428 SCIENCE IN AFRICA 



SMALL STOCK, ETC. 



Sheep, like cattle, exist throughout Africa in a diversity of local 

 indigenous races. Since sheep and goats have the flocking instinct 

 well developed compared with cattle, they are preferred by some 

 African peoples in country where large carnivora are abundant. 

 Little enough is known about indigenous sheep, but it is important 

 that very many of them have hair rather than wool, and therefore 

 most of the industry in either wool or mutton is dependent at 

 present on introduced European breeds, some of which have been 

 rendered more suitable to the African environment by an admix- 

 ture of indigenous blood. 



In South Africa merino farming is an old established occupation, 

 which was stimulated by the collapse of the ostrich industry, 

 though most of the old ostrich farms are now devoted to cattle. 

 It appears that the merino was originally imported to Australia 

 from South Africa, but at intervals Australian sheep have been 

 brought to South Africa to introduce new blood. The sheep indus- 

 try has grown to far larger proportions than were ever attained by 

 the ostrich industry. In 1931 there were 44,000,000 woolled sheep 

 in the Union; the number fell to 27,000,000 in 1934, chiefly as a 

 result of the severe drought which prevailed at that time, but, by 

 1936, it had risen to 30,000,000. Some of the world's finest wool 

 is now produced there. The department of agriculture assists the 

 industry through the work of its sheep and wool officers, who are 

 in great demand by farmers, and through the inspection services 

 instituted at the ports. The recent disastrous slump in wool prices 

 has stimulated interest in mutton production; unless, however, 

 this is developed separately, cross-breeding will inevitably bring 

 about deterioration in the quality of the wool (Lewis 1935). The 

 possibility of the production of fat lambs in many parts of South 

 Africa is necessarily limited by the water-supply. Experiments 

 carried out by the sheep and wool department of the University 

 of Pretoria have given support to the theory that the sulphur 

 content of merino wool depends primarily on hereditary factors, 

 but that a deficiency of cystine in the diet of sheep lowers the sul- 

 phur content of their wool (Bonsma and Joubert 1 934) . Experi- 

 ments to determine whether the feeding of cystine to sheep pro- 

 duces an increase in weight and quantity of wool, are in pro- 



