THE AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



617 



Natai Stud Farm, 



INTERVIEW WITH MR. P. D. SIMMONS. 



By ErgATES. 



{Concluded.) 



Sheep. 



" How about your sheep ? " 



" For four years I farmed merinos, but 

 the results were indifferent. I then came 

 to realise the fact that improvement in 

 wool would not be so paying as getting a 

 considerable increase in meat. By going 

 in for Shropshires I can safely say that I 

 have raised the value of my sheep 10s. a 

 head all round. I find them hardier, very 

 tractable, and more contented in disposi- 

 tion. My wethers I never experience any 

 difficutly in selling at 35s. ; from 4-tootli 

 upwards they all run over 601bs. On one 

 occasion I sold a pen of wethers at 50s. 

 each." 



" Do they get extra food ? " 



" No ; they do not ; they run on the 

 veld. The only sheep that get help in 

 the winter are the rams and the winter 

 lambing ewes." 



" What is the best time for lambing ? " 



" For this district the month of July, in 

 my opinion. Those lambs get a good 

 start before the rough cold rains of Sep- 

 -tember. Of course there is always a good 

 bite of grass in this district at the begin- 

 ning of September, but the ewes, if they 

 have not been fed, have by then run down 

 low in condition, and if the Septemljer 

 should be a wet and cold one as the last 

 has been, the chances of a good crop of 

 them are poor. As you know, most people 

 in this district have their lambing in the 

 month of September, and their losses 

 this year have been enormous. Shrop- 

 shires give less trouble than merinos. 

 Mine lamb in the veld, and are then — July 

 —put on the cultivated grasses. I also wean 

 the lambs, on those grasses. The Shrop- 

 shire is compact and symmetrical, and he 

 is the best for wool of a Down type. Up 

 to two years ago I got as good a price for 

 my wool as the growers of the best 

 merino, but since then the cross-bred has 

 sold at from Id. to l^d. less. The fleeces 

 on the average go slightly over 51bs. I 

 once experimented with an Oxford Down, 

 but the result was too loose and angular for 



this country. Every year I have an in- 

 creased demand for rams, and what is 

 most satisfactory to me, the orders are 

 generally repeated year after year. 

 People are now buying rams from me 

 who previously strongly believed that 

 the merino only was suitable for this 

 country. By the way the serving works 

 out at a very low cost if one goes in for 

 a July as well as a September lambing. 

 I use my rams twice, resting them and 

 feeding them after the first service, and 

 put them with the ewes again in April." 



" Do your best lambs die much in 

 January ? " 



" No ; not now. The mortality among 

 lambs in that month is, I believe, due to 

 heat. You know how they get in 

 clumps hanging down heads to- 

 gether when they cannot get shel- 

 ter from the sun's rays. Well, in all 

 my paddocks there are .wattle planta- 

 tions into which the sheep can and do go 

 to escape from the rays of the sun. A 

 drawback to the trees is the falling off of 

 dead bark, which gets into the wool of a 

 Shropshire — a disadvantage in this respect 

 when compared with the close wool of a 

 merino. I also dose the lambs with open- 

 ing medicine, and follow it with a tonic. 

 In the licks I give sulphate of iron, also 

 sulphur and lime. 



Persian Sheep. 



Previous to the Boer invasion Mr. 

 Simmons was a breeder of Persian sheep, 

 there being a good demand for the rams 

 among the low veld farmers. The Boers 

 took all excepting one ram and four ewes. 

 Where kafir sheep only can live, there 

 the Persian is in demand for crossing. 



" 1 am again," he said, " grading up a 

 flock by using Persian rams on kafir ewes, 

 for Persian ewes are now unobtainable in 

 this Colony. When the war comes to an 

 end I shall again get more Persian ewes 

 from the Cape. I found the rams which 

 I bred sell well. People on the low veld 

 should, in my opinion, go in much more 

 than they do for these types of sheep," 



