BREEDING SHEEP FOR WOOL.

Shannon News, 15 April 1925, Page 4

BREEDING SHEEP FOR WOOL.

In : the course of a lecture o"n "The Structure' and Characteristics of Textile Yams" in the W." M. Ramsay Technical School, Edniburgh, Professor W. Davis, of the University College, Nottingham, stated that at present there was a movement in the direction of improving sheep's fleeces and making them finer i'n quality. In the Animal Breeding- Research Department at Leeds. University fine-woolled sheep ifrom Peru had bee"a introduced with the object, of bringing, the firier ■ strains into British wools. If they ! wanted a good quality of wool they needed to;develop -•• a small, type "of I sheep that-concentrated on the growing Of wool. The bigger sheep which ! grew mutton chiefly did "not give* such good results as regards wool production. Research 'had shown how much there was to learn in the textile industry, and it also showed how many of the defects they were up against originated long before the wool came into the manufacturer's hands or into the tailor's ha'nd& The lecturer discussed, the merits and limitations of the wools of various breeds of sheep for manufacturing purposes, indicating that in this country the finest wool, which was very largely used for flannels, underwear, and the finest grains of tweeds, was produoed by the South Down sheep. Abroad, the merino was a specialist in wool growing,, and its wool was unsurpassed i*:i quality. This breed of sheep -was very adaptable to the conditions in Australia, where its yield of wool had been increased from slb. to 151 b. a year.