THE SHEEP PENS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3358, 26 October 1911, Page 6

THE SHEEP PENS.

JUDGING COMPLETED Competition yesterday was confined to the Crossbred and • Fat Classes. In Crossbreds the entries _ were satisfactory, but there was nothing outstanding about the sheep shown, which were of a useful station sort. For the best pen of ten ewe _ hoggets suitable for breeding, and which hadl been running with the main mob on hill country, six entries came forward. The sheep were a good healthy lot, but the pens were not as even as they might have been. Mr. R. C. Miller carried off first and third awards, while Mr. T. R. Lees, of To Arai. was placed second. The entry for best pen of five Crossbred wether hoggets (stud 1 flocks not eligible) brought out five entries, all the sheep being of a good useful station sort. Mr R, C. Miller scored again in this class, Mr. W. Sherratt carrying off second' and third awards. Te Puru Station carried off first and second honors for best pen of five Crossbred longwool ewe hoggets. Mr. T. R. Lees gaining second place with a Romney cross. Messrs J. Hunt and J. Russell judged the Fat Sheep, for which Messrs Holden Bros, and Te Puru Station were the principal exhibitors. The butchers’ classes produced some very good exhibits. the animals being particularly well forward.

Considering the hundreds' of thousands of sheep which are annually shipped home from this district as frozen meat, it is a matter for regret that a better display was! not made of brothers suitable for freezing. Apparently the little hit of trouble caused in sending entries forward is sufficient to deter many local breeders froni exhibiting at the Show. If pastoralists were

to study their own interests a little more, they must assuredly come to the conclusion that it would pay them* to assist in every way towards advertising the district by an annual display of what it is capable of producing in the way of freezing wethers. The most satisfactory classes yesterday were the fat Lambs, which were a credit to the district, the condition of the animals being truly wonderful for this season of the year. Mr. William JTcbson was the principal exhibitor in these classes, and carried all before him; in the oink of condition, his lambs showed providing a capital testimony as to what the Poverty Bay flats are capable of producing . Taken altogether, the display in the sheep classes, with the exception of Romneys and fat lambs, was weak, and it is to he hoped that local breeders will he patriotic enough in future to entail some little sacrifice in order that visitors might receive a better. impression of the sheep-raising capabilities of the district than they have* been given this week.