SOUTH AFRICAN SHEEP.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 2002, 12 July 1919, Page 4

SOUTH AFRICAN SHEEP.

CLAIM THAT THEY EQUAL

AUSTRALIAN,

A remarkable' statement was made at Bloemfontein at a meeting of the South African Stud Breeders’ Association, held during the agricultural show, now the greatest meeting of the kind in South Africa. Mr Mallinson, one of the leading sheep experts of the Union, when it was proposed that names of imported strains, sitch as Wanganella, Tasmanian, or Rambouillet, should be dropped, said: — “If sheep are bred to Sdulh African standard at any one farm, and that strain becomes known, then it should be known by the name of that farm as a particular strain of South African merino., I have seen sheep at this show, not one, but dozens, as good as any exhibited at the great shows at Sydney. The time has arrived when South Africa should take equal rank with Australia in the quality of sheep.”

This sentiment met with universal support. Ten years ago, says an exchange, such a claim would have been scouted as ridiculous. That its reasonableness is demonstrable now indicates the advances of South African stock-breeding, which is a fact of Imperial importance.

As an illustration of this progress it may be mentioned that Mr Southey, a well-known Gape breeder, imported a champion Tasmanian ram for £I,OOO. Mr Southey has now refused £2,000 for the African-bred grandson, which has already beaten the 1917 Tasmanian champion.