WAIRARAPA ROMNEYS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 April 1939, Page 3

WAIRARAPA ROMNEYS

TO BE SHOWN IN ENGLAND. Two New Zealand stud rams belonging to Mr R. W. Matthews, Waiorongomai; near Te Aroha, are to be shipped next week to England for exhibition at the Centenary Royal Show at Windsor. They were selected by a committee of the New Zealand Romney Marsh Sheep Breeders’ Association, in conjunction with Mr Matthews. The rams, both one-shear,'are typical of the modern type of the Romney as it has developed in the Dominion during the past 60-odd years; they are low set. thick and impressive looking, with grand short heads and good ears. They have good carriage, straight top lines and carry out well behind. Both rams carry excellent fleeces of good handling wool, even in quality throughout and showing an attractive crimp. They carry a type of wool known as “sire’s fleece.” On arrival in England the rams will be quarantined and on release will be prepared for exhibition on an English farm, from where they will be taken to the Centenary Royal Show. At the conclusion of the show they will be auctioned. The Waiorongomai flock was founded in 1875 by the late Mr Alfred Matthews, father of the present owner ot the stud, who took over in 1924. On one occasion Mr Alfred Matthews spent a whole year in Kent studying flocks. It was often said that he knew almost as much about the English flocks between 1875 and 1913 as did the English breeders themselves.