SECTION M.— AGRICULTURE. 



SHEEP FARMING ; A DISTINCTIVE 

 FEATURE OF BRITISH AGRICULTURE 



ADDRESS BY 



PROF. R. G. WHITE, 



PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. 



Early in the sixteenth century Master Fitzherbert wrote : 



* An housbande can not well thrjrve by his corne without he have 

 other cattell, nor by his cattell without corne. For else he shall be 

 a byer, a borrower or a begger. And because that shepe in myne 

 opynyon is the mooste profytablest cattell that any man can have, 

 therefore I pourpose to speake fyrst of shepe.' 



The first part of this extract is a clear statement of the belief responsible 

 for the traditional policy of British agriculture. The soundness of that 

 policy perhaps is not accepted so readily and generally as it used to be, 

 but, while we might differ on the broad question, we shall at any rate agree 

 that one of the biggest immediate problems which British farmers have 

 to face is that of finding a profitable outlet for their main crop — grass. 

 It therefore seems appropriate that we should give special consideration 

 to the kind of ' cattell ' of which Fitzherbert had such a high opinion, and 

 that like him Section M at this meeting should ' speake fyrst of shepe.' 



I am sure that he would accept my title without question, or, at most, 

 would assert that it was much too mild, but, without making any reflection 

 on my audience, it is perhaps necessary to produce some evidence in 

 support of my opinion that sheep farming is a ' distinctive feature of 

 British agriculture.' I must restrict my survey to Great Britain, but my 

 claim could probably be justified even if we used the term British in its 

 wider sense. About one-third of all the world's sheep are in the British 

 Empire. They produce about half the world's wool and probably about 

 the same proportion of mutton and lamb. 



Table I, compiled from the International Y ear-Book of Agricultural 

 Statistics, shows that in relation to total land area our sheep population 

 is only surpassed by that of New Zealand. Even if we consider actual 

 numbers. Great Britain is eighth on the list, and, except for New Zealand, 

 is only surpassed by countries many times its size. 



