1922.] 



Shropshire Sheep. 



45 



By careful selection and judicious mating of its own variety 

 this popular breed has been brought to the leading position it 

 now occupies. It has been by developing the strongly inherited 

 characteristics of the native breed of the district that all the 

 best flocks have been built up, and when in 1853 at the 

 Gloucester Eoyal Show the breed was recognised a great en- 

 couragement was given to breeders to place their breed in the 

 front rank. 



In the work of improvement the breeders were careful to 

 preserve the well-known reputation for hardihood, fecundity, 

 early maturity, and excellence of wool and mutton. 



Value for Crossing. — Abundant testimony could be given as 

 to the value of the Shropshire ram for crossing purposes, but the 

 following experiences, selected out of many, are convincing : — 



Mr. John Gregg, of New Zealand, in*an article on " The best 

 Mutton Sheep " about 20 years ago, says : " I use nothing but 

 Shropshire ram^s on my crossbred ewes. I find that my Shrop- 

 shire wool or a strong dash of that blood gives about l.\d. per lb. 

 more than any coarse crossbred." 



Mr. G. S. Kempe, writing on the Midland Association's Show 

 at Campbeltown, Tasmania, in 1900, says Shropshires in 

 Tasmania have secured a very strong foothold. Lambs for the 

 export trade need to be " thick in flesh, hght in offal, solid, 

 square, well coupled behind, and early maturing," and these 

 qualities may be looked for from the Shropshire cross with either 

 the Merino or Lincoln ewe on almost any pasture oi- in any 

 climate which can keep sheep profitably. 



In New Zealand equally good results are obtained, vide the 

 following remarks from an eminent firm of London Meat 

 Salesmen, in February, 1896 : — 



"In answer to your enquiry the most popular sheep and himbs from 

 Nortli Canterbury (New Zealand) are Shropshire crosses, and pnre Merinos 

 have simply no chance against them from a butcher's point of view. The 

 New Zealand Shropshire cross lambs are especially acceptable amongst hii^h- 

 class frozen meat butchers.'' 



In an able Paper on crossbred sheep read at Bufi^alo, U.S.A., 

 Professor Shaw, of the Ontario Agi-icultural College, after 

 referring to the improvement of the Merino without lessening 

 the value of the wool, and the breed or breeds best adapted for 

 that purpose, says it is a fact that some breeds do not answer as 

 well as others. He further says that the only sure evidence that 

 we can have that one breed will be able to effect improvement in 

 another is that furnished by actual demonstrntion. Tried by 

 this test the Shropshire ram has been found eminently adapted 

 for the purpose of improving the average foundation stocks 



