ROMNEY-CROSS FLOCK.

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 177, 13 August 1937, Page 12

ROMNEY-CROSS FLOCK.

Mr. W. A. Tod's Advice To Breeders CULLING OF TWO-TOOTHS Valuable advice on the breeding of a good average Komney-cross flocic was given in his address by Mr W.' A. Tod, the welUcnowu breeder, of "Hollycoiube," Otane, to member.s of the Waipukurau branch of the Farmers' Union. The iniportanee of the heavy culling of two-tootlis was stressed by the speaker, who in dealing with the rearing of hoggets stated that he had not done any dosing for the last 20 years. "Ncver mind what type of ewc you have; by careful sclection of your sires you cau very soon .see a niarlccd improvement in your ftock provided you reinember that 90 per cent of tlic breeding i's in the fecding," said Mr Tod. Bealing with the selection of tlic sirc, he said it was lirst necessary that thc type of wool to be grown should be lirst decided upon and then that rains should be bought with that particular count; The best way to buy the ram was to* go to a breeder 's farm where a good seleetion was available. If the type of ram was the type desired, then rams should be secured from the same breeder soason af ter season. Mr Tod added that tho best flocks in Hawke's Bay were bred on these lines. In selecting the flock from which the rains were to be obtained, he added, it was desirable that the whole of the breeder 's flock should be seen. If tbe gencral type of the flock was what the, farmer * desired, then' there was iittle need to worry as to what the rams would leave. If, howevcr, thore should be severn! t.ypes of wool ranging from 40 's to 50 's, oue could not be sure what onc would get, as some were bound to throw back; even if all the rauis piclced were 48 's, they might be out of strong-woolled ewes. It.was an old .saying that like would beget like and that a good sire would get lambs like himself; but this, unfortunately, said Mr Tod, did not always work but in practice, and as far as stud breeding was concerned there was a lot of luck attachcd to it. Selection of Sire An important point in tho seleetion of a sire was to see that the wool was reasonably even all over, with no hairy ■briteh and not too. mueh kemp on the front of the hind legs and purse. fShould there be a lot of kemp on tliesc j points, -it would invariably be :t'ound i on the rump and hip. A shecp with ! theso charactoristics should bc passed over. Tho flueco should have a hicc, even crimp, rvhich did not vt'aut to bc too, abrupt.

Carcase faults, said Mr Tod, were the most diflicult to eliniinate. important points to look for included a good, wide muzzle. The teeth should lit squarely and not protrude in frocf of the pad. Pink ears should be avoided, as they often denoted a wealc patcli of wool on the side of thA belly, and on these points tho fleece often rau away. The sire should tiavo a levei back without a dip behind the shoulders. He should be rvide and flat across the loin, haviug an even width of carcase from the shoulders to the jfln bones, with no waist behind the ; shoulders. The feet should be large ! aud should stand square on the ground, | not knuckling over. If twisted, ' they ; were more prone to scald and foot-rot. "Wheh I lirst started breeding, an old gentleman told me that ltonmeys had more faults than all of the other breeds put togethcr, and I bolieve kim now," said Mr Tod. 3 i The next point dcalt with by the speaker was the culling of ewes. He said that he had always endeavoured to cull one-third of his two-tooths. This was a matter, kowever, that each would have to consider according tp his own circumstances. Mr Tod said' that he had always kept a i'ew more twotooths than sheep of any other ages to allow for losses in later years. Where the two-tooths' were kept thoroughly culled, very little culling was required amoug the older sheep. Cull Two-Tooths Heavily "It pays best to keep a good old ewe to breed from than a cull two-tooth, and the best way to increase your flock is to keep the best of your old ewes and still cull the two-tooths heavily," said Mr Tod. "If I wero starting to tbuild up a flock from. a medioere lot of ewes, I would lirst cull the worst heads, suek as thin and long noses, which are usually the worst in constitution. "Then a start can be made on the hairy britekes or, what is worse, kairiness over the rump," eontinued Mr Tod. "After keeping at this for three or four years, you will lind that your hairy briteh and rump have practically disappeared. Then you can get down to tho liner points, sucli as bare heads, hollow backs and those that are eitner too flne or too coarse to match the bullc of your ewes.

Oontinuing, Mr Tod explained that carc in culling was essential, as britekes wero mueh liardcr in the nionth of Fobruary than they were two or lliroe iuonths latcr. Touching upon Ihe i'ccdiug of lambs, Mr Tod stated that, as dry sunimers were froquoutly cxpericnoed, i'eed had tn be grown io rear hoggets succesal'ully. On his farm, Mr Tod explained, he had grown for many years cliou mollier and Imperial Globe turnips, aud as a result he had never experieneed troublo with his hoggets. He had not dosed any since 1917. Aftor explaiuing how he fed on these crops, the speaker said that he found that the hoggets did remarkably woll. In an average season thore was no need to worry how hoggets would winter. It was not generally realised that hoggets should be in condition betoro the winter started, and feed should not be kept until then, so letting the hoggets go baelc in March. Once they were allowed to get down,' twice as mucli feed was required for thom to pick up ngain, espeeially should tho weather be wet and cold. Buring most of tho seasons in Hawke's Bay there was a good growth during April and May and' except in the case of over.stocking, theVc was littlc need for mueh extra feedj espeeially when a paddoek iu young grass hau bceii iaid dowa. ,