THE BREEDING AND REARING. OF LIVE STOCK.

Southland Times, Issue 1564, 16 April 1872, Page 3

THE BREEDING AN D REARING. OF LIVE STOCK.

. — ■ The following are notes of a recent address by the Hey. Canon Beever, before the Biveiinekshire Chamber of Agriculture: — "The breeding and rearing of live stock was another important matter. Mr Frank 13uH<land and others hid tried to introduce aU sorts of birds and cattle into this country from those in which they wre dimatisnd, but Mr Bui'kland himself had told him that the experiment had proved a failure ; and, therefore, bis advice to those commencing farming, and what he himself would follow if he were beginning, was to get the best stock of the neighborhood in which the farm was situate, and in t'lat respect Mr Buckland said 'the farmers of this county had a grand field for improvement. Now, supposing he took a farm in that county, he should endeavor to become acquainted with the stock kept by the leading farmers, | and also the special aptitude of the soil from those who lived in the neighborhood of the farm he proposed to take, who necessarily were better acquainted with it, and in that way he should derive very valuable information. He should probably find that the flocks of the county were a special feature, because Breconshire was somewhat noted for" its sheep ; and, certainly, from what he had seen, justly so. His object therefore would be, whether on a hill or a lowland farm, to improve the breed of his sheep, so as to make them give better fleeces, more flesh, and possess hardier constitutions. With regard to pigs, they were cot a local breed, the different kinds being found everywhere ; but he would not go in much for any of them. Horned stock, he observed, appeared to be closely related to the soil, inasmuch as the different breeds were peculiar to their own distinct part of country. He might be wrong, but he believed that if they took pure- bred ETerefords, and turned them out in the black cattle country, without allowing them to be crossed, they would, after a long term of years — say 100— be found to have grown into and have assumed the type of black cattle. " Here was an instance : An old friend of his in Caertnarthenshire commenced breeding Shorthorns, and for that purpose bought the very best representatives of that type ; but the result had been that they had assumed the exact shape and appearance of the black catle, though certainly they were not of the same color. He asked him how he accounted for it, and in reply he attributed it simply to the soil, -and said he had watched them change gradually uutil they had assumed the type of the cattle of that county. And, again, if they took Devonshire cattle into the Shorthorn couutry, and turned them loose for a hundred years, their characteristics would be those of Shorthorned stock. However, as he had said, he had nothing to teach them ; he should s ly to a young farmer coming into a fresh country — ' Choose the best stock around you.' For example, he saw a flock of sheep the day before, from which he might choose 20 auimals, all of them of the most beautiful type ; and having done that, he should endeavor- to make his whole flock, by judicious cross breeding, as perfect as possible. That is, he should fix a certain type for himself, and try to reach it with his entire flock. He instanced that an eminent breeder came to the conclusion that Southdown sheep were not the most profitable, and to make them more so, he crossed and recrossed, always keeping before him a distinct type to attain to. And so again with horses. If they -wanted a. good breed they must begin by getting a mare of character, as fine as possible in every point, and perfectly sound. He was glad to say they had an excellent breed of horses in that county. But he had seen horses that were not of such an excellent type, and instanced that one to which a prize was awarded at an agricultural meeting he attended had not a single good point about it — at least what he had been taught to consider good points in an animal. It would be useless to try and get a good breed except the animals were good on both sides, and even when they had got a good male and good female they might be disappointed. At first they might be exceedingly lucky, as several notable breeders had been in producing such animals as the Bloomer mare, Stockwell, and King Tom ; but he had a friend who had bred a hundred mares and who had never managed to breed a good one ; yet he was a first-rate judge and went in for horses, but he was not fortunate, and gave it up. Then again there were small breeders, who, perhaps with two or three animals, made a really good thing out of breeding. " Now, what he should recommend the young farmer to do would be to endeavor to purchase from bis neighboring farmers some old female animals of known character; and for sires he should recommend him to go to an eminent breeder, and see if he could get hold of something, within his means, known to be the sire of something first-class ; and having done that and fortune favored him, it was more than likely he would be successful. But if he were not successful, be could only say that his experience had shown him that there was no certainty whatever in breeding horses. A breeder might have a splendid carriage mare, beautiful to look at, fine in action, and possessed of great inherited qualities, yet the foal she brought would not be fit to be looked at ; whereas, at the same time, a man occupying the next farm might have a famous trotting thing which would produce a foal which ' at three years old would sell for 50 or 60 guineas. For sires, however, never let them try t<3 use cross-bred animals. They should go in for purity of blood. The Arab, who got rid of everything that was not perfect to his skilled aud trained eye, taught them that lesson. The first cross of any animal he knew was always beautiiul. For example, the crossing of a Southdown with a Cotswold would produce in the tirat instance a beautiful animal, but if kit was repeated they would agree with

him that the result would be disappointing ; anrl he could not do better than repeat that whatever sire they employed it should be a pure bred one. He next came to the question of how to introduce pufH blood. Eminent breeders went to other breeders, sparing neither time nor expense, until they secured a cow to their own liking, and after four generations breeding in-and-in they managed to introduce and gain her constitution, at the same time investing Her progeny with their own desired type and outward appearance. He had paid a visit a month ao;o to an eminent breeder's, where the process of improving stock and obtaining a higher and better type of animal was I being carried on, and be advised that during the period of gos'ation all kinds of stock should be well housed. He did j not mean tint it was necessary they ■ should he kept in confined buildings, but certainly they ought to be sheltered from the rain, and also to be well Ted. One of his neighbor's, who was really^ one of the best sheep farmers he knew, and who loved it, had had a great mortality among his lambs this last season; he believed he had lost 160, whilst he (the speaker) had not lost one. Tt was not that he paid more attention to his sheep, but the real secret was in what the surgeon said to him, that he had kept his ewes too low. Now that exactly agreed with his own experience, and if they allowed their ewes at a certain season to run on stubble j to pick up what they could get, the probabilities would be that they would have a great mortality amongst their lambs ; whereas, if they fed them well, the result would be far more satisfactory. " His next point was as to rearing the young. With regard to horses, they could not treat them too well ; young horses especially required to be fed well, and being so they would repay their owners. If people would only eat horseflesh it would be, he thought, a great blessing to the country, for the reason that we should not have such prices in the market for butcher's meat if, when they had a spindle-shanked good-for-nothing two-year old colt, it was sent to be slaughtered. Everybody had a natural love for horses, and if the antipathy to "eating them could be got over, the consequences would be that, if all the bad ones were sent to the market, we should have the finest accumulation of horses — because we had the finest breed in the world, that was, he repeated, provided all the screws were killed and eaten. Calves, also, required to be treated well. A friend of his had a splendid lot of Shorthorns, but he had managed to get a miserly bailiff, and the result had been that he had got a lot of pot-bellied calves, not worth 17 s Gd each ;-but, if the mother and calf had been treated well, in all probability they would have been a fine lot of healthy calves, which, when they came to two years old, would well repay the little extra cost incurred by a more liberal management. The late Mr B. Booth, one of the finest judges of stock, said to him, ' What would you have the mother's milk for but for the calf?' and advocated that the various foods suggested to be given, should be given through the mo! her, as, if so, the calf would possess an increased richness of blood. Regarding pigs, he might make them acquainted with a dodge worth remembering. Most of them knew that if they had afi sow which had not enough milk for her litter, and they gave skimmed milk to the little pigs, the chances were a thousand to one that a lot of them would die. But, by mixing Epsom salts in- a proper proportion, its prejudicial effects would.be prevented. Skim-milk made them costive, wbile the mixing of Epsom salts with, it gave it an opposite tendency. " He had only one other suggestion to make, and it was that they should go in for a distinct stamp of stock — say like the Suffolk farmers and breeders bad done. One eminent breeder of that county got 600 guineas for two cart mares, and why should not they do the same ? Then with regard to the sheep they had a distinct type, and it should be their endeavor to improve it in the same way as other breeders had improved their flocks, and who now realised high prices for them. He mentioned one farmer who be^an 'life as a laborer's son, but who had applied himself to the improvement of stock, commencing in a humble way, until he bad derived great profit horn ifc, and was known as one of the most eminent breeders in the country. The Suffolk horses and catt'e had become famous because the breeders and farmers in that county had set before themselves a distinct type to attain to, and now their horses and cattle were as much like one another as they could possibly be. They in Breconshire were celebrated for their cart mares as well as their ponies, out of both of which they anight make a firstrate thing, and he instanced that he remembered £8& being given for an unbroken three-year-old colt from that county. He advised that in order to the improvement of their cart mares and ponies they should agree upon a distinct type, towards which they should get rid of all the bad three-cornered animals, and only breed from those that were the best of their kind. From what he had seen since he had been in that district, if he had only 100 of their ewes, such as he could pick from farms of the neighborhood, and if he had two or three of their cart mares, as well as other stock, he should bo as happy as a "prince, and he thought he should hardly ever go lo bed for looking at them."