11 Aug., 1919. J Milk and Unpleasant Odours. 506 



m order to counteract the deficiency. Do not breed for frame alone 

 or for wool alone. Try and strike the happy medium. Do not sacrifice 

 the one for the other, but endeavour to produce a strong, well-built, 

 healthy sheep which is able to carry comfortably the commercial fleece 

 you wish to produce and yield a remarkable carcass of fair weight for the 

 butcher. 



The rams should be purchased from some reputable breeder, and a 

 fair price paid for them. It is false economy to purchase inferior ram^ 

 at any price. Buying rams is clearly a reproductive investment. The 

 more you pay for them the better they will, or at least should, be, and 

 the sooner the standard of the flock will be raised. 



There are still tco many famiers who argue that all rams are alike, 

 and that a £3 ram is as good as a £10 or £15 ram. Until South African 

 sheep farmers appreciate the value of a good ram the desired improve- 

 ment in our flocks cannot be effected. 



Buy rams from a recognised breeder of long standing, whose flock 

 has been "clean" bred and consistently "line-bred," and if you do not 

 afterwards breed your own rams, continue to purchase from the same 

 breeder as long as you own a sheep. In this way your sheep wi'l be 

 influenced by the good that blood confers, namely, family likeness, 

 uniformity, and prepotence. Do not frequently change your ram breeder, 

 as uniformity cannot be obtained in this way. 



On no account would I recommend the purchase of rams from a 

 recently established so-oalled stud flock whicli has two or more distinct 

 breeds in its composition, as rams of this hstsrogeneous description wou^d 

 infuse so many different strains of blood into the fleck to be bred back 

 to that it would become a regular "London mixture" whicli has lost all 

 family likeness and uniformity. 



The flocks of South Africa have been very materially improved by 

 sheep classing during the last ten years. It is sincerely hoped that sheep 

 famiers will generally realize the importance and necessity of improving 

 the Union's sheep industry, and will adept a more rigorous and thorough 

 system of sheep classing in the future. — Jovrvnl of hulnstries, South 

 Africa 



MILK AND UNPLEASANT ODOURS. 



Milk is a substance which is very sensitive to any objectionable 

 odour&i pervading the atmosphere. More especially is this true of milk 

 freshly drawn from the cow and still retaining its natural heat. 



Some little time ago (says a writer in the Agricultural Gazette) 

 a herd of milking cows were put to graze in a field in the cornei of 

 which a calf had been interred, but not sufficiently deep. As putre- 

 faction proceeded, the miasma of decomposition polluted the atmosphere 

 wherein the cows were breathing. The milk of these cows was found 

 to be unfit for consumption, and not only this, but the contagion 



