THE RIGHT SHEEP TO BREED.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3101, 31 May 1892, Page 3

THE RIGHT SHEEP TO BREED.

* TO THE KDITOH. Silt,—ln your issue of Thursday last I notice a letter from "Sheep Fanner." I wish "Sheep Farmer" had written over his own name, and not an assumed one. It looks as if he had not the courage of his opinions, and was ashamed to put his name to what he writes. It places me at a disadvantage, not knowing who I am arguing with, and he does. However, as I think I have tho best end of the stick, I can perhaps afford to let him have that advantage. He thinks I have taken a big contract, and that it niiiv be questioned whether I am a competent or impartial judge. lam not in the habit of taking contracts I cannot carry out, and if "Sheep Farmer" had signed his own name to his letter, there might be no question as to his competency and impartiality (or the contrary) in the matter. He says that I am dictating to men who were probably breeding sheep before I was born. I did not dictate (nor do I wish to do so) to anyone, old or voting. The fault of being a young man, I'll soon get over—perhaps too quickly ; and I have Been many old men whose advice I would not cam to follow. As for my cempetency and impartiality, that is easily answered. My father, brothers and myself have been breeding sheep in Waikato as long as any one in the district, and have been known for many years as successful breeders of stud Lincoln sheep in Waikato. It is a science that has baffled many, but anyone need only look at my flock of Lincolns to see that so far as I am concerned it has not beaten me, and I do not think anyone has had more opportunities of seeing the results obtained by other breeders of Lincoln and other breeders of sheep. So much for my competency ! Now for my impartiality. "Sheep Farmer" assumes, I suppose, that because I am a breeder of Lincolns, I cannot be impartial. Does he know who imported the first Romney Marsh and Border Leicester rams into Waikato that ever came into it? Perhaps not! I can tell him : It was myself, and lam sorry to have to say that I lost money : by it; lint tho results of using these sheep, ' obtained by the men who bought them, were very satisfactory. "Sheep Fanner" says the position taken up by me as regards the Linciln and Merino cross i is q-iito untenable, and savs that I sb"w a 1 remarkable want of knowledge in not know- i ing that the Merino is an utter failure on I

small farms. Well, S'r, I do nut think the position untenable or ridiculous, and I have not shown any want of knowledge. " Sheep Farmer " has shown a want of knowledge that, had ho signed his own name to hi* letter, I might not have thought in the least remarkable. I did not take up any position with respect !n any particular breed of sheep, but simply .stated that a cross obtained by putting Lincoln, Leicester or Romnoy ram--or the Merino ewes was equal to any .Blackface as a freezer, and would boat Blackface two to one in value, of wool. I am prepared to maintain that this is correct, and can tell "Sheep Fanner " that it has been proved in many instances that where you can curry the .Down you can carry the li df-bred ; and the latter is no more susceptible, if so much, to foot-rot as the Down is. I can give him many instances where Hie pure. Merino has been carried on small farms and fed on turnips with the best results, and have been easily kept free from foot-rot. How many thousands of pure.Merino ewes and wethers are fattened yearly on turnips in Canterbury and sent Home frozen ? I, myself, have fattened Merino wethers on turnips in swamp land in winter and kept them free from foot-r.'t. At the same time, I do not for a moment say that they are the best sheep for that purpose. Does " Sheep Fanner " know that very few sheep are more susceptible to foot-rot than the Down, .so far as Waikato is concerned? "Sheep Farmer" asks, Of what value is the testimony of Hawke's Bay and Wellington breeders ? He, may not think the testimony of men who—many of them—are under contract to ship 10,000 carcases a year of any value, as compared with the testimony of men who uiiiy ns>ver fre°xc as many in their lives. I (In. Are Nel-on Bros, nn authority ? Do they give more for a Down than for a Crossbred that is within their stipulated weight ? " Sheep Fanner '' says that though comparatively a j'ouug man, I may know what the British consumers require better than they know themselves. Well 1 would not be the first New Zealander that has put the Britisher up to a wrinkle. 1 have no more sympathy with the Britisher than inasmuch as we can make use of him to put the cash in o;:r own pockets. If "Sheep Farmer'' can afford to breed Downs to please the palate of the British gourmand by all means, let him do si), but I would ask you, Sir, if it is not worth our while to wait and consider, in the face of Lubonr Unions and social reforms, that year by year an; putting the working population of Britain in a belter condition, by giving them higher wages and shortur hours, and enabling them to use meat daily, whan a few years ago they scarcely ever saw it, which will pay us best to consider the British working population or those who like to eat currant jelly with their mutton. As for the sheep farmers Being to the Press for information, as to Home requirements, etc., I have nothing to say to that except that I have seen farming carried on much more profitably in the columns of a newspaper than I have ever seen any where olse. If I reinomber rightly it is only a few years ago since the millers said that if Waikato farmer,-; crew certain kinds of wheat, (they, the millers,) would give an extra sixpence per bushel for it. What was the result? What the farmers gained in price per bushel they lost in number of boshels per acre. Where was the gain? This question of sheep breeding is one that interests us all and cannot be gone into too thoroughly, and I hope I .shall be pardoned for taking up so much of your space, the question is a wide one, wider perhaps than "Sheep Farmer" comprehends. This world of ours is composed of very different soils and climates. To make the most uf tho different peculiarities <> f soil and climate, Nature has provided many different breeds of sheep, each with their own p-culiarities adapting them to the several different varieties of soil and climate. Is " Sheep Farmer" going to upset the laws of Nature. If lie tries to he will find he has a big contract—one that I think the Iran is not yet born to carry out. Now, coming to our own district, how many different conditions of soil, etc., have we existing?—more than I can, perhaps, name. Where is the man that can name the particular breed of sheep that can best adapt itself t-» all the different existing conditions ? Look at the immeuse back country, nearly all of which will carry nothing but Merino or halfbred sheep for many years te come, and much cf which will never cany anything else; no other sheep would carry their wo"i from shearing to shearing as thev do m that country. Before shearing a Down would have lost nearly all its fleece on the fern, scrub, and bush; and a Merino or halfbred, if missed at the one shearing, will cany the whole of its fleece on to the next shoaling. Will it not pay us as well to let those who own this back country breed our halfbreds for us ' when it has been proved that the halfbred '

dues as v.-ell w'th u= on our small farms as any Down, and work the whole of the country for the he-t good of all. Let them grow the freezers, and lot the small fanners fatten them. I fancy the small fanners will do better by fattening than by breeding and fattening. No single instance, such as Mr Hall's prize sheep or the Auckland Agricultural Company's half bred Down wethers, can be taken as an example. I can give one instance of where a shipment of Merino wethers netted, I believe, 23s each ; but he would be a bold man—and a 1 foolish one—that would say because they did tho Merino was tho sheep to breed for freezing. I do not wish anyone to think that I uphold any one breed of sheep as against another. In some instances, and under certain conditions, I know that no sheep will pay so well as a Down; and, under other circumstances, none so badly. I repeat we must adapt ourselves to circumstances, and carry the sheep that our lands are adapted by Nature to carry, and they who will Viest carry this principle out will find that it is the right one when it comes to "cash account." Some years ago iny eldest brother bred and carried Lincoln* on his farm at Wairoa. He found that his lambs were small and delicate, and the death rate large. He crossed with Downs, hut found that he was gnng from bad to worse. Ho then tried llomney Marsh rams, with the result that his lambs are strong and healthy, with g'"'d constitutions, and tho death rate reduced to a minimum almost, and his wethers at two.tooth are as nice freezers as one could find, being very nearly what I understand a freezer should be—a sheep that when fat and finished weighs not over (itlb or (551b. Take Mr E. B. Cox, of Taiipiri, for another instance. Some four years ago ho got from Napier a lot of halt-bred Lincoln Merino ewes. On them he used some of those beautiful fine wooled Lincoln rams of Mr Seddon's, of Knighton. Hamilton. His percentage of lambs has been an average of about 140 per cent each year, and his hoggets, I think, cut an average of about lOlbs of wool of first-rate quality, and are beautiful freezers, coming within the class for which Nelson Bros, gives the highest price, I have not Mr Cox's authority for using his name, but I think he will pardon me for doing so, and for saying that I do not think it at all likely he will change his breed for Downs. I believe during the last two seasons he has worked Leicester rams on a portion of his flock, and next year we shall know the comparison between the results of using the two breeds of rams. If I had permission to use the names of several men I know I could give instances where in Waikato the Down had proved an utter failure on land that longwnols have dono splendidly on. Mr Caverhill quotes Mr - John Grigg, of Longbeach, as an authority j in the letter he sent to the Waikato , Farmers' Club. I will repeat wh«t Mr Grigg said two and a-half years aeo at the ' Hawke's Bay show when he was looking al some half-bred studs exhibited by Mr Hugh Campbell (Mr Tanner's manag.-r). He said: "If this type of she. p Mas fixed, every other breed of sheep would have to go out, so far as New Zealand wis concerned." In many instances I think the Down is tho very best sheep to breed, but I do not think that many who have bred crossbred Downs have bred them the right way. Will "Sheep Farmer " kindly tell me which is the best way to cross? The longwool ram on the Down ewe, or vice versa. I will not say more than that I wish to repeat that I did not, nor had I any intention, of dictating as to what sheep people should breed. Those men who spoke so strongly at the Farmers' Club meeting are the ones who should be accused of that. I claim the right to think for myself, although a young man, and also to prevent, as far as I can, my fellow settlers from being led away by the advice of men who may look at the matter from a selfish point of view. I may add that no one is more interested in the matter than I am. To a very great extent my living depends on sheep, and the better ' my clients do with their sheep the better I shall do, and the less risk I shall run. I could say a deal more on the matter, but have not the time nor inclination to neglect my business for the sake of writing letters to the papers. So far as lam concerned, this letter must close the correspondence, but there is ample room for others to carry it on.—Yours truly, J. McNicol. Ohaupo, 30th May, ISM.