630 Journal op the Department of Agriculture. 



VII. 



Points for the Breeder. 



From the lessons learnt from the above results the following 

 points are strongly recommended to the breeder. Treat the first 

 lambing season you have as experimental, and correct your 

 mistakes from that. Find out from the Government all the 

 information you can about your ewes, and particularly what the 

 investigators think your rams are likely to do and what sort of ram 

 they would recommend you to buy. All B-type lambs, especially 

 " niggers," must be mated to an A-type ram, as plain as possible, 

 and one whose immediate parents at the very least were also both 

 of A type. This is very necessary, as often a lamb born of A type and 

 classed as such is out of a B or even a " nigger " ewe by a good ram, 

 and consequently has lots of B in his nature, which is certain to find 

 expression in the great majority of his progeny if put to B-type ewes. 

 It will be of great assistance to every breeder to arrange his lambing 

 for 1920 so as to have it OA^er by the time the annual sale of karakul 

 sheep takes place. By so doing he will be able to see whether the 

 ram or rams he has are giving good results with his ewes, and if he 

 desires to purchase one more suitable he will then have time to com- 

 municate with the writer at Grootfontein and find out if such a ram 

 is available. (About 20 yearling rams will be for sale, the majority 

 suitable for fur-pelt breeding.) Breeders are also strongly adA'ised 

 to purchase such rams even if they have to pay a good price for them, 

 and not to be tempted into buying some animal which is unsuilable 

 but which is being sold at a low figure. Bad quality of hair and poor 

 lustre in a flock, and, above all, " nigger " curl, can only be eradicated 

 by using good A-quality rams bred from A-quality parents on both 

 sides, and "watered silk" rams witli the proper length of staple are 

 tlie best for this purpose. Until quality and lustre are firmly estab- 

 lished a third class A " watered silk " ram bred correctly is of infinitely 

 greater value to any breeder of pure-bred karakul sheep than any 

 first class animal in AB or B, over even in A if one of his parents 

 has any tendency to produce B-type lambs, when correctly mated to 

 A-type stock, or was itself of that type as a lamb. It is best to use 

 plain "watered silk " or good A-curl rams for at least three genera- 

 tions on B's and " niggers," and only then to begin tightening up the 

 curl, still using A-type rams but with more definite curl (see Plates 

 3 and 5). Tliis point about introducing lustre and quality into a 

 flock before attempting to build up tightness of curl cannot be too 

 strongly emphasized. Once these essentials are established, tightness 

 of curl and strength of hair can be considered in the matings, and also 

 the length of staple. Lambs which have long soft hair at age of 

 description should be mated to rather strong-haired rams which were 

 rather short-haired as lambs, and so on as one would mate any other 

 class of stock to improve various weaknesses. 



It will often be found that there is a great diiference in the lambs 

 produced by the same parents : some may even be in A and others 

 in B. Professor P. Wallace, in the article quoted from earlier, 

 mentions this fact, and says that " by some this has been attributed 

 to feed, though, like the colour and quality of the hair of some of 

 our (loniestic animals in this country, it is probably due to natural 



