THE CORRIEDALE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 January 1940, Page 3

THE CORRIEDALE

WORLD-WIDE DEMAND EVIDENT. AUSTRALIAN APPROVAL. The history of the Corriedale in Australia shows that it is much less susceptible to many of the common disease than the Merino. A writer in an Australian stock journal enumerated some of the virtues of the breed in this respect, and the remarkable demand for it in practically all the main sheep-breeding countries of the world. The writer states in his introductory remarks that it took the excessively wet conditions this year in Victoria (and the abundance of feed) to demonstrate the marked resistance of a breed like the Corricdale to such troubles as' footrot and foot abscess, which are proving a very serious problem for flock masters. What has been shoy/n this season in the pronounced resistance of rhe Corriedals to these and other diseases is likely to prove an important factor in increasing still further the popularity of ths very useful breed. As the pasture lands of Australia continue to be enriched by the application of fertilisers, and by sowing down (both performed with the object of producing more wool and meat, and so making properties more profitable), there will continue to be a proportionately greater demand for Corriedale sheep, which are recognised to be the dual purpose sheep, with the

added recommendation of being less liable to attack from various quarters —under the headings of which come the blowfly and footrot. The reason why the Corrieclale is less susceptible to attack from the blowfly—a menace which costs Australia about £4,000.000 a year—is that the body being free from wrinkles, and the wool from excessive grease, its attraction for the blowfly is greatb' lessened. Similarly, because of its 50 per cent British breed ancestry (British breeds being notably less susceptible to foot troubles!, the Corriedale is less likely to get footrot or foot abscess. The average clean yield of Corriedale wool whert scoured is from 65 per cent to 75 per cent —a very high figure for any one breed—while the average clean scoured yield of the whole Australian wool clip is from 50 to 52 per cent. In the course of the annual reports which he furnishes to the Australian Meat Board, in regard to the work which he has been doing for some years past, as standardising grader of export wealth for all States of the Commonwealth, Mr Ross Grant, Commonwealth veterinary officer (Victoria), has commented on the merits of the Corriedale type of ewe when mated to a suitable sire, as a producer of the most suitable type of lamb for export. I

In the course of these comments, Mr Grant has observed that "In districts with heavy rainfall preference would be given to first cross ewes of the strong wool type, though, even under these conditions, the Corriedale gives excellent results. In districts of mediium and lighter rainfall, which constitute the greater part of the lamb-pro-ducing areas in Australia, observations extending over a long period of years point definitely to the merits of the Corriedale ewe as a mother for the export type of lamb, both from the point of view of the type of carcase produced and the value of the skin and wool. The merits of the Corriedale are particularly marked during seasons of subnormal rainfall, such as, for example, 1938.” All over the world is to be found this advocacy of the Corriedale as the product for the man who requires a | comparatively trouble-free sheep, with a high commercial rating for both woql and meat.

The United States have taken many Ccrriedales, and today the .numerous stud flocks in America show the exI tent to which this New Zealand breed has flourished in that country. The Soviet is said to have imported various shipments from North America, but so far it is not know how the sheep have fared on Russian soil. In South America there is a preponderancy of Corriedale blood in millions of sheep which run on widely different types of feed and under diverse climatic conditions. After exhaustive tests Japan had bought many Corriedales. The breed was decided upon as the most suitable sheep for the majority of Japanese purposes. The Corriedale combines with its great commercial value a remarkable constitutional vigour and ability to acclimatise to almost any condition. From the extreme cold and wet conditions of the Island of Tierra del Fuego, the most southerly sheep-pro-ducing area in the world—within two degrees of the Antarctic Circle—to the heat of Kenya Colony and Northern Australia, the Corriedale flourishes. I