IC)20.] ACCOL'XTS OF A HAMPSHIRE FlOCK IX 19X^-19. 13^ 



are at their highest in Wiltshire, Hampshire, West Sussex and 

 Suffolk. The actual maxima of decline occur in the Isle of Ely 

 and Holland (Lincoln), but the numbers of sheep there kept 

 are comparativeh' small. It is, in fact, the sheep on arable land 

 that have been reduced by the operations of control. The costs 

 of keerping these sheep have increased enormously because they 

 have to bear the heavy labour costs involved in folding and in 

 the growth of green crops upon which the flock is fed. At the 

 same time the receipts have not been enhanced in the same 

 proportion because flock-owners have not been able to obtain 

 the higher prices for lamb as compared with mutton upon which 

 the financial success of the Down flocks depended in the past. 



No separate statistics are available of particular breeds, but 

 it is obvious from a consideration of these figures that breeds 

 like the Hampshire Downs, the South Downs, the Oxfords and 

 the Suffolks must have lost something like half their numbers 

 during the later years of the War, when control of meat prices 

 existed. This diminution in numbers can be set down to the 

 enhanced cost of production, the unremunerative price of lamb 

 and the temptation held out to the flock-ow^ner to realise his 

 ewes and to sell his hay at the high prices that have been pre- 

 vailing for that commodity, while at the same time he could, 

 for a time at any rate, grow profitable corn crops in place of the 

 unremunerative fodder crops formerly grown for the flock. 

 The general decline that was going on in the numbers ot arable 

 land sheep has fm-ther reacted unfavourably upon the market 

 for ram lambs, the demand for w^hich on a flock of the type 

 described has naturally fallen when so many of the non-pedigree 

 commercial flocks were being given up. It is clear that until 

 the market resumes a more normal condition and early lamb 

 obtains a price commensurate with its cost of production, the 

 folding of sheep upon the arable land will continue to be un- 

 remunerative. Were the present range of prices to continue it 

 would be necessary to eftect a complete change in the farming 

 system that has hitherto prevailed upon the chalk areas, for that 

 system is essentially based upon the consumption of green crops 

 upon half the arable area as the best preparation for the 

 succeeding corn crops. 



The accounts further illustrate the unremunerative character 

 of pedigree stock breeding in the early years before the name 

 of the herd or flock has been made. The quality of the produce 

 may be undeniable, but a place in the charmed circle of big 

 prices depends very much upon the personal skill and adver- 

 tising art of the owner. 



