Cross-breeding for Wool and Mutton Production 167 



and more irregular. The fleece of a straight cross-bred 

 sheep is quite uniform throughout and each fiber is a blend 

 as to length and fineness between the long-wool and the 

 Merino. Such fleeces are very popular on the market and 

 are suitable to many forms of manufacture. If, however, 

 the ewe is of this zigzag breeding, the fleece of the offspring 

 will not be a good blend but will be mixed, some fibers fine 

 and some coarse, thus making the wool unsuitable to the 

 manufacture of many of the standard grades of cloth. 

 Many a range-man has experienced these difficulties, and 

 after years of careful breeding and the constant use of 

 pure-bred rams has realized that his stock had deterio- 

 rated and is no longer producing profitable fieeces. This 

 difficulty must be m^t in one of two ways. One is to 

 breed cross-bred ewes to cross-bred rams and continue 

 the process with careful selection until there is evolved 

 a new breed carrying the type of the original cross-bred 

 but breeding true. This is being attempted in the case of 

 the Corriedale and Panama. The second is to adopt some 

 system of cross-breeding which will hold off deterioration 

 as long as possible and thus give the breeder the maximum 

 returns from the cross-bred flock before he has to turn the 

 ewes for mutton and start anew. 



THE CORRIEDALE 



The Corriedale is an established breed, the type having 

 become fixed by years of careful breeding and selection 

 in New Zealand. The original stock was obtained by 

 crossing Lincoln rams on Merino ewes. Later a little 

 Leicester blood was introduced to make the lambs mature 

 earlier. All this was years ago and since that time no 

 outside blood has been mtroduced and selection has been 



