AN EXPERIMENT IN SHEEP BREEDING.

Taihape Daily Times, 3 September 1919, Page 3

AN EXPERIMENT IN SHEEP BREEDING.

A Victorian (Australia) breeder, who raised sheep for mutton began the plan of settling éi'§a;l-t for special attention the e\'vcs which yielded twins. In all flocks there is a percentage of ewes which are unusually prolific, and he worked on that fact. His exper'l~ence has been that the ewes, with sufficient. fo-old, were able t.o_ support

in the young stages two lambs as well as one. The result of the scheme has been remarkable Before he emma"l«:ml upon it his lambing percentage was 89, The next year, after culling, it rose to 104, and in the third year to 144. He is so satisfied with his project that he has mapped out a course to apply the principle to rams ——t.llat is, selecting the sires which are themselves descended from pror lifie mothers. Breeders all know the value of the principle of selecting‘ in the dairy herds, and there is no reason to fear the results when applied to other live stock. This breeder expects that before he has done -he will develop a flock which will give him a lambing pereeiihage of at least 200 per 100 ewes. That] he thinks, would ‘be a safe point at which to halt-.—--Veterinary Record.