention was paid to the parents or brothers or sisters, wxth the .result that it was not surprisjng that prise-xyinuers frequently turned out a disappointin ent. ■ At ram fairs Mr. "Waters explained that parents or progeny hardly caine into' the question when buying a ram whiclx was boiight end kold on its appearance. Likewise in the culling of eweg they were examined largely according to their appearance with the result it was not surprisihg that there was such a large mixtui*e of character in nxany of ihe sheep in New Zealand, Performance of Sires. . The rqal objeet in regard to. measuriiig the performance of sires and damg in respect to hairiness was by no nxeans the wixqle story althougli it was a nxost important phase. The test for hair, Uke the' bahcock test, did not tell -any- ' thing concerning eonstitution or breed character^ A cow might be earrying tuherculosis or other diseases but the babcoek would not reveal this. This ! must be submitted to anqther test. The sire was regarded as being the greatest single influence in the herd, continued Mr. Waters. Because of the sire's importance xt was. essential that lifetime records should be kept completely expresing producxng and reproducing ability. This, he said, ajnounted to a performance tesL— the hardest test of all. *MIn performance |s a message not only for the dairy farmers but to all the sheepfarmers of - New Zealand. Endeavours to bring performance -to the forefront deserved encouragement. * Individual appearance cannot carry us much further. Until pexi'ormance is brought in we cannot expect to make much advance," urged Mr. Waters. The speaker tben proceeded to refer to the sheep tested during the past year. These, he said, had all been. selected by the breeders. In respect to the small docks good progress had been made but in respect to the ffccks as a whole it was yet slow. Results of Tridls. Of animals tested 2o per cent. of those tested were in the top grade, ' but from a performance point of vieW many of these might possibly not be very good. ln the three top classes 66 per cent. were xncluded and could be regarded as good stud animals. Nine per cent. were remarkably hairy and should be gat xud of and be replaced with betterwoolled young ewes. A further 15 per cent. were sbrts that should have been disposed of by being sent to fhe butchers. Sorne most interesting results were revealecl in the unshorn ram and ewe hoggets. ln the clases the dams had an average of 66 per qent, but tlje ram hoggets had only 55 per cent. Such a position had to be expected explained the speaker, and was due to the ram lambs not being shorn, thus having tips in their loeks. When these hoggets were submitted as twa-tooths they would invariably have a higher test and a correspondingly higher ciassification. This also applied to older sheep. The use of the unshorn hogget test was of great importancd as it was an index of how a farmer was getting on. When he obtained his test he would be able to see how his hoggets cotnpared with the average New Zealand stud hoggets. JELe could also by rneans of the test compare his stock and see if the progeny were as good as their mothers. The speaker explained that over the whole flock there might be a season bigli might shoxv a greater or iesser umount of h^ixliiess. /Ihe most iuiporLaiit aspect l'rom tcstiijgj he continued. was to ascertaiu wliether the sires and dams wero pexionning well or badly. Every seuson brouglit a Jrcsh lot of evidence for or against the sires and dams. Testing would reveal whiclx wero of inxpure biood. The inherited characters had pot been shown to vary. Dams over three years had produced high although the rams had been varied. Other groups had fiuctuated while others had been shown to be deiinitely bad. 'I'ouchiug upou ihe question of shearxng lambs, Mr. Waters stated that as the resuxt of testing, shorn hoggets had jumpod up ponsiderably in the top class from 55 per cent. to 72 per cent, 1 When shorn as lambs hair was out olE which was nofc restored. Those, however, that wero definitel.v prone to i hairiness would show through the full 1 length of the woo] more so than in the : tips Atily. Roplying to n question Mr. Waters oxpjftined that in the top, gx'ades t-lie «keep would be bettei" m i;*r as hqir

was concerned but they could be inferior jn other respects. He had fottnd sheep in the top g'rades that had been disoarded for othef .reasons. The Buying Aspect, In reply to another question he said that a good percentage of fine hair might be regarded by the wool buyer as being good wool. In seasons when diserimination was being .shown by the buyer, the position would be affected. It was possible, he said, to get a 46 count that was definitely hairy and a 46 count that was defluitely pure wool. I'roi'essor G. Pereu pointed out that the buyer xniglit not be prepax-ed to pay good money for hair which would- afi'ect the couub. A VoiCe: Aixd the price. Professor Peren pointed out that the wool buyer classified extra super, super and average. Where hair was showing to any extent it would not be classified above average. "Is the stud breeder so much concerned with the cash value of wool as With the potentialities of his breed and the value of his hoggets," asked a questioner who pointed out thafc the breeder was premarily a seller of sheep more than lie was a grower of wool. Mr. Waters in reply stated tlxat tlie experiments were being carried out to seo how much help could be given in tho judgment tbat breeders had to show. As a result of the test he could do better than by judging by the eye alone.