By Dr Clive Dalton


'His Majesty’s Spanish Flock. Sir Joseph Banks and the Merinos of George III of England'.
H.B. Carter, 1964.
Angus and Robertson. First published in 1964.

H.B. Carter and Merino sheep arrive at Leeds University
This story starts when I was a Lecturer in the Department of Agriculture at the University of Leeds from 1959-1968, and Harold Carter arrived 'out of the blue' in 1965 with a flock of Merino sheep which were pastured at the University farm at Headley Hall.

None of us on the staff were told anything about them by our Head of Department, Professor T.L. Bywater, and certainly none of us who lectured in 'Animal Husbandry' knew anything about Merinos. I can only remember looking at them once, as they and Carter were 'off the radar' on visits to the farm with students. The sheep never seemed to move from their allocated area at Spen farm, unlike the other sheep which rotated over a wide area on the farm as they were integrated into a mixed farming operation.

So I was interested to learn from my former colleague, Senior Lecturer Geoff Boaz's book (see later) that the sheep flock was made up of purebred Merinos and some Cheviot x Merinos. The latter must have been produced at the University of Edinburgh's 'Animal Breeding Research Organisation' (ABRO) as part of Carter's research.

Meeting Carter
I can only remember brief meetings with Carter outside the Textile Department on my way to lunch at the Senior Common Room. I can't remember him ever being in the Agriculture Department. Carter assumed that (as a sheep enthusiast) I would know all about Merinos, and hence would have an interest in his recently published book on His Majesty's Spanish Flock. He lent me a copy which I soon returned unread, as Merino history and mad English Kings were not my priority at the time.

I was more concerned about getting out of the place, after the University Grant's Committee had declared that Leeds, Glasgow and Oxford should close down their 'Agriculture' degree courses and teach more 'Agricultural Science'. This was the start of a major 'shambles' in agricultural eduction in UK, the effects of which have been very long lasting which I've been happy to watch from afar.

I remember when I started asking who Carter was, and how we had this world expert on Merinos in the Textile Department, with his weird sheep grazing at the University farm, I was told very much on the quiet, that he had overstayed his welcome at ABRO, and had landed in our midst to find a home.

Aussie v Kiwi
Knowing the personality of H.P. (Hugh) Donald, Director of ABRO, it wasn't difficult to suspect that the relationship between Carter and Donald would have had problems. Donald would in a very short time have seen Carter as a threat. And after decades in New Zealand, I can well imagine our 'trans-Tasman rivalry' being alive and well between them.

One of Donald's staff described him as 'acerbic' till he tool a liking to you, and then you were 'great mates'. Donald had been at Massey College in New Zealand (now Massey University) with C.P. McMeekan (and both had similar personalities). I can see now that they would have made a very good pair - a pair that inevitably had to go their separate ways, which they did.

Comment from Dr Michael Ryder
Dr M. L. Ryder is a biology graduate of Leeds University, but took his research degrees in the Textile Department and began his career at the Wool Industries Research Association. He spent three years as Senior Lecturer in Wool at Armidale in NSW (1960-62) and then 25 years in Edinburgh, first at the Animal Breeding Research Organisation and latterly at the Hill Farming Research Organisation. He is now an independent author and textile fibre consultant based in Southampton. Dr Ryder is perhaps best known for his use of textile remains to follow the evolution of different fleece types, and this forms a theme of his book Sheep and Man (Duckworth, 1983). ISBN 0-7156-1655-2.

It was from Armidale that he returned to ABRO to the staff vacancy created by Carter's departure, and he remembers that Donald forbade ABRO staff to let Carter take any microscope slides etc., with him when preparing to leave for Leeds. Ryder said the technician in charge of the slides was put in the embarrassing situation of having to refuse Carter when he came asking for items. At the same time Donald asked Ryder not to work on the Merinos, although he made more and more observations on them over time. Ryder described his contacts with Carter as meagre and unhappy.

Why didn't Carter join the Leeds Agriculture Department?
On paper, Carter would have fitted much better into the Agriculture Department at Leeds, but presumably he didn't get an invitation from Bywater. The prospect of his sheep arriving and taking over the 25 acres previously used by Boaz's research flock for fat lamb production, must have involved some decisions that I was not privy to, as Boaz was very protective of his sheep work. He would certainly not let me get involved in any of it having arrived in the Department with a Ph.D in sheep breeding.

It would be interesting to know how much pressure Bywater was put under to take Carter and his sheep, and how high up the tree this came from. Donald and Bywater were certainly not bosom pals, but Bywater was very interested in breeding and genetics, so maybe he saw some kudos from having these unique sheep on the farm, without giving shelter to their supervisor.

I remember that the feeling around the place was that both Carter and his sheep were definitely becoming a nuisance, and neither were ever referred to in friendly terms. In any case, none of us in the Agriculture Department knew anything about wool, although we lived in the heart of the UK textile industry. Wool kept a sheep warm and had to be 'clipped' once a year - and that was about our total knowledge.

There was certainly no liaison between the School of Agriculture and the Textile Department. Dr Michael Ryder reinforced this by reminding me of the work of Marca Burns, F W Dry, Graham Priestly, Harry Side and Peter Speakman (son of J.B. Speakman), all of whom worked on wool in the Textile Department before the age of synthetic fibres.

There was also no contact between the Agriculture Department and The Wool Industries Research Association (WIRA) in Headingly. I passed it every day and once even called in to a very warm welcome by A.B. Wildman, head of the Wool Biology section and was amazed at their work and relevance it had to the wool industry worldwide.

Carter and Dry in residence at Leeds
We started to view Carter in the same way we did Dr F.W. (Daddy) Dry, who was also holed up in the Textile Department on one of his many trips back to Leeds from New Zealand. For the 20+ years Dry was at Massey, Dr George Wickham told me he kept his house in Leeds for when he had his visits back there. Everyone referred to him as 'Daddy' (not to his face) as Mrs Dry called him that (see my blog on Dr Dry).

It's only now that I realise that with Dry and Carter around the Textile Department at the same time on the same campus, we had the world’s top experts on skin follicles, with Dry at the coarse end and Carter at the Superfine end! What a photo that would have been for the archives!

On Dry's last visit to Leeds before I left in 1968, he must have got evicted from the Textile Department and Bywater must have been persuaded to take him in, as in Dry's book, he thanks Professor Bywater of 'The School of Agricultural Sciences' (one of the new name they came up with to survive) for his support.

I was thrilled when I learned that Daddy had taken over my office after I left, so clearly they must have flown the Textile Department. George Wickham when he did his Ph.D in the Textile Department remembers Dry being housed in a prefab beside the big flash Textile building, which George says was knocked down, probably leaving Daddy and his fibres open to the sky! It was an effective way to get rid of him!

Merinos at Leeds
In Geoff Boaz's book (see later) he says that the Merino sheep were under Carter's total control after he arrived from Edinburgh in 1965, but after he retired in 1970, the flock came under the control of the Leeds University Farm.

It was interesting that Farm Manager, John Dalley told me he was not allowed any say regarding the management of the sheep, but remembers them being a real problem with flystrike and footrot which Fred Cass the shepherd (who rode his bike around the farm without a dog) would have to attend to. John remembers the Department lecturer in Veterinary Science, Ken Towers being heavily involved in their care.

So apparently Boaz took over care of the sheep until they ran into problems with Johne's disease, (reported in Boaz's book). Boaz doesn't say what year this happened. The Johne's outbreak triggered the decision to slaughter all the sheep because they were too big a risk to the two dairy herds on the farm (one Red Poll and the other Jersey).

Boaz also reported in is book that some crossbred sheep went to a local farmer and a couple of rams had been used by Professor Care at the University for research on the ability of skin to heal quickly. So these missed the chop. Care must have recognised that Merino skin heals quickly after the mutilation they can get from shearing and the practice of mulesing to prevent blowfly attack around the britch.

Boaz also mentions that Merino rams had been used at the MAF Experimental Husbandry Farms (EHFs) for crossbreeding trials, so presumably they were supplied from the Leeds University flock. Our nearest EHF farm was at High Mowthorpe on the Yorkshire Wolds which we visited regularly with students.

Carter in the Leeds University Textile Department
Presumably, after falling out with Donald at ABRO, Carter must have persuaded Prof Speakman, Head of the Textile Department to find him an office. Carter and Speakman were old friends, and Speakman was a major speaker at the 1955 International Wool Textile Conference in Sydney. Charles Massy in his book (see later) stresses that Carter and Speakman were kindred spirits and almost visionaries on the need to take a 'holistic' approach to improving the Merino fleece. Their views were ignored for more than four decades according to Massy.

Former staff of the Textile Department contacted by Tim Johnson, former lecturer in the the School of Agricultural Sciences said they only knew Carter as 'a name on a door', and he certainly did no research in the Department that they were aware of.

Carter certainly managed to get himself some respectable titles. The archives at Leeds show this in the University Calendar:

• H.B.Carter, Hon. Lecturer in Textile Chemistry 1963/64 - 1969/70, latterly in that period as Hon Fellow in Textile Chemistry.

In documents found by Richard Carter in H.B Carter's file from the Royal Society of Edinburgh it states that he was 'appointed as a 'Seniour Principal Scientific Officer, ABRO, ARC, Edinburth in May 1954 to January 1970' when he retired. So that explains his 'honorary lecturship' at Leeds. Leeds University got him for free, paid for by the ARC!

A photo caption clue
This is in the incredible book ' The Australian Merino' by Charles Massy (second edition 2007), Random House Australia, ISBN 978-1-74166-692-2. The book is an outstanding example of dedicated scholarship over what must have taken many years of research and travel, all around the world where there was the slightest chance of finding a Merino type sheep. The book has 1262 pages and weighs 3.6kg. If there was ever a book that should be available on an e-reader, this must be it, as it's impossible to read it on your lap and certainly not in bed!


Massy talks of visiting Carter on his trips to UK and wanting him to write the Foreword to the book, but sadly although Carter had been willing, his illness prevented this. Instead he got Dr Ken Ferguson to write about Carter for the foreword. It's here on the page before the foreword that the photo of Carter at Leeds appears - presumably taken by Massy. I can recognise the old shed at Spen farm.

It's in the caption to this photo that we find a wonderful clue to what Carter did at Leeds. Here's what it reads:

'Harold Carter (on the left) and David Knight examining a fine-wood Australian-blood ram at the Leeds research station, UK - c1965. David Knight, then Director of the UK's largest top maker Sir James Hill & Sons (and later Vice President of the British Wool Federation), was a pioneer of Objective Measurement and Total Quality Management in British mills.

In 1965, he was able to place Harold Carter with three assistants, in a laboratory on one of Hill & Co's Leeds mills. This was a pioneering effort to link biological and genetic knowledge in industry performance of the wool fibre; and only pre-empted by the Brno Sheep Breeders' Society in 1814.'

So for those in the Leeds Textile Department who only saw Carter as a 'name on a door' - and suspected he did little for his pay, they should have known that 'he were 'down in't mill'!

With three assistants he must have got through a pile of work which no doubt is in his personal archives, described to me as meticulously documented, by his son Professor Richard Carter of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Edinburgh's Ashworth Laboratories .


Tribute by Dr Ken Ferguson
Dr Ken Ferguson, BVSc., Ph.D., FACVS.

Harold Burnell Carter (1910-2003) graduated in 1932 from the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University of Sydney and the next year he was appointed as a Research Officer in the Australian Estates and Mortgage Company on their NSW properties with field headquarters at the Tyrie Station, Dandaloo in Western NSW with bench space at the F.D. McMaster Laboratory in the grounds of the Sydney Vet school.

He resigned in 1936, concluding after three years of visiting sheep studs, that a coherent base of fundamental research was needed to improve the quantity and quality of Australian wool production. Such information was also required to breed resistance to such conditions as fleece rot and blowfly strike.

He was appointed Walter and Eliza Hall Fellow in Veterinary Science and with a research remit to study the biology of the skin and fleece, with special reference to the Merino. There had been no such work done in Australia and he decided to start with visits to South Africa, Great Britain and the USA. In Leeds he collaborated with A.B. Wildman to outline a concept of the hair follicle group applicable to all sheep.

On his return to Sydney he as again located at the McMaster Laboratory where he established a histology unit to continue his study of the wool follicle while keeping in contact with various studs taking fleece and skin samples for analysis. He persuaded the Chief of his Division, Lionel Bull to establish housing for sheep in single pens with facilities for feed mixing, parasite analysis and a surgery.

Carter's ability to convince CSIRO of the need for these facilities extended to planning their postwar expansion and relocation to a new site at Prospect west of Sydney. This was based on the intent to counter increasing competition from cotton, synthetic fibres and alternative land uses such as cattle and crops. At that time wool accounted for over 50% of Australia's export income and had a greater diversity of qualities that most agricultural products.

Despite his role in planning the new facilities and his extensive knowledge of the wool industry, Carter was not appointed Officer in Charge of the Prospect Laboratory, possibly because he did not agree to the exclusion of genetic research from the Prospect research programme.

In 1954 he resigned from CSIRO to accept a senior position with the Animal Breeding Research Organisation in Edinburgh. There is little doubt that Harold Carter was the most important figure in establishing the post-war biological research facilities for the wood industry in Australia, and leading the research on the histology of the wool follicle'.

Richard Carter's memories of his father's work in Australia
Unless you have seen the endless horizon and sky of outback Australia, it's hard to realise the effort involved in visiting sheep stations, some the size of European countries. Richard remembers his father talking about journeys by air on Douglas DC3 and Dakota planes which pioneered outback air travel. But Richard says most of his father's travel was done in a grey, battered, Chevrolet truck which were robust enough for the long dusty farm roads and tracks between Sydney and Adelaide and beyond. Richard says ex army WWII Jeeps were very popular on outback farms too.


Publications


Carter was a very accomplished researcher as you can see from some of his published papers:

• Belschner, H. G. & Carter, H.B. (1936). Fleece charasteristics of Stud Merino sheep in relation to the degree of wrinkliness of the skin of the breech. I, II and III. Aust. Vet. J. 12: 43-55, 80-92, and 13: 16-31.
• Wildman, A.B., Carter, H. B. (1939). Fibre follicle terminology in the Mammalia. Nature, 144: 783-4.
• Carter, H.B. (1939). Fleece density and the histology of the Merino skin. Aust. Vet. J. 15: 210-213.
• Carter, H.B. (1939). A histological technique for the estimation of the follicle population per unit area of skin in sheep. J. of Council for Sci. & Ind. Res. (Aust) 12(3):250-258.
• Carter, H.B. (1940). Some fundamental aspects of the structure of the Merino fleece. Aust. J. Sci. 2(5): 143-146.
  
• Carter, H. B. (1941). The influence of plane of nutrition on the growth of skin in the Merino. J.Aust. Inst. agric. Sci. 3: 101-102.
• Carter, H. B. (1943). Studies in the biology of the skin and fleece of the sheep. 1. The development and general histology of the follicle group in the skin of the Merino. Bull. Coun. scient. Ind. Res., Melb., No. 164: 220, 26, 227.
• Carter, H. B. (1955). “The Australian Merino”. NSW Sheepbreeders Association.
• Carter, H. B. (1955). The hair follicle group in sheep. Anim. Breed. Abs. 23: 101-116.
• Ferguson, K.A., Schinckel, P.G., Carter, H.B. & Clarke, W.H. (1956). The influence of the thryoid on wool follicle production in the lamb. Aust. J. Biol. Sci. 9(4): 575-585.
• Carter, H. B., Clarke, W. H. (1957). The hair follicle group in the skin follicle of Australian Merino sheep. Aust. J. agric. Res. 8: 91-108.
• Carter, H. B., Clarke, W. H. (1957). The hair follicle group and skin follicle population of some non-Merino breeds of sheep. Aust. J. agric. Res. 8: 109-119.
• Carter, H.B. (1958). The farmer, the gene and the fabric. J. Bradford Textile Soc., 1958-59. 22-23.
  
• Carter, H.B., Dowling, D. F. (1954). The hair follicle and aprocrine gland population of cattle skin. Aust. J. agric. Res. 5: 745-754.
• Carter, H.B., Hardy, M. H. (1947). Studies in the biology of the skin and fleece of sheep. 4. The hair follicle group and it’s topographical variations in the skin of the Merino foetus. Bull. Coun. Scient. ind. Res., No 215, pp 41.
• Carter, H.b. & Henshall, Audrey S. (1957). The fabric form burial (Cluniac Priory of St, Mary, Thetford, Norfolk). Medieval Archaelogy, I, 102-103.
• Carter, H.B., Turner, Helen N. & Harvey, Margaret H. (1958). The influence of various factors on estimating fibre and follicle density in the skin of Merino sheep.Aust. J. Ag. Res, 9 (2): 237-251.
• Short, B.F., Fraser, A.S. & Carter, H.B. (1958). Effect of level of feeding on the variability of fibre diameter in four breeds of sheep. Aust. J. Ag. Res, 9 (2): 229-236.
• Carter, H.B.1958). The farmer, the gene and the fabric. J.of Bradford Text. Soc. 1958-1959, 22-23.
  
• Carter, H.B., Tibbits, J. P. (1959). Post-natal growth changes in the skin follicle population of the New Zealand Romney and N-type sheep. J. agric, Sci., Camb. 52(1): 106-116.
• Slee, J. & Carter, H.B. (1961). A comparative study of the fleece growth in Tasmanian Fine Merino and Wiltshire Horn ewes. J. Agric. Sci. Camb. 57(1) 11-19.
• Carter, H.B. (1961). Taxonomic and experimental significance of the hair follicle arrangement in mammals. Bul. Brit. Mam. Soc., 17:5-6.
  
• Slee, J. & Carter, H.B. (1962). Fibre shedding and fibre follicle relationship in the fleeces of Wiltshire Horn x Scottish Blackface sheep crosses. J. agric. Sci, 58(3):309-326.
• Carter, H.B. & Slee, J. (1962). An unusual bi-paternal litter in sheep from a natural double mating. Nature, 194: 215-216.
• Carter, H.B. (1963). Protein fibres: Production. Text. Rev. 1963.
  
• Carne, H.R., Lloyd, L.C. & Carter, H.B. (1963). Sqamous carcinoma association with cysts of the skin of Merino sheep. J. Path. & Bact. 86(2): 305-315.
  
• Carter, H. B., (1964). The role of the skin in relation to the adaptation and the production of wool in the sheep. Proc. Aust. Soc. Anim. Prod. 5.
  
• Carter, H.B., (1964). His Majesty's Spanish Flock. Angus & Robertson, Sydney.
• Carter, HB., (1965). Variation in the hair follicle population of the mammalian skin. In: Lyne & Short, eds. Angus & Robertson, Sydney.
• Carter, H.B. (1967). The Merino sheep in Great Britain. Text. Inst. & Industry March 72-75, April 97-99.
  
• Carter, H.B., (1968). The future of Merino wool growing. J. Bradford Text. Soc., 57-64.
• Carter, H.B. (1968). The future of Merino wool growing. J. Bradford Text. Soc., 57-64.
  
• Carter, H.B., (1969). The historical geography of the fine-woolled sheep (1) & (2). Textile Institute & Industry, 7: 15-18, 45-48.
• Carter, H.B., Onions, W.J. & Pitts, J.M.D. (1969).The influence of the origin on the stress-strain relations of wool fibre, J. Text. Inst. 60(10) 420-429.
• Carter, H.B., Terlecki, S. & Shaw, I.G. (1972). Experimental Border Disease of sheep: Effect of infection on primary follicle differentiation in the skin of Dorset Horn lambs.
• Carter, H.B.(1970). Sir Joseph Banks and the plant collection form Kew sent to the Empress Catherine II of Russian, 1795. Bull. Brit. Museum (Natural History). Historical series 4(5): 283-385.
• Carter, H.B. (1979). The sheep and wool correspondence of Sir Joseph Banks 1781-1820. Vol 2 of The Sir Joseph Banks Memorial Act 1945. Angus & Robertson 1962.
  
• Carter, H.B. (1979). The Sheep and Wool Correspondence of Sir Joseph Banks, 1781-1820. Library Council NSW/British Museum (Natural History), London.
• Carter, H.B., Diment, Judith A., Humphries, C.J. & Wheeler, A.(1981). The Banksian natural history collection of the Endeavor voyage and their relevance to modern taxonomy. In History in the Service of Systmatics (Ed Wheeler & Price) London.
  

Carter studied the role of Sir Joseph Banks in the the introduction of the Spanish Merino into Britain and published His Majesty's Spanish Flock.

He was appointed Director of the Banks Archive Project at the Natural History Museum and edited The Sheep and Wool Correspondence of Sir Joseph Banks 1781-1820. This publication became a prelude to the publication of other groups of Banks's voluminous correspondence, including a definitive biography on Banks published by the British Museum.

Honorary Award
The degree of Doctor of Veterinary Science (honoris causa) was conferred in absentia upon Harold Burnell Carter at the ceremony held at 11.30am on 1 March 1996.

Citation:
Presented by the Acting Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor D J Anderson, 

Chancellor.


Harold Burnell Carter was educated at the University of Sydney, graduating with the Bachelor of Veterinary Science degree in 1933. Awarded a Walter and Eliza Hall Fellowship in Veterinary Science, he studied the skin and wool of Merino sheep at CSIRO McMaster Laboratory within the grounds of this University.



His research provided our basic knowledge on the embryology, growth, development and genetic variation in the structure and function of the skin and the wool follicle. This work led to major improvements in wool production and contributed greatly to the economic development of Australia. 



From his studies on the genetic selection of Merino sheep, Harold Carter discovered that it was the 18th century scientist, Sir Joseph Banks, who had arranged for merino sheep to be transported to Australia. 

This led Carter to undertake detailed historical research into the life and works of Banks.

His research was carried out under the auspices of the Natural History Department of the British Museum and resulted in a comprehensive review of Banks' contributions to science. Between 1764 and 1820 Joseph Banks wrote some 40,000 letters.

With Carter's painstaking collection of this scattered correspondence and other archival material, Joseph Banks emerged as the key figure in the growth of natural sciences in Britain at the end of the 18th century.

Harold Carter, in his 87th year, is still the Director of the Banks Archive Project of the Natural History Museum in London. 

He has published many papers and several books on Joseph Banks including: His Majesty's Spanish flock: Sir Joseph Banks and the Merinos of George III of England and The Sheep and Wool Correspondence of Sir Joseph Banks 1781-1820. 

Harold Carter has achieved international scholarly standing in two different fields, science and history. 



Chancellor, Harold Carter cannot be with us today so I present to you Dr Kenneth Ferguson, a life time colleague of Dr Carter's and formerly Director of the Institute of Animal and Food Sciences of the CSIRO to receive the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Science (honoris causa) on behalf of Harold Burnell Carter.

The Order of Australia
When in his 90s H.B.Carter was awarded the Order of Australia. Richard Carter says his father was too infirm to go back to Australia to accept the medal in person, but the Government sent him the appropriate robes in which he was photographed, and the medal - shown below (both sides). Richard is not sure why the 'A M' was embossed on the box lid but he thinks it could be an example of his father's dry sense of humour - simply denoting 'Australian Medal'.


Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE)
Carter was nominated for this award on 24 November 1960, and surprisingly the first name on the list of nominees is one H.P. Donald.

Back track - why Carter resigned from CSIRO
This is a fascinating part of the story, as why on earth would anyone who had done so much fundamental work on the Merino, and put in the hard yards on the McMaster and Prospect laboratories, want to leave and go to the frigid climes of Scotland?

Comments by Dr George Wickham
George Wickham, a former Massey wool scientist who did his PhD at Leeds Textile Department around 1954 was familiar with Carter's work, and told me that he was told by a former colleague of Carters, that the mountain of his unpublished data left at Prospect was viewed as 'a negative' by the new Director, Dr Ian. W. McDonald.

This seems an unjustified claim as Carter would not be the only scientist who had left a position with unpublished data, especially in the biological sciences, as it's not possible to have all your data analysed and have everything written up at the end of each project. It often takes years to complete this and a deal of understanding from your new boss. The scientific world is littered with research that was never written up, most of it ending up in land fills.

Comments by Dr John Kennedy
J0hn Kennedy reported that McDonald had been a contemporary of Carter's at the University of Sydney vet school, and returned from Babraham, Cambridge University in UK to take the Prospect job. In the biography of Sir Ian Clunies Ross written by Marjorie O'Dea, she relates that it was Sir Ian who by then was Chairman of CSIRO who decided that Carter was not a suitable appointment to be Officer-in-Charge of the Prospect lab, even though he had worked hard on its planning. Professor C.W. Emmens was Prospect Officer-in-Charge for a couple of years before McDonald came back from UK.

John Kennedy also said that the other big job Carter did while at Prospect was to edit the sheep and wool correspondence of Sir Joseph Banks which was published with the help of the State Library of NSW, so he was clearly building up a head of steam for his future work.

Comments by Charles Massy
Charles Massy in his book describes in great detail how Carter's view on the need for a 'broad holistic approach' to research was ignored and caused great frustration for him. Massy wrote:
'Carter was the first modern scientist to form a bridge between the practical technique of leading breeders and classers and the science of biology and genetics, and of textile needs.'

Ian Clunies-Ross invited the world famous American geneticist J.L. Lush to visit CSIRO and advise on a plan for animal breeding research. This led to the splitting off of genetics from the skin and wool biology work and this may have been a major reason for Carter looking to get out.

Whatever the reason, Carter took off soon after the Prospect Lab's opening to the Animal Breeding Research Organisation (ABRO) in Edinburgh, funded by the Agricultural Research Council (ARC). This institute worked in close relationship with the Institute of Animal Genetics in the University of Edinburgh. The Carters and their young family would certainly have faced a massive change in environment - both geographical and social!

I have great empathy for Carter on this issue, as I did the same thing but in the opposite direction. You may think you know what things will be like at the other end, but they never are, and you worry about how your children will settle in new schools, as they have 'funny accents' which can cause problems in this intolerant world. Australians going to UK would get less 'stick' than 'Poms' coming to Australia or New Zealand.

Apparently a lot of Carter's colleagues at Prospect wanted him to stay, and from the amount of work he did there (see published papers and Massy's book) it's apparent he was going to leave a massive vacuum in their programme - work that clearly could not be carried on at ABRO.

Comments by Richard Carter
After talking to a former ABRO colleague of his father's, it appears that Carter's appointment to ABRO was not simply an invitation from HP Donald to join his team. It seems that Carter was headhunted by Lord Rothschild and Sir Gordon Cox who were in the top tier of the Agricultural Research Council (ARC), and who continued to support Carter during his ABRO troubles. Richard describes this as his father may have been 'parachuted in by them as a desirable addition to ABRO'.

The way Donald behaved subsequently to Carter would make you think that he wasn't very happy about the move, as he certainly did much to make Carter's life difficult, so that in a few years, Richard describes his father's situation as being 'non-operational', as Donald held the purse strings.

My experience is that University Departments and Research Stations can be vicious places where there is much child-like behaviour based on jealousy. ABRO seems to have a good dose of this and Carter was the unfortunate recipient.

Massy in his book describes how the geneticists separated themselves from the 'broad based science' and of course Donald and ABRO drove the new genetic approach which Carter left Australia to get away from.

Richard Carter also confirms after talking to his father's former colleague, that in the latter years when Donald cut off the money to Carter, he worked on his historical research during working hours in his ABRO office in South Oswald Road, as well as in his spare time at home.

Carter at Edinburgh
Leaving Prospect in 1954 and going to Leeds in 1965, Carter must have done eleven years at ABRO, and clearly an early priority was to get some fine-wool Merinos for research.

Dr Angus Russel who worked at ABRO at that time says that Donald and Carter were never great mates, and whatever the reasons, there was bound to be a bit of good healthy trans-Tasman rivalry between them! But then Donald was not great mates with anyone from what most folk can remember.

I was not aware of any detailed wool biology going on at ABRO as I thought all the British work was done at the Wool Industries Research Association (WIRA) in Leeds under AB Wildman.

Sourcing the best Merino genetics
The obvious place for Carter to go for his sheep was the land he had left behind- Australia where nobody would have had a better knowledge of the different Merino strains available. But the export of Merino sheep, and particularly rams, was banned from the main Australian continent as growers didn't want anyone to start up in opposition to them.

But Tasmania was open for business, and they also had the finest woolled strains of Merino. Confirmation of this comes in the introduction of a paper: Slee, J. & Carter, H.B. (1961). J. Agric.Sci. 57, 11. A comparative study of fleece growth in Tasmanian Fine Merino and Wiltshire Horn ewes.

'On a proposal made by one of us (H.B.C.), the Agricultural Research Council acquired a small breeding flock (three rams and twelve ewes) of Tasmanian Fine Merinos strictly for research purposes under agreement and through the courtesy of the Commonwealth Government of Australia. These animals left Tasmania on 29 March and reached England on 12 May 1955. This made possible, probably for the first time, the study of these two breeds under similar conditions and this has been done up to the present at the Dryden Field Station of the A.R.C. Animal Breeding Research Organisation, near Edinburgh.'

Then the source is confirmed by a paper in Nature: H.B. Carter & J. Slee. Nature, Vol. 194, 4824, pp. 215-216. April 14, 1962. An Unusual Bi-paternal litter in sheep from a natural double mating. It states that - 'a single Merino (imported May 1955) from the Valleyfield stud in Tasmania.'

It would be interesting to find out what kind of a challenge Carter had to get his sheep into UK. It could have been much easier than taking sheep the other way, because of Scrapie and Foot and Mouth disease from which Australia is free.

It would be tempting to suggest that a fair bit of diplomatic arm twisting must have gone on but although Carter was a determined researcher, his obsession with attention to detail would have made sure all things were done correctly, as he had a lot at stake in his research plans for ABRO.
Angus Russel is certain that the Merinos came into UK legitimately, but on the strict understanding that they would only be used for research purposes, and that none would be sold for breeding.

Then a real pearl for me appears in Carter's thanks (in the Author's Notes of his book - see later) to 'The Agricultural Research Council, in assisting my own smugglingoperations'. I wonder if this was a bit of 'tongue in cheek' referring to the earlier antics of King George?

Where did the Merino genes end up?
Boaz's book confirms that at Leeds they were slaughtered because of Johne's disease, other than the ones that had been distributed for outside trials.

Whether the ARC was still responsible 'on paper' for the sheep and their eventual disposal after they left their approved Edinburgh base, (or even if they knew or cared) would be interesting to know. As far as ABRO was concerned - you could imagine it being a case of 'out of sight- out of mind'and hoping that ARC would either never find out or have lost interest.

While at Edinburgh, about 6-8 sheep were 'borrowed' by a scientist for some reproductive physiology research, and were not returned or slaughtered (as was supposed to happen). These sheep ended up on a local farm owned by a 'canny Scot' (Willie Crawford) where they increased to a flock of hundreds. About 60 wethers were kept indoors by Willie to produce very fine wool which was sent to Italy for spinning and then woven into fine suiting by Reed & Taylor of Langholm. This was sold locally for one thousand pounds sterling a suit length.

Carter clearly acknowledges 'the support of the Agricultural Research Council' in getting his sheep from Australia. This must have taken a fair bit of time sourcing them, dealing with all the import regulations, transport, quarantine, etc.

It would be interesting to know if Carter applied for the money either before he left Australia or as soon as he got to Edinburgh. The ARC was always tight with their cash, so he must have made a good submission which presumably would be about what superfine genes could contribute to British farming - a repeat idea held by a former King! Merinos would be the obvious choice and nobody would be better informed as to where to locate them.

Family Information on H.B. Carter kindly provided by Richard Carter

• Harold Carter married Mary Brando-Jones in 1940. Harold was in his early research years with CSIRO and Mary had newly arrived in Australia as a young medical graduate from University College London.
• Harold was a fourth generation Australian.
• The Carters had three sons born in Australia and they all went to Edinburgh in 1954 to live as tenants in an apartment in Penicuik House.
• After Carter moved to Leeds, Mary had accepted a medical consultancy in Aberdeen and they both commuted to meet at home in Edinburgh each weekend to the family home in Penicuik.
• The family knew that Carter's years at Leeds were not happy although he did a good job of hiding this from them. He was probably suffering from a state of depression and certainly had stomach ulcers while at Leeds. Leaving Prospect, and then things not working out at ABRO, and then ending up in limbo at Leeds must have frustrated his meticulous standards and ambitions.
  
• After retirement near Bristol, he finally had a series of strokes which left him paralysed, so went into a nursing home from 2002 to his death on 27 February in 2005.
• Carter's historical research was done entirely in the evenings when he returned from work and at weekends. He worked on his book with incredible speed.
  
• He rented an unoccupied labourer's apartment in Penicuik House which became filled with his typically highly organised files and collected documents.
  
• This archive is currently stored in 40+ boxes and cabinets awaiting, hopefully, transport to a research museum (The Power House Museum in Sydney).
  

Where did Carter go after Leeds?
Carter retired in 1970 with his wife Mary who had taken up a a medical consultancy as Senior Psychiatrist with the Somerset National Health Service, to a house in the village of Congresbury near Bristol in Somerset, until he went into a nursing home in Weston-super-Mare for three years until his death.

For a period in the first decade after retirement he was a consultant to the company of Sir James Hill & Sons. He and his wife became close friends of Francis Rennell (Lord Rennell of Rodd) who was himself very interested in sheep matters.

At the same time, Carter was developing the Sir Joseph Banks Archive in the British Museum - now effectively inherited by Neil Chambers with whom my father worked in his latter years. From this time, effectively from his retirement, he worked intensively and virtually exclusively on the life and work of Joseph Banks, culminating in his second magnum opus, the Bank's biography - 'Sir Joseph Banks' published in 1988.


'My Merino Story' by T.G. Boaz, M.B.E., M.A.



This 38-page booklet is available from Geoff's daughter, Rosemary Boaz at (info@rhyddbarn.co.uk). It's a great record of how Geoff after meeting Carter again (by chance), got his help to select some Merino foundation ewes (15 of four different ages) and two rams to start Geoff's 'Rhydd Green Merinos'.

Geoff's text:
'I learned that he (Carter) had an interest in a flock of Merino type sheep at the Cotswold Farm Park and on the adjoining Bemborough Farm of Mr Joe L. Henson. These sheep had been transferred there after the disposal of a flock established at the Rodd, near Presteigne, Radnorshire by Lord Rennell and Harold Carter in 1965.'

So here's proof of Carter getting involved with Lord Rennell in 1965, the year he and his sheep arrived at Leeds. I wonder if the ARC knew about that - or maybe they didn't care.

Request for money from BWMB
Geoff reports in his book how he made a last attempt (before he retired) to preserve the Leeds flock by applying for money to the British Wool Marketing Board (BWMB). The answer was no! Geoff comments that 'everyone connected with the BWMB was extremely skeptical about the value of Merinos in this country'. These could have been the comment's of King George III or Sir Joseph Banks.



In the latter stages, the Rhydd Green flock introduced Dorset Horn and Ryeland breeds to cross with the Merinos, before the purebreds were sold off.

Dispersal of the Rhydd Green sheep
In the back of the Boaz book, there are detailed records of where all the sheep went to throughout the UK between 1980 and 1991, as well as 2 rams and 3 ewes to the Falkland Islands in 1987.


H.B. CARTER'S BOOK
Remembering back to my days at Leeds 40 years ago and the Carter saga, I thought I should find a copy of Carter's book on His Majesty's Flock. I was surprised that there were no copies in New Zealand, but I managed to get a copy from Australia with the very musty smell of age about it. I was blown away with the amount of work that must have gone into writing it.

I've only blogged the bits I found fascinating, rather than writing a formal review.

What's the book about?
In the 1700s, Britain's wealth was based on growing, processing and exporting wool to most parts of Europe. The Speaker of the House of Commons still sits on the 'woolsack' to remind the nation of our past dependence on the sheep.

To boost the quality of British cloth exports, fine Merino wool was imported to blend with the British sheep. From the King (George III) downward were worried that the supply of wool would be cut off because of politics and war between England, France, Spain, Portugal, Holland and others. It didn't take much to start trouble.

So the King decided to bring some of the golden fibre that grew on the Spanish Merino to Britain - and he asked his loyal servant Joseph Banks to do the job. Sir Joseph delivered, but with quite a few hassles on the way (to say the least!). In the process Australia and New Zealand were stocked with these incredible sheep.

The book's jacket design
The jacket design by E.D. Roberts depicts a ram's head drawn from a Spanish Merino of 1790, the crown on the spine is that of George III and the symbols on the back are the brands of the famous Negretti and Pualar cabanas (flocks). The colours jointly symbolise the Royal House of England and Spain. I note that Mr Roberts from the Institute of Animal Genetics at Edinburgh is also thanked by Carter for help with maps and diagrams.


Carter’s background (from flyleaf of his book) 1964
‘H.B. Carter is a member of an Australian family which was established in Victoria and Queensland in the forties and fifties of last century. Born at Mosman in sight of the waters of Port Jackson he graduated from the University of Sydney in 1933. For a few years he lived mostly as a bushman first on the staff of a large pastoral company and then as a University Research Fellow. Later as one of the first Australian biologists concerned specifically with problems of sheep breeding and wool production he worked for some years with the Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organisation.

Over the period his work was almost equally divided between close laboratory studies and fairly extensive field work over the sheep and cattle country of the Commonwealth.

Living now in Great Britain with his wife who is an English psychiatrist, and their three sons, his scientific interests have become somewhat more international in scope. The present theme however arises rather from the background work pursued to its ultimate origins in Western Europe’.

At CSIRO, a friend when there as a student remembers Carter as a God-like scientist in the wool area who did not converse with students. That was the formal style of things in those days. Scientists wore white overalls when out in the field and the lesser fry wore green ones he said!

Carter’s ‘Author’s note’
This is a good indication of how much work went into the book. Seeing all the folk he got involved in his project is mind boggling, and of course in those days there was no accounting system to allocate costs. Who he paid for their help and who did it for free is not noted.

Carter thanks Miss Frances Redgrave for 'her speed and precision in producing order out of my tangles typescript'. Richard Carter said his father taught himself to type with two fingers, and that he personally transcribed and typed out every single Banks et.al. letter. He typed up the redrafting of the book manuscript and continued this pattern for the next 40 years of his active scholarly work. Richard suggests that he would get the final copy professionally typed that he would certainly have paid for himself. He was that kind of man Richard stressed.

First on Carter’s list of thanks is Her Majesty the Queen for Her ‘gracious permission to use material in the Royal Archive’. Imagine the sweet-talking letter he would have to write to get into that treasure trove? Then there’s mention of librarians, museum directors and staff, keepers of manuscripts from all over the place, the Met office, Geographical Institutes, University of California's photo lab 'for deciphering original documents', and many many more - all to be thanked for their assistance. I wonder how they all viewed his request over which must have been a very long time.

Of special interest to me is his thanks to Prof. C H Waddington, Director of the Institute of Animal Genetics at Edinburgh – ‘owing him much over a long period’. That would certainly be true.

Then he thanks J P Maule, Director of the Commonwealth Bureau of Animal Breeding and Genetics, which was housed in the same building for his help. Maule was a wonderful helpful person who had traveled widely, and the Bureau was the source of all the research on animal breeding and genetics, which it published regularly in ‘Animal Breeding Extracts’. Maule's help would have been massive.

Carter dedicates the book to his wife which would certainly have been justified with the midnight oil he must have burned on it? His historical research was clearly his major hobby taking up every hour of his spare time, according to Richard Carter.

Sir Joseph Banks

What an incredible man Banks must have been. The work he must have done, in they days on no technology is breathtaking.

• Home residence: 32 Soho Square, London.
  
• 1st Baronet. Knight's Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (G.C.B)
  
• 1743-1820 (57 years).
• Landowner in Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Middlesex.
• Botanist, agricultural scientist
• Explorer around the world with Captain James Cook RN.
• Enthusiastic lover of Polynesian maidens
  
• President of the Royal Society (PRS) 1778-1820.
• President of the Merino Society 1811-1820.
• Chairman of Lincolnshire Wool Commission.
• Lifetime sufferer from gout.
  

It's mind boggling to read what Banks crammed into his 57 years. His contribution to the discovery of animals and plants with James Cook is what most folk know about him. It's made very clear from the many versions now around of Cook's travels, that Banks was a great lover of Polynesia, and especially of young Polynesian maidens! You would have thought, that sorting and classifying all the material from his travels would have been enough for one lifetime - especially with the laboratory technology of the day, without all the other things he got involved with later in his life.

Imagine being in the lab with the preserved carcass of a kangaroo and a platypus on the bench and asking his helpers for some initial suggestions on where these creatures into the overall scheme of things? Who would have dared to open their mouth?

Wool problems
Don't think that wool problems are a modern feature since the days of synthetic fibres. Wool rows were going well in the 17oos, and Carter describes this in great detail.

The situation is not easy to get your head around, as was so much infighting first within England (West of England, West Riding of Yorkshire and East Anglia), and then between countries (England, France, Holland, Spain, Portugal and others).

Yorkshire had inherited the worsted trade from its birthplace in Norfolk. Lancashire was the home of cotton and the West of England was the home of the finer 'broad cloth' woven on wide looms. The imported fine Merino wool was used in this trade. Steam power and mechanisation was coming in to revolutionise the industry.

Sizing up the opposition
Banks being a researcher, analysing the state of play. Carter sums this up well.

Carter Page 42
'Banks tried to find the facts both at home and abroad, in agriculture and in the woollen industries, which might shed light on what he believed, were too many unsupported statements designed to dupe the Legislature and the nation.

They (Lincolnshire Wool Committee) could find no evidence to support the old and stale notion that the French could not make merchantable cloths of their wools without and admixture of what the English manufacturers and growers together were fond of imagining was superior English staple'.

Carter Page 44
'England had for upwards of one hundred and forty years set a legal wall about her sheep and their wool under the illusion that there was no wool like English wool and that, denied the blessing of this magic staple, foreign cloth manufacturer was condemned to permanent inferiority. There was one qualifying thought. The fine staple of Spain in some quarters at least, was reluctantly conceded to be the exception'.

Banks's letter writing
In the light of the many ways we can send messages today, it's amazing to think how 'information transfer' was limited to the letter, written in ink by quill pen and then delivered by messenger or postal service.

Banks must have spent a large part of his life writing letters, and it's wonderful to think that they were still available to Carter who got many of them transcribed in the book. Carter describes how Banks at one stage 'instituted the first stage of what became an extensive foreign correspondence on matters concerning sheep and wool'.

He sent questionnaires to Hamburg, Hanover, Gottingen, Leipzig, Amersterdam and Abbeville where wool was processed into cloth. Apparently he got quick responses, even though there was one of the many wars going on at the time.

Farmer meetings
Other than letters, meeting and talking face to face was the only other way to spread information, and the most famous agricultural meeting was the Woburn Sheep Shearing. Carter has put the famous engraving of the 1804 shearing by George Garrard, A.R.A in the front of the book. It shows Banks and some of his contemporary agriculturalists with specimens of Spanish Merinos which are being shorn to weigh and inspect their fleeces.


First modern scientific breeder
Carter spends may pages reporting what went on in France and the importance of Louis-Jean-Marie Dauberton, FRS, 1716-1800. He is officially described as a 'naturalist' but served in the Chair of Rural Economy at the Royal Vet School at Alfort in France.

In 1776 he was asked by Louis XV's Controller-General of Finance to start research on wool improvement. As Carter says 'an early modern example of the harnessing of science to a problem of agricultural and industrial importance in the national interest'.

Carter reports that 'he established Montbard as the first experimental station in the world and was the first modern scientific breeder of livestock whose work has present-day relevance'.

That sure is some CV!

The arrival of Spanish Merinos on British soil
The bulk of Carter's book provides the incredible detail of this story. The work involved in sorting out this detail must have been mind-blowing.

He describes (from transcripts of letters) how the sheep were sourced in France and Spain between 1788-1791 and often the intrigue involved, their route to England, on what ship and how long it took, where they embarked and how they got from the port to the King's fields at Windsor, Kew and Richmond. The name of the shepherds accompanying them is also known in many cases - especially those who went to England with the Spanish import that were smuggled from Spain into Portugal and left from Lisbon for the Thames.


Carter describes in fascinating detail the role of Pierre-Marie-Auguste Broussonet, FRS, 1761-1807, botanist and zoologist. He has done an apprenticeship under Banks in London on fish and then went back to France from where he kept sending plant specimens back from his travels. Broussonet was the person to send Banks two Spanish fine-wool sheep, a ram and a ewe, each with an iron collar stamped with Banks's address in London. They were consigned from Rouen and arrived at Spring Grove near Houndslow in Middlesex.

These were the first real Spanish fine-wool Merinos to set hoof on English soil. They were a gift from the French Scientists at Alfort to the President of the Royal Society for his own small private experimental flock. Note they were not for the King of England.

First crossing experiments
Banks then had to get some trials organised to see how these Spanish Merinos could improve British breeds. So he gathered a diverse range of sheep at Houndslow Heath to party with the ram. Presumably the Merino ewe was allowed to join the sheep with wool that varied in length and coarseness.

He got a few sheep from Caithness (by sea), Southdowns from Lewes, Herefordshire ewes from Robert Bakewell in Leicestershire, two fat Lincolnshire ewes and two horned Wiltshires from Middlesex. Presumably they either walked to London or got a ride in a cart. The ram was certainly not overtaxed by these number and his first lamb crop was born in 1786.

Carter says 'For nearly ten years the Spring Grove flock of Sir Joseph Banks was the centre of a web whose strands spread to many corners of the kingdom'. It was a smart move as the flock was close by the rides and paths of Royalty from Windsor to St James's Park for the King and his Court not to notice.

But as Carter points out that Banks had other things to concern him at the time - such as the William Herschel's telescope and new things that could be seen in outer space.

Sheep travel maps
I frequently got confused trying to remember the different importations and where they all went. So I was thankful for the maps which showed the sheep tracks from the Continent to Britain, then withing Britain. It's amazing where the sheep all came from and where they ended up.

Merino husbandry - shepherds' bad news
Trying to farm Merinos is a challenge at any time, and it's clear from Carter's book that Banks had real problems with the shepherds and the farm managers who had to look after them. Carter has covered his many letters and their replies, and even correspondence with the King.

In my experience with them, they are a vastly different sheep to any other ovines. They are loners and hate to be hassled by other sheep, especially those of different breeds. They are a dry climate sheep and in wet climates their toes grow long making them prone to footrot, they are prone to internal parasites and fungi stain the wool. Banks seems to have had all these problems, as well as deaths through cold in hard winters.

It seems it took a husbandry disaster and death before anyone realised Merinos were different and their feet and wool had evolved in an arid climate under 'transhumance' - where they walked long distances to change grazings at particular times of the year.

Banks must have learned a lot about managing the sheep from the Portuguese shepherds who cam with a big importation of sheep smuggled across the border from Spain. Carter records how he spent days with them.

Banks invented ear tags
This is a wonderful bit of history, and having done my research before plastic eartags where invented I can see the genius in what he did. As more Merinos came into Britain and were distributed around the country from the King's and Banks's flock, Banks desperately needed a reliable identification system.

Painting numbers on the sheep's flank is alright till shearing then you have to repeat the performance, and painted numbers are not always easy to read. The paint also ruins wool, especially as in the 1700s tar would be used and not scourable raddles approved by wool processors.

Banks had a friend in the Royal Mint so he asked him to make some numbered metal disks with clips on to hang in the ear. Bingo! The ear tag was invented.

The King
George III has always had a bad press. School history told us he was 'Mad King George' and 'Farmer George", neither of which were great accolades to urban kids. The film of his life (featuring his mental illness) would do much to help his image.

I remember that Prince Charles is an admirer and rightly so as the Prince has a great appreciation of farming and its contribution to the nation. Banks eventually gave all his sheep to the King, as he felt he could act better as an independent adviser on breeding and wool matters.

The King has a great place in the heart of all New Zealanders as one of our famous Maori warriors - Hongi Hika (who had learned English) sailed to England to meet him, and came away with enough gifts to be able to afford to cash in for a ship load of muskets and ammunition in Sydney on his way home!

Demand for sheep grows
Carter page 282:
'In spite of the war with France, so recently joined after the brief Peace of Amiens, the summer of 1803 was remarkable in the affairs of His Majesty's Spanish flock for an unprecedented demand for it's surplus sheep'.

The demand was such and the business of supplying request from various breeders clearly got too much for Banks and the King so a public auction was arranged - the first draft of sheep going under the hammer on 17 August 1800. More great maps in the book show where the sheep went throughout the land and to America where the War of Independence had caused a big demand for wool for uniforms. Carter found documentation to show that 26,000 Spanish Merinos were shipped to the United States in the frantic trading rush of 1810-1811.

As a Northumbrian, I was delighted to see that the Duke of Northumberland, Sir Hugh Percy, had his name down for a sheep, and Banks selected Ram No 127 for him on 18 August 1800 - the day after the sale. Maybe it was passed in or Banks bought it for the Duke.

In the reference Carter found, the ram is described as 'a very good three-shear sheep which has served the King's flock in 1799 - and one old ewe whose mouth was still sound'.

Merinos to Australia - MacArthur
This is a fascinating bit of the story. Captain John MacArthur (1798-1834) of the New South Wales Corps of Campden Park NSW, could be described as the pioneer of Merino breeding in Australia. The hilarious part of the tale was that in Australia he got into a duel with a fellow officer so was shipped back to Britain for Court Marshall.

When he got this sorted out, he went back to Australia with a gift of sheep from the King - and that big dry continent became the world's biggest producer of fine wool.

Andrew James Cochrane-Johnstone, (1767- 1834), Honorable, Colonel, M.P.,
What a wonderful rogue this bloke must have been, and Carter provides chapter and verse on endless examples of his 'wheeling and dealing'. He was a master speculator and arranged for sheep to be purchased in Spain and France and shipped to all sorts of places, especially in large numbers to America. He owned sheep himself and shipped sick and dying sheep to anybody he thought could be duped.

Carter: Page 355.
'There was, however, no end to the ingenuity of Andrew James Cochrane-Johnstone in creating embarrassing situations. In this he was ceaselessly active, losing no opportunity for turning almost any predicament in which he found himself to some dubious form of monetary advantage'.

The autumn days of Banks, the King and British Merinos
Throughout the book, there's accounts of Banks's frequent bouts of gout and how on many occasions he missed important meetings with sheep breeders, shepherds and managers and the King who in his letters transcribed by Carter showed enormous sympathy for his 'Scientific shepherd'. Both Banks and the King were suffering together.

Carter: Page 384.
The month of November 1810 was darkened for Sir Joseph Banks by the final madness of his friend the King. This was the onset of the twilight for the Spanish flock beside the Thames and for the Merinos in Britain.

The Merino Society
Carter describes how on 7 February 1811, a circular letter was sent around by Banks to all those who were keen to form a breed society - to do what all such bodies do, to promote the breed and the needs of its breeders. Banks was expected to accept the Chair which he did. The Society took on a lot of the responsibilities Banks had managed on behalf of the King.

Carter: page 287
'The Society had a brief career but a more significant place in the history of its period than its critics would accord. It effectively formed a bridge across the uncertain and criss-crossed years before and after Waterloo from 1810-1820 when the whole of British sheep breeding and the wool trade was reshaping to the new industrial order'.

Deaths close the era
The King died in 1820 and Banks died the same year. Banks tried to decline his Chairmanship of the Royal Society because of illness, but the Carter book shows the correspondence from the Council refusing to accept it after 42 years.

Carter's final comments on Banks
Page 406
I thought this was extremely well expressed.

'Whatever there is to be said - and there is much - there can be little doubt now that it was Sir Joseph Banks who placed the Spanish Merino and the essential knowledge of its breeding, management and productive attributes at the industrial disposal of Great Britain'.

That's some compliment when you think of the national economic impact at the time. And then muse on all the other great contributions Banks made to his country and the world. An amazing man!

My final comments on HB Carter
Harold Burnell Carter (1910-2003) was an amazing man too, and needs to be acknowledged for his contribution to the Sheep. I regret now not having more contact with him at Leeds.

HB Carter the artist
Richard Carter, in fossicking through his father's papers came across these pen and ink drawings, traced from black and white photos - done between 1962-64. Richard says it was around this time that his father was trying to find records of the physical morphology of Merinos from the present through the 18th and 19th Century and the early 20th century studs, all the way back to the 'Golden Fleece'.

Carter's father was a portrait painter so his son Harold had certainly inherited some of his genes.

By Dr Clive Dalton

• Born at Driffield, East Riding of Yorkshire, 23 October 1891.
• Elder son of Frank Dry, master draper and his wife Mary Avis Corke.
• Known as William, attended Driffield Boarding School where awarded scholarship to attend Bridlington Grammar School.
• B.Sc. (Leeds) 1913.
• Honours in Zoology (Class 1) 1914.
• M.Sc. (Leeds) 1914.
• Awarded Carnegie Scholarship to visit research institutions in the USA.
• Married Florence Wilson Swinton, at Saginaw, Michegan, USA on 18 May 1921. Had a son and a daughter.
  
• From 1917-1921 served as assistant entomologist in Kenya.
• Awarded Ackroyd Memorial Research Fellowship at the University of Leeds in 1921.
• D.Sc. (Leeds) 1925.
• 1928. Appointed as Seniour Lecturer in agricultural zoology at the newly founded Massey Agricultural College, Palmerston North, NZ.
• 1929 established flock of hairy Romney sheep at Massey. Work finally reported in detail in 1955.
• Retired from Massey in 1956 and took up honorary fellowship in Department of Textile Industries at Leeds University.
• 1958 Hon Life Member of the NZ Society of Animal Production.
  
• 1961-62 specialty carpet wool production established under control of Massey College.
• 1963 Dry and his wife returned to Palmerston North where he continued his work on fibre types leading to his book in 1975.
• Hon D.Sc.(Massey University) 1966.
• Hon Fellow of Textile Institute, Manchester 1971.
• O.B.E. (1973).
• Fellow of the NZ Institute of Agricultural Science (1976).
  
• Died Palmerston North 1979.
  

'Daddy'
‘Daddy’: FW Dry lived and worked in the days of formality when from school onwards, we males were only addressed by their surnames. In some schools, girls got their surnames too, but more often these were preceded by ‘MISS’, said with cutting emphasis if they were in trouble.

So nicknames became very popular in this era – especially for much-loved and much-hated people we knew. So apparently in Dry’s early days he became ‘Daddy’ behind his back, but always Dr Dry to his face or if in the company of others. He never, ever said – ‘oh call me Francis or Frank or whatever’. He liked to be addressed as Dr Dry.

The term ‘Daddy’ apparently came from the fact that Mrs Dry always referred to him as ‘Daddy’, which he would have been called within the family made up of two children, Avis Mary who was a psychiatrist in Leeds, and David who was a photographer in Palmerston North. Both are deceased.

Dry referred to her as ‘Mammy’, or described her as Mrs Dry in conversations with others. She would never know that “Daddy’ became the name we all used, and which has now gone into the annals of agricultural and New Zealand history.

F.W.Dry Memorial Award
'This Award arises from a fund established in memory of the late Dr F.W. Dry, founding lecturer in Animal Genetics and Wool Science at Massey Agricultural College, and a member of staff from 1928 to 1956'.

Details: The F.W. Dry Memorial Award shall have a value determined each year from the interest earned on the capital and be open to all students undertaking a postgraduate degree or postgraduate diploma in animal science (papers with prefix of 117) at Massey University. The Award will be restricted to candidates specialising in animal breeding, animal genetics, or mammalian fibre science.

Dry’s famous publications

• Dry, F.W. (1924) . The genetics of the Wensleydale breed of sheep. I. The occurrence of black lambs. J. Genet. 14,: 203-218.
• Dry, F.W. (1926). The coat of the mouse (Mus musculus). J. Genetics, 16: 287-340.
• Dry, F.W. (1926). Colour inheritance in the Wensleydale breed of sheep. J. Text. Inst., 17: (30), 180-186.
• Dry, F.W. (1927). Mendelian breeding with Wensleydale sheep. J. Text. Inst., 18: (10), 415-420.
• Dry, F.W. (1928). The agouti coloration of the mouse (Mus musculus) and the rat (Mus norvegicus). J. Genetics, 20: 131-44.
• Dry, F. W. (1932). Some aspects of fertility in sheep. Proceedings of a meeting of sheep breeders, Massey College July 1932.
• Dry, F. W. (1933). Types of hairy fibres in the fleece of the Romney lamb, their identification and importance. Proc. of meeting of sheep breeders, Massey College July 1933, P 38.
  
• Dry, F.W. (1933a and 1934). Hairy fibres of the Romney sheep. N.Z. Jl. Agric., 46: 10-22, 141-53. 279-88: and 48: 331-43.
• Dry, F.W. (1933b). The pre-natal check in the birthcoat of the New Zealand Romney lamb. J. Text. Inst., 24: T 161-6: N.Z. Jl Sci.Tech., 14: 353-8.
• Dry, F.W. (1935).The early progress of the Romney lamb and features in the development of the fleece. N.Z. Jl Agric., 51 (4): 229-37.
• Dry, F.W. (1936). The genetics of the Wensleydale breeding sheep. J. Genet. 33 (1): 123-34.
• Dry, F.W. (1940). Recent work on the wool zoology of the New Zealand Romney. N.Z. Jl Sci. Tech., A22: 209-20.
• Dry. F.W., McMahon, P.R., Sutherland, J.A. (1940). A mendelian situation in the birthcoat of the New Zealand Romney lamb. Nature, 145: 390-391.
  
• Dry, F.W. (1952). The genetics and fibre morphology of N-type sheep. N.Z. Sci. Rev.5: 69-71.
• Dry, F.W.; Stephenson, S.K. (1954). Presence or absence of the prenatal check in lambs' birthcoats. Nature, 173: 878.
• Dry, F.W. (1955a). Multifactorial inheritance of halo-hair abundance in New Zealand Romney sheep. Aust. J. agric. Res. 6: 608-23.
• Dry, F.W.(1955b). The dominant N gene in New Zealand Romney sheep. Aust. J. Agric. Res., 6: 725-69.
• Dry, F.W.(1955c). The recessive N gene in New Zealand Romney sheep. Aust. J. Agric. Res., 6: 833-62.
• Dry, F.W. (1956): Twenty years of Mendelian sheep breeding. Proc. N.Z. Soc. Anim. Prod. 16: 130-140.
• Dry, F.W. (1958). Further breeding experiments with New Zealand Romney N-type sheep. Aust. J. agric. Res., 9' 348-62.
• Dry, F.W.(1965a). Lamb fibre types. In Biology of the Skin and Hair Growth. (Lyne, A.G. and Short, B.F., Eds). Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 89-104.
• Dry, F.W.(1965b). Mendelian sheep. Indian J. Genetics and Plant Breeding. 25:113-36. The late Professor Al Rae at Massey told me that he considered this paper a real 'Daddy' classic.
  

Massey College meetings
Massey University started off as Massey College to train agricultural graduates and farmers. Under their new Principal Geoffrey Peren (later Sir Geoffrey) they started farmers' meetings which became the Massey Sheep Farmers' as well as the Massey Dairy Farmers' Conferences which ran for at least five decades.

Below is the cover of a reprint from one of the first meetings in 1932, sponsored by Romney sheep breeders. From the signatures on the front, the reprint has belonged to R. Waters (an early wool scientist) and Prof Al Rae.

In Prof Peren's opening address he is warning farmers that the government's withdrawal of funds for the college will greatly restrict the research programme, as the four teaching staff will be overloaded. So he was asking for financial help from farmers. This has been a familiar tune over the years.


Here's an advertisement in the Proceedings for the College. The fees were fifty guineas per annum!


Dry's famous book

Dry, F.W. The Architecture of Lambs' Coats. A Speculative Study.
Massey University Press, Palmerston North, NZ 1975



The fly leaf contains the following information:

'Citing many facts and ideas from the following companions':
In Massey University

• F.R.M. Cockrem
• A.S. Fraser
• Nancy Galpin
• H. Goot
• Anthea Helford
• R.J. McIntrye
• P.R.McMahon
• Sundara Narayan
• Hazel Riseborough
• D.A.Ross
• Janet M. Ross
• K.M. Rudall
• S.K. Stephenson
• J.A.Sutherland
• G.A. Wickham
• G.M.Wright
  

In Leeds University

• Marca Burns
• R.A. Guirgis
• C.E. Nash
• J.A. Knott
• C.G. Priestly
• K.M. Rudall
• H.J.A. Side
  

Dedication
The book is dedicated ‘To the memory of Harry John Allan Side'.

On the back cover
On the back cover is Daddy's potted history in tiny print you need a lens to read.There is also his photo.
His Massey colleague Bob Barton told me what a difficult job it was to get it. Daddy didn't want a full-frontal mug shot of himself, so the photographer had a hard job to get a side view, resulting in Bob being in the frame.

Dry's acknowledgements
This is written in Dry’s classical English, strongly influenced by his Yorkshire precise and economical form of speech. Yorkshire folk waste nowt –especially words. As you can see, Dry loved commas, as they gave great moment to meaning - and didn't spend much on ink too!
To really appreciate it - read it aloud with a Yorkshire accent.

"Those to whom my thanks are due are far too numerous to mention, but my debt is a very special one to the small number now named. The ways of thought revealed trace very largely to my much mentioned Professor of Zoology, Walter Garstang, and my Professor of Botany, J. H. Priestley. The reaction to the universe of my Professor of Geology, P.F. Kendall, was very colourful and inspiring. He filled his science with mirth.

'If by work you mean doing something you don’t like,' he said, “I have never done a day’ work in my life.” In the lecture boastfully reported above I began by mentioning that early in my very first term the founder of the Department of Agriculture, (at Leeds) Professor R.S. Seaton, had told me to study Mendelism as new capital for livestock breeding. Professor A.F. Barker was my imaginative and inspiring host in the development of Textile Industries at Leeds from 1921-1928.

Three prominent farmers in the Manawatu whose co-operation has been of very great theoreticl and practical significance are Holgar Voss, N.P. Neilsen, and D.A. Scott. In the five years after my depart from what is now Massey University the fibre type work was substantially advanced through the hospitality of Professor J.B. Speakman in his Department of Textile Industries in the University of Leeds.

For many years this work was maintained by the support of the New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and it was through the backing of the former Director-General, Dr W.M Hamilton, and of the Vice-Chancellor of Massey University, Dr A. Stewart, that I was able to address myself to writing this book after the responsibility for exploiting the N-gene had passed to younger hands.

I am grateful to Professor T.L.Bywater, Head of the School of Agricultural Sciences in the University of Leeds, for the opportunity to add to and partly revise the script as a member of the organization in which my first piece of research was started. My stay there gave me several new glimpses of the fibre forests.

My colleague, R.A. Barton, has applied his editorial experience and eagle eyes to the final proofs. Besides matters of construction and convention, he has coped with serious errors, defective words, wrong brackets, and the stance of letters. He has cheerfully worn down a task several times as large as ever it entered my head to imagine."

Footnote (from Tim Johnston, Leeds)
Daddy refers to the Founding Professor of Agriculture as R.S. Seton, who, in fact, was the fourth Professor. The first, James Muir, existed from 1891 to 1896. When the East and West Riding County Councils (CCs) took a 30 year lease on Manor Farm, Garforth where Muir suggested that he should be manager.

The CCs of both Ridings set up a Committee to consider this and decided that not only should he not become the manager but that he should NOT continue as Head of the Dept of Agriculture. After a bit of a wrangle, Muir left in 1897 and became the Instructor in Agriculture for the Somerset CC.

Apparently at Leeds he did the minimum of lectures - in those days mainly 'out-reach' work but spent his time writing a textbook 'Agriculture - Practical and Scientific' 1895, and taking more professional examinations. He was MRAC when appointed but also FHAS, MRASE, PASI when he left.

His successor, Dr James Clark, was dismissed in 1898 for carrying on a business expressly forbidden by his contract with the Yorkshire College. It was subsequently found that his degree of MA, Edinburgh was false, as was his claim of a German PhD. Seton, a Scotsman, was eventually appointed, having applied when Clark was appointed and again on Clark's dismissal. Seton came from the Harris Institute at Preston.

Chapter X. Conclusion
The first paragraph again is classical Dr Dry.

“Fibre type details lend themselves poorly to summarizing. A series of mini-essays could resemble lectures that scratch too much ground. A peroration would have a phoney ring, My thoughts slip back to examinations suffered and imposed. Three procedures to my taste, though not often imposed were:

1. To invite the candidates to present scrappy notes, instead of continuous grammatical discourses.
2. To allow notes and books to be brought to the examination.
3. To let the victims answer whatever number of questions they chose.
   

As to the last, Professor J.H. Priestly explained it was not what they didn’t know that he wanted to find out, but what they did know. To round off this undertaking permit me to provide a series of questions to be answered under the above rules.

He Daddy goes on to present 14 questions. He ends the book with this paragraph:

‘Garstang became Professor of Zoology – as distinct from Biology- in the University of Leeds near the end of the first decade of the present century. Late in 1969 I enjoyed the fun of giving a lecture to the advanced students of Animal Husbandry in the School of Agricultural Sciences of my University sixty years and a few days after going up as a fresher. This was on work on sheep which traced in curiously numerous ways, mundane as well as fanciful, to Garstang.’


Copy in Leeds School of Agriculture library
His copy donated to the old Leeds School of Ag Dept Library has the following inscription:

'With my compliments and lively thanks to the librarians who looked after me in the years 1968 and 1969. Thereby, in my opinion, this story was improved considerably’.

Unsold copies at Massey
Dr George Wickham remembers that the book ended up as ‘the baby’ of Massey Vice Chancellor, Dr Alan Stewart as it was paid for by the University. The Massey Sheep Department were always very skeptical about whether it should be published considering it’s out-of-date technology. There were many copies left unsold.



Recollections & correspondence ( From Lance Wiggins)
Although not a student of Dr Dry he treated me like one when I joined the NZ Wool Board in 1972. His first contact with me was the following letter which arrived shortly after I began my job in Wellington. I of course was flattered.
Kathleen (my wife) student-flatted in his house in Karaka Street in Palmerston North while Dr Dry was in England in the 1960’s.

(Dr Dry’s Letter)
5 Karaka Street
Palmerston North
New Zealand.
26.11.72

My dear Lance Wiggins
I’ve got to call you something not too formal. For I realize in a way we are related by marriage, two marriages. I understand that in the event of my grandchildren becoming orphans, your wife’s sister would become their guardian.

Concerning Tuki Tuki. After talking on the telephone a time or two, in the course of which I told Mr. Coop that husbandry considerations should decide the shearing date, he concluded that they should be shorn in the week now beginning. He thinks it best not to wait until the first week in January. Their coats are growing fast, and, too, he wants the second shearing not to be thrown too late. So I am to proceed to Tuki Tuki on Wednesday November 29th to sample the animals I sampled earlier.

Yesterday and the day before I was at a conference of the N.Z. Branch of the N.Z. Institute. Dr. Gerald Laxer (or the) Deputy Director of the I.W.S. spoke on The Future of Textile Technology. Looking ahead, over ten years, he said that he expects wool like Drysdale to be very much wanted ten years from now. Which, I take to mean, all the time between now and then, and afterward too.

I saw Dr. Don Ross at the same gathering. I hope you will be able to see him. Mr. Gemmell of U.E.B. was there, but instead of staying until the second day I discovered he had departed the previous evening. So not a word did I have with him.

At the same event I met two members of the firm of N.Z. Woolpacks and Textiles Ltd., Mr. A.L. Muir, “Plant Manager” and Mr. A. A. Wells, “Works Manager”. I learnt that this Foxton firm, by way of diversification, makes some carpet yarns, importing Scottish Blackface wool, material which does not greatly please them, for the hard core of their blend. About half of the yarn is exported, I think to Australia. Not surprisingly they would like some Tukidale, Cumberdale, Drysdale, if so it should be in memory of a former Chairman of the Massey Council.

There is a lot more I want to discuss with you. I will see if I can get you on the telephone in Wellington, on, probably, January 3rd, when we expect to hand this house back to our son.
Much happiness to you and your family in projected movements.

Kind regards,
“Ernest” Dry
Too little time to explain how I got that name.


Dr Dry visited me on several occasions to discuss his work and to ensure that I understood its importance and commercial significance. At the time he was very excited by Malcolm Coop’s “Tukidales” and suggested that I visit him. A very worthwhile visit with a very hospitable farmer.

My enduring memory is of Dry falling asleep in my office mid sentence and feeling terrified that he was dead - yet only two minutes later he woke to continue where he had left off. Most unnerving.

Because of our distant family connection we invited him home on one occasion to stay for the night. When he met Kathleen for the first time and learned that she was a primary teacher he gave us his philosophy on the worth of educators to society. His view was that primary school teachers had the most important and demanding job in education teaching the young to read and write while university teachers taught the more intelligent and able who wanted to learn.
He would reverse their positions and pay the primary teachers a professor’s salary and vice versa.


Hairy shaker disease (from Tim Johnson, Leeds)
I met Daddy Dry when he was visiting Leeds in Spring 1970. He was in the house in Lifton Place and one morning when walking in from Headingly he found a dead squirrel in the gutter at Hyde Park and brought it into the Zoology Department. He was surprised and disappointed that they were not interested in dissecting it!

One day Professor Bywater (HOD) asked me if I would take Dry to Knighton in Radnorshire so that he could visit farms and take wool samples from new-born lambs because Dry believed that the birthcoat fibres could indicate those with Scrapie.

We set off from Leeds in my new car with Mrs Dry (Mammy) in the back. Along the way I saw her through the mirror buttering bread to make a sandwich. I was not amused. We arrived at the Hotel in Knighton and the manageress appeared. Mrs D said 'Oh, it hasn't changed since we were here seven years ago'. Yes , said the manageress we haven't decorated anything.

She then announced to Mrs D – ‘you are on the second floor and Mr D is on the third’. Mammy D turned to me and said 'we have separate rooms because he sleeps with the window open and I sleep with it closed.

Dry had arranged for us to visit several farmers that were into their lambing season. It was a cold Easter time and we would get onto a farm in biting winds and the farmer would hold a lamb while D snipped of a few fibres and put the into a labeled envelope in his inside raincoat pocket.

These fibres would later be examined under a microscope to see the tips:

• Straight = Normal
• Curled = Scrapie.

He had battles with the Veterinary profession who poopood his thesis. One day at lunch, Mrs D said that she had been listening to the Government Medical Officer for Health at a Conference in Brighton who had said that anybody at 80 years old should be able to select euthanasia. She poked Dr D with the comment 'only two years Daddy'.

On the Saturday we were to return to Leeds, but I was staying near Burton on Trent so I took them to Derby Station. As we set off, Mrs D said that she needed a pint of milk (What, in the Welsh borders?). We suddenly saw a milk tanker so she said stop him for a pint of milk, please. I didn't

We got to Derby Railway Station at about 3-00pm and I thought where the hell can we find milk: she will have to get it at Leeds. However, I nipped out of the car and told them to get out with their luggage while I went into the street. Believe it or not, there was a milk float returning to its depot. I bought a pint, took it back and dumped it in Mrs D's lap! They went for the train and I went home.

The stuffed rooster (from the late Graeme Hight)
Daddy always used to come into the class to deliver his genetics lectures with a stuffed rooster under one arm and his yellowing notes under the other. He never did get round to using this avian visual aid. At least they all remembered that even if they forgot everything else.

Other old students remember that he always came to class with a stack of textbooks which he never referred to.

The dustbin on the bus (from the late Graeme Hight)
Daddy arrived at Massey University on the bus one morning with the dustbin under his arm. When it was pointed out to him, he then remembered that he meant to leave it at the gate to be emptied.

Cricket analogies (from Clive Dalton)
Daddy being a good Yorkshireman knew his cricket.When he was at Whatawhata we worked out that the carpet company UEB who had control of supplying Drysdale rams had been supplying heterozygous rams as well as homozygous ones. Using the heterozygous ones meant it took longer to product the real high quality carpet fibre.

I suggested to Daddy that he should contact the big cheeses at UEB and get stuck into them. His reply in his carefully chosen Yorkshire prose was:

‘No, No, I think not. When I retire, there were two things I swore I would no do – one was to step out of my crease, and the other was to hit the ball in the air’!

Dry at the NZ Society of Animal Production conferences (from Clive Dalton)
In the 1970s – 80s Dry was regularly attended the APS conferences and always sat in the very front row. At question time he would stand up not being able to hear that someone else had grabbed the floor.

He would sort of ‘unfold’ from his seat and always had the manners to half turn around to address the audience as he offered his ‘observation – not a question Mr Chairman’. It was regularly about when the work had been done 40 years ago (which the current young scientist didn’t know!) and how the answer was a lemon then too.

Once when chairing a session I stupidly handed him the microphone so we could hear his comments, and then had a hell of a job getting it back off him to shut him up. I was looking for the plug to pull it out.
‘Thank you Dr Dry, Thankyou Dr Dry, THANK YOU DR DRY’, didn’t seem to work! Lesson - never give Daddy the microphone

'I’ll just go and get Daddy for you' (from Boyd Wilson)
My closest encounters with Daddy Dry were in Palmerston North, perhaps 1972. I was then the NZ Farmer southern bloke (yes, bloody Aucklanders reckoned the Manawatu was in the centre of the South Island). Anyway, I think Daddy initiated the relationship when he confirmed what he proclaimed as a "new" hairy gene in Romneys in the Coop family flock at Tukituki, Hawke's Bay. I think it was Daddy who named the sheep "Tukidales." Can't recall details: I think they were confirmed homozygotes and they were good enough sheep, but suspect they soon became old news.
I can still hear old Mrs D's voice whenever I phoned to check on a fact: ‘I'll just go and get Daddy for you’.

I can’t find my bike anywhere (from Geoffrey Moss)
There were some great characters on the Massey staff when I was a student (part time) there over 1948-53 and Dr Dry, our genetics lecturer, was a real ‘absent-minded professor’. One night very late he knocked on my door and asked if I owned a motorbike, and if so, would I mind running him home? 'I must have come out from town this morning on the bus because I can’t find my bike anywhere,' he explained.

He was a respected academic and a likeable eccentric and we were all fond of him so I took him home on the back of my Harley with a heavy pack on his back.

Each evening he would go home with two big Winchester jars full of Massey water in his pack because he and Mammy Dry refused to drink the city's chlorinated water. He did this for years and everyone knew about it.

We had an oral and a written exam for the genetics final exams. In the written exam we were permitted to take in any books we liked, but the questions were so designed that books were useless. My oral exam was held late at night. When I entered, Dr Dry invited me to sit down. 'Tell me all you know about eugenics', he said, as he proceeded to pull out a loaf of bread, a bread knife, some butter and a pot of jam and have his evening meal.


Brown envelopes and black velvet (from Clive Dalton)
When ready for the field, Daddy always carried his set of gear in the deep inside pockets of his fading brown Gabadine raincoat. Any hope of it turning rain had long gone. His gear consisted of:

• One pair of surgical scissors with upturned points.
• A pack of brown ‘government’ envelopes held by a thick elastic band.
• Pointed tweezers.
• A piece of black velvet about 6 inches square to put on his knee to show up white fibres for inspection.
• Small lens.
• A sandwich
  

His headgear was either an English style cap or a gamekeepers helmet with side flaps to tie under his chin if things got really rough.

A fibre waiting for an array (from Clive Dalton)
When at Whatawhata, we gave Daddy the full run of the wool lab to examine the samples he’d collected for the station’s Drysdale rams that day. Here he had more black velvet laid out as well as the contents of the brown envelopes, all with information in his spidery handwriting.

I went to the station one evening and saw the lights on in the lab and there he was sorting his fibres into his famous ‘arrays’. He had one fibre in a pair of tweezers when I went in and he held it there for at least half an hour of our discussions. I sort of followed him around the lab in our chat and he never let go of the fibre. I bet he knew into which ‘array’ it fitted - probably one of his favourite ‘Super sickle fibres’.

N type sheep as lawn mowers (from Clive Dalton)
The Massey Sheep Department under Prof Geoffrey Peren got tired of Dry’s hairy rams on the farm and they came under threat of slaughter. At that time, Peren was driving research in the crossing of the Cheviot on to the Romney to develop a more productive active sheep for hard hill country. The result in time became 'the Perendale' breed.

Dry was strongly advised to find his sheep, especially the rams a new home. Daddy solved the problem by farming them out to his friends in Palmerston North who tethered their allocated sheep to graze their lawns or back sections. If they had all gone to the butcher, the Drysdale and its great contribution to the New Zealand carpet trade would never have happened.

A brand new Raleigh 20 (from Clive Dalton)
When Daddy finally came back to New Zealand from Leeds, by then well into his 80s, he must have gone ‘right daft’ for a Yorkshireman who was always canny with his ‘brass’ . To everyone’s amusement and amazement, he bought a brand new Raleigh 20! This bike with its small wheels, low crossbar and good sound carrier was 'top of the line' at the time. Everyone commented that Daddy clearly had no intentions of giving up the struggle for a while yet, which was true.

None of the recorded anecdotes ever mentions Daddy driving a car.


Ruakura Farmer's Conference. Hairy genes in New Zealand

When we started a Drysdale flock at the Whatawhata Research Station to be included in our breed comparison trials, we gave a paper at the Ruakura Farmer’s Conference which was published in the 1973 Conference Proceedings. Here are some bits from it:

DC Dalton, ML Bigham and LK Wiggins.
Special Carpet-wool Sheep.
Proceedings of the Ruakura Farmer’s Conference, 1973. 21-33.

The N gene

This gene was discovered in a Romney ram by Dr Dry in a flock owned by Mr Neilson of Palmerston North; hence the symbol N given to it by Dr Dry. Dry worked out the basic inheritance of the gene over a period of years and its action is now fairly clearly understood.

The two most important features of the N gene are that it is almost completely dominant, and it influences the lamb birth coat as well as the adult fleece. It seems essential to a successful hairy sheep-breeding programme that all breeders should be familiar with the classification of lambs’ birth coats, and should include birth-coat classification into their basic flock recording.

The horns on the Drysdale increase management problems, but as yet no effective solution has been found to banishing them either by genetic or by non-genetic means. Few hairy sheep in the world appear to be free from horns.

The T gene
This gene was discovered by Mr M.W.Coop of Tuki Tuki in Hawkes Bay in 1966 in a hairy ram lamb which had been reared as a pet lamb. It was found to be a dominant gene (called T after the farm) which caused complete hair cover especially in the Tt sheep.

There were no apparent birth coat variations with the T gene as with the N gene. This makes identification of genetic makeup impossible without progeny testing. Because the fleeces of the heterozygous Tt are completely hairy, the transition form ordinary wool to a specialty carpet wool is achieved in one cross.

Horns are linked with the hairy fleece as with the N gene, except that all the Tt ewes have short spiky horns and the rams have heavy horns. Performance traits of the Tukidale are similar to the Romney.

The K gene
Professor K.B. Cumberland and his son Garth obtained two hairy rams and seven hairy ewes from a Mr L. Johnstone at Te Puke. Some hair sheep from this farm were also transferred to the property of Mr B. Johnstone of Kamano near Cheltenham. Initial test mating were carried out by the Cumberlands in 1972 to see if the sheep were carrying a dominant gene, and the results indicate that they were. The named it the K gene.

Mr B. Johstone considers that the K gene is the same as the N gene but Dr Dry has found no evidence to suggest that the K gene differs from the T gene and is firmly convinced that the K and T differ from the N gene.

These sheep and their progeny are now being used to breed a new carpet-wool breed based solely on Perendales which have high fertility, open faces, easy-care traits and fleeces of low lustre and high resilience. Carpet sheep derived from the N, T or K gene mated to high-fertility Perendale ewes are to be called 'Carpetmasters' and will be designated Carpetmaster N, T or K depending on what gene is present.


The B gene
In addition to the K gene, the Cumberlands have also found the B gene which Dr Dry considers to be different from N, T and K genes. The gene originated from a southern Hawkes Bay flock in 1972. The ram had a very low fleece weight and though his progeny have not been shorn as hoggets, they appear to also have low fleece weight which could eliminate this gene from commercial use.

There is some evidence however, that this sheep is producing wool similar t that produced by Indian carpet-wool breeds. This wool is comparatively fine and very highly regarded by the trade.

Drysdale breeding
Dr Dry worked all this out in his work at Massey. It’s the classical ratios ‘discovered’ the famous Austrian monk, Gregor Mendel in his garden where he grew sweet peas – subsequently called ‘Mendelism”.

Generations of students have been put off animal breeding by having this information hammered into them by lecturers who didn’t seem to realise it had little application in large animal breeding – unless you were breeding Drysdale sheep or the horns off cattle!

This was the notation used for the genes at the time:

1. (NN x NN = all NN).
This is the Drysdale crossed with a Drysdale. Both parents are homozygous with the dominant allele ‘N’.

2. (nn x nn + all nn).
This is the Romney x Romney which gives all Romneys. Both parents are homozygous and have the recessive allele ‘n’

3. (NN x nn = all Nn)
This is the Drysdale x Romney where all the offspring are heterozygotes.

4. (NN x Nn = 1NN: 1 Nn)
This is the Drysdale crossed back across the heterozygote to give straight Drysdales and heterozgotes in the ratio of 1:1.

5. (Nn x Nn = 1NN: 2 Nn: 1nn)
This is crossing two heterozygotes which produces all three types, straight Drysdales, more heterozygotes and straight Romneys, always in this 1:2:1 ratio.


Updated symbol for alleles (From Dr George Wickham)
Information produced for article in NZ Black and Coloured Sheep Breeders Association publication, 19??. This shows the updated terminology the COGNOSAG (Committee on the Genetic Nomenclature of Sheep and Goats). Dr Wickham adds that things will change once gene mapping advances further knowledge.

The Drysdale arose as an offshoot of the Romney. In the 1930s some wool manufacturers criticised Romney wool as being too hairy for their products. As part of a research program into the problem a flock of sheep with extremely medullated wool was selected and studied. By the 1950s these sheep had been intensively studied from a genetic and a wool growth point of view.

The descendants of two of the original rams introduced into the flock were shown to have a semi-dominant gene (initially named N, then Nd , later HH1N ) and the wool of these sheep was like that of the Scottish Blackface, a type needed as part of the wool blend for some sorts of carpets. At this time there was a shortage of this type of wool and, at one stage, Blackface wool was selling at a higher price that average Merino wool. HH was the code for High Halo Hair.

During the 1960s, commercial flocks of Drysdales were established by mating rams homozygous for the N gene to Romney and a few Perendale ewes. Lambing performance of the flocks which have descended from these have tended to be like that of Romney flocks. Initially there was a marked advantage in terms of profits from wool. Although still tending to be slightly in favour of the Drysdale this advantage declined as numbers and total wool production increased to the point where supply more-closely matched demand. Another factor in this equation is a tendency for most manufacturers of wool carpets to now use fibre blends that contain less medullated wool.

Most of the sheep we farm have been selected for a type of fleece in which all fibres are relatively similar in size and nature. In contrast a Drysdale fleece is a mixture of fibres which can differ markedly. About 25% by numbers are medullated (hollow). Some of these are kemps which only grow for a few months and moult when a new fibre starts to grow. These tend to be over 100 microns in diameter and 50-100mm long (unless cut at shearing).

Other medullated fibres are finer (50-90 microns) and grow continuously (about 20mm per month). Most (in terms of numbers but not weight) are finer still (15-45 microns) non-medullated and continuously growing (about 10mm per month). Thus the mean diameter (micron) used to classify other types of wool is meaningless in Drysdales.

Two similar breeds first arose in New Zealand but are now only found in Australia. The Tukidale was developed using another, more-dominant, allele at the N (HH1) locus (HH1T). This was found in a Romney flock. The Carpetmaster breed was developed partly from descendants of a carpet-wooled ram found in a Border Leicester x Romney flock. This ram carried a gene at the N locus that might have been identical to the gene in Tukidales. Sheep carrying the Nd were also introduced into Carpetmaster flocks.

Memory: Dr Doug Lang when at Massey as students spent quite a bit of time helping Doc. Doug and I used to go off together with Dr Dry on our push bikes. We developed a technique to allow us to get home before midnight when it came to culling etc.

One of us would read the sheep's ear tag and then we would leave him to mull over his thoughts (talking to himself and maybe us) for 2-3 minutes, and then we would make the decision for him on the basis of what we had heard. If we left him to his own thoughts it could take half an hour for one sheep.

Looking back, what was Dry's contribution?

By Dr Clive Dalton



Pregnancy scanning
Pregnancy scanning (at around NZ50c/ewe in New Zealand) has been a great innovation to help farmers improve the management of pregnant ewes. Scanners are now doing more small flocks if the opportunity arises between large flocks, more as a service than a money maker.

The good thing is that after scanning, at least you know which ewes are carrying multiples (twins and triplets) and will need the best feed and special care. And you don’t waste feed and time on ewes with singles and empty ewes which you can get rid of immediately.

Before scanning - old shepherd's tricks
Before scanning was developed, we had to guess if a ewe was carrying multiples by the size of her belly. Some old shepherds would palpate the ewe's belly and try to feel how many lambs were there.

Another trick was to drive the flock slowly for a distance along a race, and then cut off the ewes at the back of the mob that walked the slowest as being ‘heavy laden’ with lambs, as the most likely to have multiples. These were not very accurate techniques but it was all that we had.

Foetal demands
The demands of the growing foetus are not a great burden on the ewe in the early stages of pregnancy, but in the last three weeks the lambs really start to grow, drawing heavily on the ewe’s body reserves, and increasing the strain on her body.

Triplets are clearly the biggest drain, as they (and twins too) start to take up space inside the ewe’s abdomen, which clearly has limits to how far it can stretch. This is the reason usually given for the ewe’s drop in appetite in the last weeks before birth, but it’s also believed to be hormonal which seems highly likely.

The general rule is that in the six weeks before lambing, twin-bearing ewes need 25% more feed and triplet-bearers need 44% more than ewes carrying singles. So multiple-bearing ewes should be fully fed and not lose any body condition in the last five weeks of pregnancy.

Even yarding such ewes for 2.5-3 hours in the last weeks can cause a build up of ketones and risk metabolic problems. It is said to depress lambs' vigour and drive to suck when born.


Hazards to health

• Feed intake check. A sudden cold snap can cut the feed supply and cause added stress, so the ewe has to draw even faster on her body fat reserves. She ends up with metabolic problems involving excess ketones in the blood causing ketosis or pregnancy toxaemia – sometimes called twin-lamb disease, as it only happens with multiples. Ewes can die very quickly and require instant injections of glucose. Ewes can also have sudden shortages of calcium causing milk fever or of magnesium causing grass staggers.
• Bearings. Here the vagina, and worse still the uterus is pushed out or everted. This is a really nasty prospect to deal with, and it needs urgent veterinary attention, as the risks of infection are high. The pressure inside the ewe from the growing lambs is blamed, along with pressure from a full rumen if the ewe has just eaten fresh green feed.
• Getting cast. Ewes with large expanding bellies can often get on their backs and cannot get back on to their feet again. This often happens if they lie and rest in a hollow or start rubbing because of lice. They can very quickly die of bloat in this position as they cannot belch.
  

Lamb mortality
It’s important not to assume that the scanning percentage (number lambs scanned/100 ewes joined with the ram) will be your ‘lambing percentage’ (measured as number lambs born/100 ewes joined).

We now know that there can be a 15-20% loss between scanning and birth. In the early days of scanning, ‘scanner error’ was blamed for this late foetal loss, as most loss of embryos always occurs in the first weeks after conception when implantation if taking place.

In recent years, we have had to accept this figure of scanning-to-lambing loss as today’s operators are highly accurate and cannot be blamed. The sheep has an ability to absorb foetal lambs right up to lambing, with the very late ones seen as mummified lambs.

Few farmers count dead lambs at birth as it’s too depressing, but they always have an accurate count at docking. So if you compare scanning percentage with docking percentage (number docked/100 ewes joined), you find the figure is frightening and can be as high as 40% - made up of 20% before birth and 20% after (as ‘perinatal mortality’ in the first 3 days after birth).

It seems to be nature’s way of keeping populations under control and ensuring ‘survival of the fittest’. Buy it’s very frustrating for the shepherd and costly for the nation.

The battle to save lambs
At the Whatawhata Hill Country Research Station, in the 1970s to 1980s, we researched the causes of lamb mortality (D C Dalton, T W Knight, D L Johnson. 1980. NZ J. Agric. Res. 23: 167-173) looking for causes and solutions, and others have repeated this work since – all with the same outcome.

We know what lambs die of (starvation/exposure and dystocia or difficult births), but in the last 20 years have not come up with practical solutions to prevent lambs dying around birth, other than to provide shelter and lamb on flat paddocks. Shepherds have known this for hundreds of years!

Why do lambs die?

When you post-mortem lambs in the first three days of birth, here are a few basic signs to provide some clues to the cause of death. Them more of these you can see, singly or in combination, then the more accurate the conclusion. The most common single signs are:

• A lamb under 3.5kg, especially it’s a twin or triplet, will have died of exposure/hypothermia.
• A lamb over 5.5kg, will most likely have died of dystocia.
• If the head is large and swollen, the neck swollen neck, and a blue swollen tongue protrudes from its mouth, then dystocia is certain.
• No milk in stomach – it clearly had not suckled so assume starvation probably through mismothering.
• Pads still on feet –it hasn’t stood up and walked, so assume mismothered.
• Membrane over nose would be suffocation.
• Some birth membrane still on body, most likely it has been licked so assume mismothered.
• Lungs not inflated – it has not breathed. Check if lungs will float in water then it has breathed.
• Kidney fat brown – fat not mobilised so died soon after birth.
• Kidney fat white – fat has been mobilised so probably lived for few days.
• Malformation (e.g. no rectum) may be cause of death a few days after birth.
  

‘Starvation/Exposure’ was always lumped together in our early research, but now researchers are using the term ‘Starvation/Mismothering/Exposure complex’ (SME). These terms illustrate how little we know, and how much guessing still has to go on to predict what lambs die of at birth.

Birth weight is critical

The main finding was that birth weight was critical for survival, and subsequent research has come to same conclusion. The best birth weight was around 4kg, but of course it was controlled by how many litter mates the lamb had as this caused the wide range found.

As mentioned above, if a lamb is under 3.5kg at birth (which is very common in triplets), then survival chances are low due to starvation/exposure, and similarly above 5.5kg (most often singles) risks are high due to dystocia. But then multiples can die of dystocia too if more than one lamb gets stuck in the birth canal.


Controlling birth weight
This is the problem – we don’t know how to control birth weight of the lamb.
Feeding the ewe during pregnancy is the obvious way to do this – in theory, but research over the years has shown that it to be a very hit and miss affair. Some trials showed positive responses but others failed to do so.

In the past with less fertile NZ Romney sheep when a good lambing percentage was 100% docked, we had to reduce feed intake in the last three weeks of pregnancy to avoid dystocia in the many single lambs born, but it’s not a wise move now with today’s highly productive sheep, as it may trigger major health problems. Today’s advice is to keep ewes on a level plane of nutrition right through pregnancy.

The ability to stand up

How quick a lamb is able to get up on it's feet is vital to survival, as it will then start teat-seeking and hopefully get a feed of colostrum. Research has shown that if you can reduce the time a lamb gets up from 45 mins down to 15 mins, there's a 49% greater chance of it being alive at weaning. This ability to 'get up and go' is very much related to the lamb's fat stores at birth.

Easy-care sheep
With the low profits from sheep over the last 30 years, intensive shepherding of ewes at lambing was not economically viable, so breeders solved the problem by selecting for ‘easy-care’ traits where ewes with lambing problems were culled.

Shepherds kept away from ewes at lambing and any ewe with problems died. This had bad animal welfare implications so the policy was changed to inspection of ewes at lambing, and marking for culling any ewe that had to be assisted at lambing. Her ewe lambs were marked for culling too. It’s been very successful.

This approach coincided with an massive increase in fertility of the New Zealand ewe flock through selection and importation of fertile breeds such as the Finn and East Friesian, so ewes were selected that could lamb multiple with ease, bond and mother them, and then rear them to weaning.

Triplet problems

As the average fertility of the national flock has increased, the number of triplets has increased, and these are causing challenges under out outdoor low-labour and easy-care lambing systems. Some ewe flocks now have 30% of ewes having triplets and 15% of hoggets lambing with triplets too.

Now that we have more lambs been born because of the triplets, it has increased the number of lambs weaned, but the mortality rate has not changed. So from a national viewpoint, it’s hard to ignore a 40% overall lamb loss between scanning and weaning, realising the export value of these lambs. It’s an awful waste still waiting for an answer.

Intensive shepherding for small high fertility flocks
In small flocks it’s worth providing all the help you can. Here are some suggestions:

• Get all the lambing gear sorted a month before the first lambs are due. Pay special attention to medications for metabolic diseases like pregnancy toxaemia (low glucose), grass staggers (low magnesium) and milk fever (low calcium). You can get all three preventatives in the one bottle or sachet complete with needle. Talk to your vet.
• Make sure you know how to use the gear, especially how to put a feeding tube down a lamb’s gullet without filling it’s lungs with milk and drowning it.
• Treat the ewes quietly before lambing, but some gently exercise is good for them. Do this by shifting them between paddocks.
• If you have a dog, it must be under full control at all times, and the ewes are used to seeing in with you. All other dogs should be kept away from the flock.
  
• It’s always better to leave newly-lambed ewes on their birth site till they are fully bonded with their lambs, but with triplets, weak twins or a ewe that’s not mothering all her lambs, it’s more important to get them under cover for their first night.
• Get them into shelter as soon as they’ve licked their lambs and the lambs have stood up and started teat seeking. Keep them in this shelter, certainly for their first night after birth.
• The best idea is to make some simple ‘lambing pens’ in the paddock from hay bales or small gates with a cover over half the top.
• Learn a few tricks to get the ewe to follow one or two lamb while you keep moving towards the pen carrying the others. The last thing the ewe wants at this stage is more stress.
• The ewe will want to rush back to her birth site where the smells of her burst waters are very attractive, so keep the lambs close in front of her as you move backwards, bleating like a lamb to attract her to the lambs.
  
• Once the ewe is into a pen, then it’s easier to check her udder and milk supply, and it saves the trauma of catching her in the paddock.
• If she's too heavy to turn over, then you can block her up against the side of the pen and milk her from the side like a cow.
• This will clear the wax seal in the end of the teat, which a weak lamb takes too long to suck out.
• By squirting some colostrum from a teat down each lamb’s throat immediately after birth, you know all three have had that first vital feed.
  
• It’s no good just standing, watching triplets teat-seeking in the paddock with the mother fussing around them, especially if she hasn’t seen lambs before – and assuming they’ll all get a feed. On a wet night, the shock from 29C inside the ewe to 5-6C in driving rain will kill them with hypothermia in less than half a hour.
• In a mothering/teat seeking mixup, nobody gets a decent drink in the first couple of hours, which can be fatal for one or more of them. The biggest lamb will find the teat and the weaker ones will not.
• Triplets are not always the same birth weight which is critical in survival. Also there may be a delay between the first and third arriving, so the first lamb if big and strong has got on to its feet, found the teat and emptied it. The mother may give it all the attention so the late born triplet has little chance.
• At birth, use different raddle marks on each triplet set, so if you see lost lambs in the paddock blaring for their mums, then you know where they belong.
• The best way to catch and hold triplets in the paddock e.g for inspection or tagging, is by using a fishing landing net. After you've caught them, they can stand with the ewe being able to see and smell them.
  
• Watch out for ‘burglar ewes’ that will bond with newly-born lambs from other ewes, before they have lambed themselves. They can cause great havoc among twins and triplets.
  
• Keep a close eye on the most popular lambing spots in a paddock, as you’ll find it hard to sort out which are a ewe’s own lambs when they have lambed together. It’s a good reason to spread ewes out before lambing.
• Popular lambing spots can get very dirty too, so it’s often wise to fence them off half way through lambing. Applying iodine to fresh navels is very important.
• Learn to recognise when a lamb is full. Press upwards on its tummy in front of its back legs and it should feel like a drum. If it’s not inflated, then the lamb has not fed and you need to ‘tube it’ with some good quality lamb colostrum replacer.
• For starved lambs, take them inside, give them a feed of colostrum and wrap them in an electric blanket to maintain a constant heat. Dunking them in a bath of warm water used to be the trick, but the water soon cools. If you do try this, dry them and wrap them in the blanket.
• As the ewe’s milk supply starts to build up, watch out for lambs getting blocked up with yellow faeces. This happens often in windy drying weather.
  

Decisions – to remove or leave triplets on the ewe
There’s no doubt that today’s high performance ewes have enough milk to feed triplets, but there are other points and decisions to be made. Here they are:

• When do you want to market your lambs? Triplets will rarely have reached a market weight by Christmas in New Zealand’s North Island. So they’ll end up as store lambs, and they’ll be on the farm right through the dry summer period needing money spent on them, worms, lice, blowfly treatment and maybe more. You may not get rid of them till autumn or early winter.
• So if you want to have the bulk of work over by Christmas, you’ll need to remove a triplet. Then you have to decide what to do with the it. You can:
• Euthanase it if it’s very small and weak.
• Mother it on to a ewe with a single – accepting the work involved.
• Rear it yourself on milk powder at financial loss if you include labour.
• Give it away as a pet lamb to have it returned when the kids are sick of it.
• If you leave triplets on their dams, best practice is to run them with twins as a stray has a greater chance of sneaking a feed from a confused ewe than if they are mixed with singles – where ewes know their lambs and defend them at all costs.
  

You also need to be alert to lambs appearing to have lost their mothers in the paddock, at about day10-13 after birth. Farmers who have noticed this say that it seems that by this time, two lambs have established a strong sucking order each with their own sides, and will not let the third lamb in. After the two have sucked the ewe moves on to prevent further sucking, and the third lamb misses out – again. Eventually the ewe seems to decide that two lambs are enough, and stops worrying about her third one, being happy to leave it behind.

By Dr Clive Dalton

Back industries
Many back injuries occur when handling sheep, especially when lifting a sheep over a fence.

This is often done to save time, rather than pushing the sheep to a gate when the pen is full. Or you may be in a paddock where there is no gate to drag the sheep to to put into the next paddock.

 Use these advice to minimise the risk of injury:

• Never try to lift a heavy sheep over a fence on your own. Get someone to lift the hind legs while you lift it’s front end.
• For a small sheep, lift it up backwards by holding it around the neck and by a front leg.

• Then grab both front legs, lean back to raise the sheep's back legs off the ground, and at the same time, use your knee to give it a heave up and over the fence.
  

• Your knee acts as a fulcrum to get some leverage and help reduce the weight of the lift.

The CARPETMASTER Sheep Breed

Introduction by Dr Clive Dalton

The 1970s were exciting times for animal breeders in New Zealand. The sheep stud industry (mainly Romney) was coming under intense pressure from so-called new breeds’ developed from crossbreeding which the traditional stud industry saw as ‘mongrelising’!

The Coopworth was bred at Lincoln University from the Border Leicester cross Romney, and the Perendale was bred at Massey University from the Cheviot cross Romney. Both of these breeds – developed in the 1950s – were held in some disdain by the conservative traditionalist elements in breed societies. But both had a basic degree of credibility as a consequence of having been developed by animal scientists of high standing - Professor Ian? Coop of Lincoln Agricultural College (later Lincoln University) and Professor Geoffry Peren of Massey Agricultural College (later to become Massey University).

The stud industry was also being shot at by scientists (me included) for their traditional ‘colonial’ thinking, and lack of application of best scientific practice - particularly population genetics developed by Professor Al Rae at Massey and his students, who were working hard employed as farmers and Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries advisers in the industry which was expanding at that time.

The main drive was to improve fertility in the national ewe flock, and the greatest ‘mover and shaker’ in this was the development of ‘Group Breeding’ Schemes where farmers expanded their genetic horizons by cooperatively screening their large populations of commercial flocks for ewes that had top all-round merit. These identified ‘elite’ ewes were relocated to a jointly owned ‘Central Flock’ from which intensely selected rams were returned to contributing breeders.

At the same time the New Zealand carpet wool industry was thriving, with high demand for carpet wools, which were mainly the coarser end of the Romney clip. Scottish Blackface wool was imported at that time to go into carpet blends, and this had the big disadvantage of black fibres, as well as the costs of importation.

Dr FW Dry (Daddy) was still going strong at this time, having returned from his residency at Leeds University, using my old office when I left to come to New Zealand in 1968. It was inevitable that somebody remembered Daddy's hairy sheep and the N gene he identified in the 19330s.

Daddy’s hairy sheep had been kicked out of Massey and were grazing friends’ lawns in Palmerston North, as by this time they were seen by Peren as an embarrassment when emphasis in his Perendale work was to get rid of hair!

But the carpet company United Empire Box (UEB) were smart enough to grab any remaining sheep and claim ownership of the N gene to meet the expanding carpet fibre market. The N gene sheep (later to be called Drysdales after Daddy) were perfect for the job – especially as they had no coloured fibres – and so were more suited to dying to plain pastel shades for the carpets which were then all the rage.

So all this hype got farmers throughout the land looking for ‘hairy genes’ and Daddy was in his element helping anyone who came up with a ‘funny hairy lamb’.

The Cumberlands (Ken and son Garth) worked up the K gene into a marketable sheep and Garth reports the story is below.



The Cumberlands (Ken and his son Garth) worked up the K gene into a marketable sheep and Garth’s story is below.


The Carpetmaster Story
By Garth Cumberland



In the early 70s brochure I produced a brochure about ‘Carpetmaster’ sheep, but unfortunately it didn't have much of the detail I hoped it might. It seems we didn't want to give too many secrets away in those days, which seems ridiculous now! The story from memory goes something like this.

As a stroppy student at Massey University I emerged from the institution, somewhat incensed by the lack of application of science in the stud sheep breeding world. Encouraged, I remember, by the staff of that veritable 'ideas factory' known as Whatawhata Hill Country Research Station, I first leveled a torpedo at the Perendale Sheep Society at its AGM in Hamilton around1968.

I don't believe the Society understood one word of what I said; but the outcome was my meeting up with the likes of David Carter (of Perendale fame), Neil McHardy, John Stovell and Colin Chamberlin.

The consequence was the formation of the Perendale Genetic Development (PGD) Breeding Group - which was one a number of breeding groups at the time stimulated by the philosophy of Professor Al Rae at Massey University.

The concept was for commercial breeders to contribute their top performing ewes to a central flock, and in return they received highly selected rams to improve their own flock. PGD was around for probably two decades.

About the start of PGD, a thorn developed in my side over a carpet company called ‘United Empire Box (UEB) having an iron grip on the Drysdale breed. I didn’t like their tight control of the breed’s genetics and that you could only get rams from the company who took all the breed’s wool.

Then I started to notice the rare but regular appearance of hairy sheep occurring in both my own recorded Perendale flock as well as in the PGD Central Flock.

One ram in particular had a very powerful and strongly expressed hairy gene and we labeled it 'K' - it's in the picture below nearest the camera.



That's were Daddy Dry came in: he declared the K fleeces of every one of our heterozygotes carrying the K-gene, were equally as good as the best homozygotes carrying the Drysdale gene labeled N.

I was the only PGD member interested in 'salvaging' from the knacker and collecting together the Perendales that exhibited halo hair and as a consequence I acquired a high fertility flock of ewes and one interesting ram amongst other rag-tags.

The 'Carpetmaster' name was coined. And heterozygote ram production was initiated. This was early 70s and in the brochure we emphasised on "freely available" rams.

Now at that time, PGD initiated some work defining wool characteristics which was overseen variously by Lance Wiggins of the NZ Wool Board, Dr Roland Sumner at the Whatawhat Hill Country Research Station, and Dr Garth Carnaby at the Wool Research Organisation (WRO).

They showed that the unique helical (spiral) crimp of the Perendale breed imposed commercially significant 'bulk' attributes to yarns and hence to carpets and garments made from the yarns. Pure Perendale wool had better cover in carpets (weight for weight) and insulation properties in garments.

The combined attributes of fleeces containing a hair component PLUS the helical crimp in non-hairy fibres in Perendales carrying the K gene seemed like a winner. At least it did for a year or so until WRO showed that 100% high-bulk Perendale, made better carpets than any blend containing Drysdale, Carpetmaster or Tukidale.

In short, the Perendale helical crimp was commercially more important than hair of the specialist carpet breeds - including Carpetmasters. I have always assumed that the helical crimp characteristic comes from Perendale's cheviot ancestry.

Another ram in attached photo was purchased from a breeder in Te Puke who thought it might be useful and we labeled its gene 'B'. However it turned out to be no better than the N gene, and although there was no declared or known genetic connection, we assumed it probably had the same Drysdale N gene. It was taken no further.

We exported more Carpetmaster(K)s to Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia in early 1970s than we sold in NZ. A Google search of 'Carpetmaster Sheep in Australia' seems to indicate the survival of the breed along with Drysdales, Tukidales and Elliotdales, across the Ditch.

(HYPERLINK "http://www.rbta.org/sheep.htm"http://www.rbta.org/sheep.htm; HYPERLINK "http://www.mlm.com.au/work/woolmark/interior/breeds/societies/middle.html"http://www.mlm.com.au/work/woolmark/interior/breeds/societies/middle.html).

In the 1970s I chose to wind-down my effort into Carpetmaster and instead pursued selection for 'bulk' in Perendales, along with the processing of high bulk wools with David Carter and others ex PGD members.

Perendale Genetic Development (PGD)

By Dr Clive Dalton

Introduction
In the 1970s, the concept of Group Breeding was developed and promoted by Professor Al Rae at Massey University, and was carried on by his students who went farming and into farm advisory roles within New Zealand. Groups were started within the Romney, Coopworth and Perendale breeds and the story below is about the Perendale group called 'Perendale Genetic Development' or PGD.

As a scientist at the NZ Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Whatawhata Hill Country Research Station at the time, I had a lot to do with PGD members, and I believe it's important to record a part of their history. The brochure they produced below certainly shook up the established stud breeding world. Garth Cumberland was a major driving force in this promotion.

Words from promotional Brochure
produced by PGD in the 1970s:




Having increased production from every acre of land by using modern techniques, farmers are now seeking increased production from each individual animal. Geneticists have shown that flock sires bred by traditional stud lines are in many cases genetically inferior to the ewes with which they are being mated. Breeding Groups are the modern method of flock improvement.

• PGD is a Perendale Group
• PGD is soundly organised
• PGD plans vast improvements
• PGD is nationwide
  

The Perendale Genetic Development Breeding Group (PGD) is structured to encourage a large number of participating ram breeders to assemble, and scientifically test, their highest producing Perendale sheep in one environment.

By exploiting outstanding high fertility animals, PGD provides the most efficient known method of developing fertility, wool and other commercially important characteristics of Perendales.

Farmers who take advantage of PGD can be sure that the genetic and commercial merit of rams produced will improve every generation.

History
PGD was first planned by agricultural scientists. It was formally established in 1969 by eight progressive Perendale breeders. They made far-reaching plans and formed PGD into a limited liability company. They appointed Colin Chamberlin, one of New Zealand’s top Perendale breeders and judges to act as Flockmaster. He is responsible for direction and management of PGD’s Central Flock, where New Zealand’s best Perendale ewes are tested. His experience and skill in rearing sheep is reflected in the high standard already attained by the PGD Central Flock.

The group of farmers who planned PGD have now been joined by more top Perendale breeders. About 40,000 ewes are now being screened by PGD’s Central Flock.

Scientific and commercial advice is sought to assist the group to make the best decisions. Determination and objectivity which is exhibited by all PGD members, ensures that each generation of PGD Perendales will be genetically and so commercially, better than the previous one.

Initially PGD’s Central Flock has accepted only recorded stud Perendale ewes. These are the ewes with the best twinning and fertility performance from contributing flocks. Many registered ewes have in fact, not proved acceptable because of minor faults. Such is the standard of the breeding and excellence required by PGD and its Flockmaster.

However, scientific facts indicate that to maintain a high rate of improvement in PGD Perendales, the group must also screen and use the highest producing animals from New Zealand’s flocks of commercial sheep. Many highly productive and very attractive ewes are being found in this way. These sheep, after further testing and careful inspection for type, in members’ flocks, will allow PGD to raise its standards of production even higher.

These far-reaching, logical and simple procedures will ensure the successful achievement of the basic objectives of the PGD Group. The commercial and genetic merit of PGD Perendales must improve with each generation.

PGD ewes are bred under widely different conditions, and are tested under one environment. The sons of these ewes- rams of the top genetic merit – are dispersed throughout New Zealand.


MEMBERS
Foundation members

• David Carter, Waihou, RD, Ormondville (Waihau Stud)
• Colin Chamberlin, Rawhite Road, 1RD, Reporoa (Narborough Stud)
• Ken Cumberland, Garth Cumberland, Kettlewelldale, RD, Manurewa (Kettlewell stud)
• Neil McHardy, Aramoana, 1RD, Waipawa (Aramoana Stud)
• John Stovell, Willow Flat, Kotemaori, Hawkes Bay (Ren 38 Stud)
• David Baker, Cave, South Canterbury (Kainga Stud)
• Malcolm Udy, Pearce Shannon, 324 College Street, Palmerston North (Karioi Stud)
• Derek Anderson, Hundalee, RD, Parnassus (Mt. Guardian Stud).
  

Associate members

• Ness Bjerring, Seaview, RD1, Waihi (Seaview Stud)
• Chris Jury, Tikorangi, RD 43, Waitara (Green Acres Stud)
• Charlie Nairn, RD1, Waipawa (Vigour Stud)
• Tony Vallance, Te Kanuka, Masterton (Te Kanuka Stud)
• Peter Williams, Mamaku, PB, Masterton
• Gough Smith, Earlyhurst, Masterton (Earlyhurst Stud)
• David Law, Te Rohenga, Box 48, Shannon
• Kevin Nesdale, Moorfield, RD 7, Kimbolton (Moorfield Stud)
• Duncan Menzies, Mangamingi, RD 19, Eltham (Rannoch Stud)

What happened to the PGD sheep
Report from Charles Nairn - 2010

In 1988 the Central Flock was sent to me at Omakere to manage, with nine members contributing (from memory). After a few years Robin Hilson and one other wanted their sheep out - which was arranged.

By 2002 there were only five active members, with most having left their ewes in the Central Flock. It was agreed to cease operation and so members were offered their share of stock or to sell the remaining stock and take a share of the proceeds. Three members took their share in stock and the rest agreed to the sale.

At the sale Graeme Maher (a ram buyer) bought 85 ewes out of the 120 on offer and I bought the 72 ewe lambs that were up for sale. The agreement required me to present the group with 72 2-tooths each year, the surplus becoming mine as of right.

Graeme Maher sent his ewes to me and Duncan Menzies sent me 120 of his ewes and I added 170 from my stud and the whole lot are now run as one stud under the name C2C (Short for Coast to Coast) as Duncan reckoned we spanned the North Island.

I send half the ram lambs to Duncan at weaning, and he grows them on for sale in Taranaki, with the computer linking the two groups so that we can bring back the best rams to the stud.

By Dr Clive Dalton

A North Tyne laddie
Born and reared in Bellingham in the Upper North Tyne valley, 11 miles from the Scottish Border on the English side, the Anglo-Scottish Border wars were part of our rearing. We knew that our valley and the next door Rede valley were major highways for the reivers from both sides of the Border.

The Border was very real to us, because beyond the Carter Bar or Deadwater and Saughtree railway stations, the folk were very different, for one thing they had a very unintelligible tongue. We didn't of course - we spoke perfect English!

Evidence of the Border wars was all around us bairns. There was our local St Cuthbert’s church in the village with its stone vaulted roof to prevent burning by the raiding Scots; the ‘bastles’ (fortified Peel towers) and towers all over the area and on local farms such at ‘The Hole Farm’ between Bellingham and Woodburn.

Dally Castle is another classic example of a fortification built on a mound along the side of the Chirdon burn, with a clear view of anything coming down the Chirdon valley from the Border.
See map below.


Boring history
So we were aware of 'trouble' in our past history but it was ancient history – and more than a bit boring to put it mildly. It was about as relevant to us as Hadrian, his wall, and all those boring Roman remains!

History was boring to us kids because it was always taught by old boring folk, and it was all about Kings and Queens and dates of battles!

For me it was fatal to go to Andrew Murray’s watchmaker’s shop and mention local history or the Border raids – as you’d never get away. Sadly, I was a frequent visitor to his shop to see if my Dad’s watch repair was ready, as he needed it for work when a guard on the railway. It never was, and no wonder, the time Andrew wasted blathering – to anyone who called.

The romance of war
We remembered bits of the Border reiver stories because they were grossly romanticised, and as children (fortunately), we could never appreciate the horror of war – even the one that raged in Europe in our early school days 1939-45.

We only saw pictures of war in the newspapers and 'Picture Post', and met returned soldiers (the lucky ones) as the war didn’t reach the North Tyne thank goodness. We were never really bombed and the Sunday parades of the Home Guard were no great inspiration!

The politics of war
As kids we knew nothing of the politics of war, or realise that politics were involved. We knew about Neville Chamberlain coming back from Germany with a bit of paper carrying ‘Mr Hitler’s' guarantee that he wouldn’t attack us, and that Winston Churchill who thankfully didn’t believe him, and put a stop to the German’s daft plans. In our kids’ games, to help Winston, I killed millions of imaginary Germans.

When it ended, the politics of how things were rebuilt were beyond us – and as growing youths we had other things to be concerned about. We were back to our safe island – looking ahead and not looking back, and certainly not worrying if anything had been learned from all the mayhem, death and suffering caused by war.

The Blair memoirs - ' A Journey'
What renewed my interest in the Border Wars was reading about Tony Blair’s memoirs – not actually reading them!

Did Mr Blair noted for his brilliant legal mind, not realise what would happen if he took Britain to war? Churchill had little time and little choice as we were going to be invaded.

Mr Blair had a choice, and he also had plenty of time to calculate the consequences. He clearly failed to understand British history, so there was little chance of him understanding Middle East history? Sadly all those who have died as a result of his decision cannot point this out to him.

Learning from history
I didn’t expect President George W. Bush to know much about British history, or to realise that the names of Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson and Billy Graham - all were family names of Border reivers!

If he had studied Border history, he would have recognised them as modern day 'terrorists' and 'insurgents'. MacDonald-Fraser in his great opening to his book (see later) notes that standing beside Nixon at his Presidential inauguration was indeed a Johnson and a Graham- both along with Nixon showing true Borderer features! And he should also have remembered that it was an Armstrong who was first to walk on the moon!

I did however expect Tony Blair to have studied some British history at school, and I certainly expected him to know something about the history of the Northern England, part of which he was presumably proud to represent in parliament for his term as an MP.

If Bush and Blair had read anything about the Border Wars, they would have realised one very simple political fact - that starting a war, for whatever reason is easy; it’s finishing it which is the hard part.

They would also have learned that wars don’t just last for 6 months or a year - even with modern weaponry that can kill and maim thousands in seconds. Wars can and did go on for hundreds of years, even when leaders and bureaucrats have declared an end, truce or cease-fire. This doesn't always bring hostilities to a close.

Tribal conflict
Conflict can still go on for years, centuries and generations, simply because the issues are caused by humans who are basically ‘tribal’, and tribes are formed because of differences - in family, kinship, religion, region, boundaries, historical background, language and probably much more. Thankfully both the English and Scots had the same coloured skin, or else that would have been another reason to feud.

Frustrated monarchs trying to stop the fighting while sitting in London and Edinburgh in the 1600s must have soon realised what Bush and Blair took so long to realise – that ‘tribes will fight each other because tribes will fight each other’, and trying to get them to listen supposedly to ‘reason’, is not part of the scene to be relied on, and never will be.

Anyway, what's reason to one side is rarely reason to the others involved. So it's got to be obvious to anyone that 'democracy' has no place in a tribal structure. It could not be sold to the Borderers for 250 years and it seems to be having little attraction in the Middle East.

Nothing has changed
The staggering thing is that nothing has changed in the last 500 years, or more – and it won’t change till evolution has changed the human race into a less aggressive animal, if the species survives long enough.

It’s unbelievable that Bush and Blair didn’t have the mental capacity (or their advisers didn't) to predict what could go wrong. Presumably they thought little could go wrong – but worse still, Bush and Blair are on record that they are happy to live with the consequences, having convinced themselves that with God’s guidance, they did the right thing, and would make the same decision again.

The hundreds of thousands of innocent people who died, and the millions more who will suffer long-term consequences for generations to come as a result of their decisions may have a different opinion.

It would have been a different scene today if they had led their armies into war as past monarchs and reivers did. This should be a requirement of all world leaders in future who contemplate going to war.

The best book
The Steel Bonnets – the story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers
By George MacDonald Fraser
Collins Harvill. ISBN 0-00-272746-3
First published 1986 and reprinted five times.

While working at the Whatawhata Hill Country Research Station from 1968-79, our farmer neighbours were Johnstones, and when we met 'over the fence', I always used to pull their legs about their family history (which they knew little about), and warn them that I knew where to come if I had any missing sheep!

One of the family - Richard Johnstone had a great interest in family history and on a trip back to UK in 1991; he bought me a copy of the Steel Bonnets in a bookshop in Glencoe – surely an appropriate place to buy a book on family feuding. I hadn’t seen the book and was blown away by the author’s scholarship and the amount of work that he had clearly put into it. My ignorance of my own local history was quite embarrassing.

The book should be 'required reading' for everyone with a Border family name, anyone interested in war, and especially anyone who ever has to make a decision about starting a war!

Border family names from the book

• Anderson
  
• Armstrong, Armstrange
• Beattie, Baty, Batisoun
  
• Bell
• Bromfield
  
• Burn
• Carlisle
  
• Carnaby
• Carruthers
  
• Charlton
• Collingwood
  
• Craw
  
• Crosier, Crozier
  
• Curwen
• Dacre
  
• Davison
  
• Dixon
• Dodd
  
• Douglas
  
• Dunne
  
• Elliot, Elliott
• Fenwick
• Forster, Foster, Forrester
• Gilchrist
• Glendinning
  
• Graham, Graeme
• Gray
  
• Hall
• Harden
  
• Hedley
  
• Henderson
• Heron
  
• Hetherington, Hetherton, Atherton
• Hodgson
  
• Hume, Home
• Hunter
  
• Irvine, Irving, Urwen
• Jardine
  
• Johnstone, Johnston, Johnstoun
• Kerr, Ker, Carr, Carre
• Laidlaw
• Little
• Lowther
  
• Maxwell
• Medford
• Milburn
• Moffat
  
• Musgrave
• Nixon
• Noble
  
• Ogle
  
• Oliver
• Potts
  
• Pringle
• Read, Reed
  
• Ridley
  
• Robson
• Routledge
  
• Rutherford
• Salkeld
  
• Scott
• Selby
  
• Shaftoe
• Stamper
  
• Stokoe
  
• Storey, Storie, Storye
• Stapleton
• Tailor
  
• Thomson, Thompson
  
• Trotter
• Turnbull, Trumble
• Turner
• Wilkinson
  
• Witherington, Woodrington
• Yarrow
  
• Young
  

Fascinating/shocking/amazing points from the book
I keep re-reading the book, and still struggle to get my head around the detailed intrigue that went on. I’m staggered by the outstanding grip the author had on the big picture, while at the same time, seeing where all the smaller events fitted in. You need to read a chapter and then rest up till your brain processes that information before moving on.

When reading these points - consider the today's world, history repeating itself, and world leaders clearly not learning from past events.

• The total length of the conflict – it went on for over 250 years!
• What started it? It just seemed to start from a bit of thieving here with some killing thrown in, feeding off disagreements between tribes. Then the tit-for-tat response set it off like a peat fire - which would flare up again on the slightest breeze. 'Victory' of one side over the other was never possible.
• What ended it? The heavy ruthless hand and boot of James VI (and I) when the crowns were merged. He realised negotiations would never work in a tribal system after 250 years. The banishment of the Grahams was a classical example of his approach - but some got back despite his efforts.
• The six 'Marches' - three on each side of the Border. This was a great theoretical solution to controlling conflict, but it struggled to work because the Wardens didn't have enough firepower or political clout, AND they were themselves involved in reiving! No wonder they only lasted in the job for such short times e.g. a year.
  
• What did it all cost? Nobody must have ever worked it out. The Iraq war is predicted to cost $US 3 trillion by the end (so called). In modern money, the Border Wars could have been a similar monstrous figure of somebody's money.
• How many people were killed or died as a result. No estimates seem to have been worked out of guessed at.
  
• Not all of the conflict was ‘official’ where England v Scotland had a full on war between their Kings and Queens. These major wars were almost 'side shows' to the main event which was the reiving. Both the English and Scottish governments 'deplored' the reiving.
  
• ‘Reiving’ – which included, robbery, arsen, rape, pillage, murder, hostage taking, hanging, drowning and much more – just kept on going, as clearly it had become a way of life and most likely a ‘business’ yielding good profits. If drugs had been involved the wars may have gone on longer with more money to pay the bills!
  
• The number of men who could be mustered for reiving at very short notice was amazing – not just hundreds, but thousands would take off across the Border in both directions to do battle. The Borders were a ready source of fighting men in the 'official' wars.
  
• The distances traveled in each direction on these raids was amazing – and in the short time taken, and often in the dark. The Scots would ride and sack Durham for example. There would be no transport to give tired foot soldiers a lift home or helicopters to lift out seriously wounded.
• One raid of Armstongs and Elliotts was made up of 1000 horsemen from Liddlesdale, Annandale and Ewesdale to attack Tynedale where they stole 1000 head of stock. The droving of them over strange country (to the animals) must have been a massive job.
  
• How did they provision these larger groups of reivers? Their oatmeal would not weigh much or their arrows, but swords and lances would be heavy as would ammunition in the later years of the wars. They must have been tough little ponies.
• In the larger wars beer was critical but presumably this would be carted with horse transport.
• How on earth did they treat the horrific wounds inflicted by the weapons of the day – and how would they stop infection which must have been rampant from the conditions they fought in? They maybe didn’t and died quick of gangrene.
• How did they bury all the dead? When the light faded over Flodden - Scotland's biggest military disaster, the bodies of 10,000 of her best fighting men had to be buried. Imagine that job without mechanical diggers?
  
• In the 250 years of war from the 1380s to 1603 when the crowns were merged, many generations of children would have been born and brought up in the environment of war. What chance would there be of breaking the mould of conflict and hate?
• The countryside must have been a near desert, as with all the regular burning of houses and crops, there was little that could have been grown to feed people. There would be plenty meat –stolen from those who stole from them.
• How did a family manage when the breadwinner was killed - no social welfare or widow's pensions in those days?
• When their house was burned down, how did manage till it was rebuilt? Much of the reiving was done in autumn when stock were fat, and in winter when the weather would be grim.
• How did these devastated families build up their livestock numbers again - as not just a few but hundreds and thousands were taken in major raids.
  
• How did they know (and remember) who was whom in their battles where sides changed so often? And within these feuding families, intermarriage caused even more complications.
  
• The economics of capital punishment. When large numbers of 'the guilty' had to have their lives terminated, it was more cost effective to drown them than hang them. In July 1562 a batch of 22 were drowned in the Teviot.
• The contributioin of the horse. It's easy to forget the role of this humble animal. In 1603 Robert Carey rode non-stop from London to Edinburgh to report Elizabeth's death to King James - 400 miles in 60 hours, changing horses at points on the way. Leaving London early morning, he was in Doncaster by night! Obviously no motorway holdups!
• When Walter Scott of Harden with Buccleuch's and Armstrong broke Will Armstrong of Kinmont (Kinmont Willie) out of Carlisle castle with 500 horsemen, they carried 'gavlocks, crows of iron, hand picks, axes and scaling ladders with them on their horses. What an amazing physical feat.
  
• Useless curses. Modern religious leaders should maybe heed how ineffective curses of their fellow men are, when you read "The Archbishop of Glasgow's 'Monition of Cursing' against Border reivers'. It seems to have had no effect whatsoever - the reiving just kept on going.

Small extract from the Archbishop's curse
I curse thair heid and all the haris of thair heid; I curse thair face, thair ene; thair mouth, thair neise, thair toung, thair teith, thair crag, thair schulderis, thair breist, thair hert, thair stomok, thair bak, their wame, thair armes, thair leggis, thair handis, thair feit, and everilk part of thair body, frae the top of thair heid to the soill of thair feit, befoir and behind, within and without.

You would have thought that bit alone from the long text would have brought some action! The reivers probably used this as motivation for bigger and better reiving!

Other good books

The Illustrated Border Ballads
By John Marsden with photographs by Nic Barlow
MacMillan 1990, ISBN 0-333-49982-4




The book covers the history of the events which lead to the ballads, has an excellent glossary and index.

Ballad titles

• The Battle of Otterburn
• The Death of Percy Reed
• They Raid of Reidswire
• The Rookhope ryde
• The Sang of Outlaw Murray
• The Dowie Dens of Yarrow
• The Lads of Wamphray
• Hughie the Graeme
• Johnie Armstrong
• Little Jock Elliot
• Jock o' The Side
• Hobbie Noble
• Dick o' the Cow
• The Fray of Suport
• Jamie Telfer in the Fair Dodhead
• Kinmont Willie

The Battle of Otterburn, August 1388
One of the early battles of the Border conflict where the Scottish Douglas clan, after a massive raid into England were pursued by the English Percy clan and caught at Otterburn. Earl Douglas was slain and the main Percy (Harry Hotspur) was taken prisoner by the Scots. Historians say the Scots won the day - not knowing their leader had been killed. They took his body to Melrose Abbey where is lies beneath the monk's choir.

By Dr Clive Dalton

‘Farmer Prince Charles’ and ‘Farmer King George III’
Prince Charles was once reported as saying that King George III (‘Farmer George’) was a favourite ancestor and he had done a lot of research on him. George III was famous for promoting English textile prosperity by bringing in superfine Spanish Merinos (by fair means and foul), from where he spread them to Australia and North America.

See H.B. Carter (http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=5563327546075276103&postID=6172011363920526286).

So we should not be surprised to see that Prince Charles is determined to help the struggling British wool industry. ‘Good on him’ is our Kiwi response.

A canny lad
For those of us living in the far reaches of the former British Empire, and who still recognise the Queen as our Head of State (for how much longer we're not sure), and who are very concerned about the future of sheep and wool, we currently think that Prince Charles is a ‘good joker’ because he's trying to do something about promoting British wool! His favourite ancestor would have been proud of him.

In Northumbrian terms he’s a ‘canny lad’, and although he’s had his ups and doons in recent years, his actions over trying to save British wool has been well noted in New Zealand – and we are all behind his actions.

He and I share the same birthday (Nov 14), which is also the day the tups are set away to the hill in the North Tyne. And his other great quality (in Northumbrian eyes) is that he’s the patron of the Border Stick Dressers’ Association, and was instrumental in getting the daft EU regulation to incinerate all rams’ horns and heeds (because of BSE) hoyed oot.

His concern for wool
The Prince’s concern for British wool drove our NZ Minister of Agriculture (Mr David Carter) to call in for a cup of tea and a bit crack with him at Balmoral in Scotland on a recent trip to `Europe. They talked about the UK's 'Campaign for Wool' of which the Prince is patron.

The press release said:
'The Prince of Wales is a champion of the efforts of Commonwealth farmers to grow wool and restore profitability to the sector, and this was a significant opportunity to discuss increasing the demand for wool, recognising its qualities as a naturally renewable and sustainable product' Mr Carter said.

He also said that the Prince's campaign mirrors the New Zealand government's efforts to get our strong wool industry back on track. His Royal Highness is a passionate advocate for wool and was keen to hear of NZ efforts to ensure consumers understand the benefits of this wonderful and sustainable fibre'.


If the Prince can do anything to help the noble fibre keep a foothold in the world’s textile industry, then he deserves to be made King straight away and he’d be welcome to come and live in New Zealand and commute from here to do the rest of his Commonwealth shepherding.

Killed by synthetic fibres
The death of wool as a textile fibre started the day a chemist drew a strand out from a chemical brew in a test tube in the late 1940s - 1950s, and nylon was born. The rest is history, and their massive research and development by international companies like Dupont and ICI has never stopped, first mimicking the unique qualities of wool, and then improving on them.

Wool never had a chance, and many believe it’s a waste of time trying to compete with the massive multinationals in the synthetic fibre business. Wool currently only occupies 1.5% of the textile fibre market.

But thankfully, there are believers like Prince Charles, supported by wool growers in Australia, New Zealand, South America and South Africa to name just a few.

It’s all about price, and clothing, carpets and furnishings made from synthetic fibres will always be cheaper, especially when mass-produced in countries where labour costs are low. Sheep farmers have to find customers who will pay for the benefits (real or perceived) of wearing and walking on ‘natural fibres’; sadly there are not a lot left in the world.

Wool and fashion
Sheep farmers and wool enthusiasts live in hope that in the weird world of ‘fashion’, among the outrageous rags that appear on walking skeletons wobbling their way down catwalks, some designer will feature the magic of wool! It happens now and again, but like everything in the fashion world, it's always short lived.

We all used to hope that another ‘oil shock’ would increase the price of synthetic fibres, which are all born as fossil fuels, and allow natural fibres a comeback. It never happened; it just made the chemists and manufacturers smarter and more efficient.

The carpet industry is the main end-user of the world’s coarse wools (fibre diameter above 30 microns), such as those grown in New Zealand from our Romney sheep. These are in direct contrast to the fine wools from Merino sheep and their crosses which are used for high quality clothing (fibre diameter around 20 microns).

Before the advent of synthetic fibres, the best thing that could happen to wool was to have a war in a cold climate. We Northumbrian Daft Laddies on farms in the 1950s well remember wearing the WWII ex-army tunics, trousers and especially the greatcoats, which were certainly warm but weighed a ton. Modern armies wear synthetic fibres regardless of the climate they work in.

The Korean war was the last such event when wool was King again, and it's said that Australian wool growers were buying Rolls Royce cars as farm vehicles to use up the money. The ‘Rollers’ were very reliable and there was plenty of room in the back for the dogs and a few sick sheep. You got a pound Sterling for a pound of wool in New Zealand at that time.

Wool marketing shambles

History has shown some awful examples of bad marketing, resulting in stockpiles of wool around the world, and especially in Australia and New Zealand where governments bought the wool at auction to keep the price up. They then had to hold it for years, releasing it on to the market in dribs and drabs to get their money back. They will never do this again. Farmers will have to meet the market.

The overseas buyers knew where all the wool was, so they only bought what they wanted, and didn’t have the cost of buying forward and storing it, as happens when prices are volatile and in short supply. Wool is a bulky product so needs space and cost to store.

Countries pulled out of international marketing organisations like the International Wool Secretariat (IWS) with the “Woolmark” as it’s famous world-recognised logo. For a while nothing bad happened, but now the years without promotion of wool have come to account. Wool has no international image any more.

The best example of this is the recent campaign by New Zealand farmers to inform American architects (by bringing them here to show them wool being grown and harvested), and that it’s ideal for carpeting high-rise buildings. Wool doesn't burn like synthetic fibres and this basic fact had been missing from their building codes. Hopefully they have now got the message.

Costs from sheep to shop

Costs of production have killed wool and they seem set to continue. Here are a few reasons:

• Wool varies enormously over the sheep’s body, so has to be sorted by hand, and the easiest place to do this is when it first comes off the sheep on the shearing board.
• A wool fibre varies along its diameter with the feeding level of the sheep. This can cause 'tenderness' or 'wool break' and in the worst cases (and see in primitive breeds), the woll breaks and is shed.
  
• The finest of all wool fibres are described as 'hunger-fine' wools, grown when sheep were suffering starvation. These wools can be around 10 microns in diameter and individual fibres are hard to see with the naked eye.
  
• The skill of ‘wool handling’ (along with shearing) has improved out of sight in recent decades, as a result of local and international competitions around the world.
• The return from the wool harvested in most countries over the last few years, has hardly covered the costs of shearing and handling.

• As wool grows on the sheep in the wide-open spaces of the world, all sorts of things can get mixed up in the fleece, which in processing stage have to be removed. Plant material and weed seeds are the best examples.

• Classic examples are the New Zealand ‘Bidibid’ (Acaena inermis) and the Australian Bathurst Bur (Xanthimum spinosum) and the Scottish heather (Caluna vulgaris). New Zealand Bidibid travelled with wool to the mills in southern Scotland, then down the Tweed into the North Sea on to the Farne Islands where it is a hazard to young fledgling seabirds.
• Wool is a bulky product and there’s a limit on how it can be compressed for transport around the world. Cheap transport moves slowly and there has been talk recently of using wind power to move ships carrying wool – back to the old ‘Clipper’ days to avoid the cost and carbon footprint of power by fossil fuels.

• Weight and bulk can be reduced by scouring (washing) in the country of origin, and this also has the advantage of leaving the pollution behind.
• Farmers are also directed not to dip sheep for at least 60 days before shearing to avoid pollution during scouring.
• The wool handling chain is better now that 30 years ago but it’s still full of fragmentation with too many people competing and ‘clipping tickets’ as the wool moves from farm to processor. Wool goes from the farm to a merchant who may sort it further (more than in the woolshed), and then it’s shipped to mills across the world.
  
• Then there’s all the handling at the processor’s end to get it to the clothing or carpet manufacturer. It’s just goes on and on with more ticket clipping on the way.

Old direct marketing
It’s amazing now to remember the days when the North Tyne fells were alive with sheep before the forests banished them.

(See http://woolshed1.blogspot.com/2008/10/daft-laddies-lost-farms-of-tyne-rede.html).

The late Willie Robson told of when their family were at Willow Bog, they sent their wool direct to Otterburn Mill to be made into tweed to cloth the family. What a wonderful example of direct marketing! Small offcuts were even used to ‘breek the hoggs’ – washing them after every season so nowt was wasted.

Ignorance & complacency
Tar branding
For generations, the marking of sheep to record their farm of origin was done with tar. It was totally weatherproof and had a very long life on the wool. The trouble was it couldn’t be scoured out and small specks of it could do enormous damage to textile machinery. It took the British Wool Marketing Board (BWMB) around half a century to get farmers to appreciate this and take action.

I remember going to Henry Bell’s wool store in Hexham while a student at Kings College in the 1950s and getting 'the tar message' from the wool classer who was sorting wool from farms that had just been packed into bales with no preparation done on the farm,other than rolling the fleece. Tar branding had a long slow death and it was the financial penalty that drove it.

Bloom dipping
When I was a Daft Laddie on North Tyne farms in the 1950s, we ‘larned’ the art of ‘blooming sheep’ for sale and show, and the practice must have gone on for many decades before that. In the early days farmers used the natural earths and peat before modern’ pigments were available, heavily promoted by ‘the dip man’ or the Northern Farmers rep when he called to get the yearly order.

I remember as students at Kings College going to the famous Border Leicester stud at Rock in the north of Northumberland and seeing tups being prepared for the Kelso sale. They varied in hue from bright orange through yellow to pink. I felt sorry for the tups – they themselves must have felt stupid entering the sale ring. There was never any logic in the practice, but fashion is fashion and defies logic.

I used to joke about what a yowe on heat must have thought when she looked around to see a bright yellow or orange creature creeping up on her from behind!

Helen Brown’s Tarset blog ( "http://blog.tarset.co.uk/" http://blog.tarset.co.uk/) gives a very clear explanation of the reasons for blooming sheep in UK.

I cannot believe that it still goes on, and that the buyers of sheep are so daft as to see value in it. Sheep farmers wouldn’t do it if there wasn’t financial benefit. Apparently it's all about making sheep look 'even' and 'healthy'.




Blooming sheep has been on the hit list of the BWMB for decades but from what Helen Brown says – it’s had little effect. Farmers clearly don’t understand that the dying of wool fibres should be decided by the textile manufacturer, and not by the shepherd! You can’t make contaminated wool lighter – you can only make it darker.


Bloom dipping reached New Zealand and was used sporadically till the 1950s. But it died a rapid death when price penalties made farmers appreciate the costs it was adding to marketing and processing. Financial penalties are they way to fix things, and clearly price differentials have never had any effect in UK.

First job for Prince Charles
So there’s the first job for Prince Charles – to banish bloom dipping. We sheep and wool enthusiasts in New Zealand wish him well as it looks an uphill battle.

It's easy to ask when wool is worth so little, why bother trying to prepare it better for the manufacturer? The answer to that is that if you want to sell it at all, rather than putting it into landfill, good preparation is more important than ever.

Old 'Daft Laddie' keeps his hand in
Sixty years after my first battle with a sheep to part it from its fleece, I remove the wool from a Border Leicester ram using the 'North Tyne' 'clipping' (shearing) method, where the sheep is held on its side for most of the action - especially effective for large rams. This way of clipping provides plenty of opportunity to stop and chat to fellow clippers and 'hangers on' that the event always seemed to attract - many of them with an eagle eye looking for skin cuts!

By Donald Clegg

All over the moors and fells of the North of England and southern Scotland, there are strange dry-stone structures, now abandoned , moss-covered and ruinous in the most part, which have intrigued visitors to this Border region for decades as they explore its magic landscape.


Some of these structures are simply short runs of dry-stone wall, some straight, some curved or ‘L’ shaped and some more complicated in the form of a cross. Seldom more than 20 yards long in any direction, they would seem to serve no practical purpose, being very often in the ‘middle of nowhere’, and far from human habitation.

Their isolation gives us the first clue to their use. Until fairly recently, before thousands of acres of our Border uplands were given over to forestry, sheep and sheep farming dominated the heathery and grassy slopes of the Cheviots in Northumberland, the Lakeland fells and the Scottish lowlands.

The farm house was usually situated in the lower valley and the shepherds’ cottages in the upper reaches or ’hopes’. Hence names like Whickhope, Hedgehope, Blakhope or Ramshope, etc. The shepherds worked largely unsupervised and in isolation from the boss for weeks at a time and met together only at the seasonal ‘gatherings’ for dipping, clipping, dosing, spaening (weaning) lambs and taking then or draught (aged) yowes to the mart to be sold on.

During winter, on these high exposed fells, heavy snowfalls would force the sheep to seek shelter in any slack or hollow that they could find. As a result, many would become buried – sometimes for days or even weeks, before the shepherd could locate them and dig them out.


This is where these stone wall shelters came in. They were built in specific locations so that in severe weather, they were the preferred rendezvous points for storm-lashed sheep. If they became buried behind their shelter wall, at least the heord (shepherd) knew where to look first.

Most walls were placed to offer shelter from the prevailing Westerly winds but some, in crescent or cross shape, provided shelter from winds and weather coming from almost any direction. Long since sheep were supplanted by conifers, many a weary walker has been grateful for the respite from the elements offered by these long-neglected walls.

Stells



Stells are almost as common as stone wall shelters. According to Wikipedia, the word ‘stell’ simply means ‘a pen for enclosing animals’, but doesn’t explain where the word comes from. For countless years it has been, and still is in common use throughout the Border regions of Scotland and England, and I suspect it is of Scandinavian or Norse origin, though I haven’t been able to verify this – perhaps you can.



By and large, stells are circular, perhaps 30 feet (10m) in diameter and the walls are 4 feet six inches (1.5m) high, built as dry-stone walls without mortar. Other stells are rectangular, in the, in the same proporitoin and material and soem hve one side of the rectangle extended to provide additional shelter for sheep that don't want to go inside.

All these enclosures, whether round or oblong had a narrow entrance closed by a small wooden gate or wicket, or more often by a simple chestnut hurdle.

The purpose of the stell was to provide the shepherd with a place to hold a few sheep at a time when some emergency first aid was needed, treating footrot, removing dags (clarts) from their rear ends, as well as treating them to prevent blowfly maggots (maaks) eating them alive when summer came. Doing these jobs out on the hill saved the time-consuming job of having to drive sheep needing treatment, maybe a couple of miles or more, down to the pens at the farm for treatment.

Although many stell are found on the higher slopes of the fells, most of them are built near a burn, partly because it's useful to have ready access to water for mixing medicines and potions, but also a burnside location is likely to be less exposed than higher up on the hill.

In winter, the stell could be used as a convenient store for a few day's supply of hay, avoiding the daily journeys of carrying hay from the farm for the sheep out on the hill. In the days before motor bikes, hay had to be carried on the shepherd's back, pony or sledge.

So stells were multi-purpose structures - providing shelter, administering first aid, holding sick sheep till they recovered to list just a few. In this day and age we can add emergency shelter for lost hill walkers where they can be easily found.

Keb Hoose


A ewe which has had a still-born lamb is said to have ‘kebbed’, and the dead lamb is referred to as a ‘keb’. You used to hear the term ' a kebbit yowe'. It follows then, that the keb hoose was mainly concerned with dealing with these occasions of lamb mortality out in the field (literally) or, more likely, up on the hill and so the keb hoose’s principal function was to act as an emergency first aid station.

A ewe that has kebbed naturally has lots of milk but has no lamb; whereas there could be ewe with two or more lambs and only enough milk for one. Solution – let the kebbed ewe ‘adopt’ one of the twins or perhaps an orphan lamb that has lost its mother.

This was often easier said than done as a ewe recognises its own by its scent and will not readily accept a strange lamb and will even butt it repeatedly to prevent it from suckling. To get over this problem the heord would skin the dead lamb, and fit the skin over the orphan to trick the ewe into thinking this it was her own lamb.

Another ploy was to smother the strange lamb with a mixture of oatmeal and milk so that, by the time the ewe had licked it all off she’d convinced herself that this was indeed her own. These tricks usually worked quite readily but, in awkward cases, could take days of patience, interjected with a few well chosen expletives and dire threats to the yowe's life!

The old shepherd's even used to try whisky, but soon realised that it was a terrible waste and it did them more good than the mothering on process.

In more modern times a whole list of fancy deodorants became available to rub on the lamb and up the ewe's nostrils. They worked on ewes that had good mothering instincts, driven by having plenty of milk.
The keb hoose was, and still is, a sturdy, rectangular stone ‘house’, complete with door, small window and either slate or ‘tin’ (corrugated iron) roof. It would measure roughly 12ft x 9ft (3.5m x 2.8m) and was built with mortar between the stones to make it weather proof.

Inside it may have an earth floor or be flagged or cobbled with stones from the nearby burn. In one corner there is often a small fire place and a chimney through the roof – useful for heating up the tar pot for marking a sheep or water to wash a wound or make the herd’s tea.

There would be at least one shelf and even a rough cupboard. Thus the keb hoose was fully equipped to administer first aid to the flock as required, to provide a welcome shelter for the herd in rough weather (and a fire in winter), and act as a useful store place for a wide assortment of shepherding equipment. Quite often it would have so many accumulated ‘essentials’ that there was hardly enough room for the herd!

Among the variety of things stored within its cosy walls you would be likely to find anything from an empty tin of Cooper’s dip to an old clay pipe, from a pair of rusty shears to a milking stool. This list comes from a keb hoose near Saughtree, just over the Scottish Border from Kielder.

It contained several empty buckets, holed and handle- less; a heap of mouldy sacking; a tangle of binder twine; assorted walking sticks, with or without the regulation crook; a tar pot and a collection of stirring sticks; a selection of brands for horn burning; two pairs of rusty shears; a short length of cow chain; a small pile of damp logs, a pail of wet coal, a paraffin tin (empty) and a poker.

Old coats and jackets full of rips and holes, but may yet turn a bit of hill drizzle; a row of bottles on the shelf containing who knows what selection of magic cures, drenches and tonics; a tin of Hilston’s foot rot ointment; an old paring knife that trimmed its last sheep’s foot twenty years ago; a pair of wellies, missing one left boot; a draining spade minus its shank; assorted empty beer bottles; one oilskin legging, ripped, and above the fireplace, a battered tin kettle, a mouldy teacup and a very cracked and tannin encrusted teapot.

The cracked and uneven concrete floor was layered with generations of mud from countless booted feet and drifts of bracken and grass blown under the ill-fitting door, adorned of course with the inevitable horse shoe. The whole place had a wonderful nostalgic whiff of Cooper's dip, disinfectant (Jey's fluid), wet wool, wet dogs, soot and wood smoke that brought back memories of long days of sheep gatherings, of days clipping and dipping, warm ones and wintry ones but most of all happy ones.

By Donald Clegg

Note by Clive Dalton: In the North Tyne valley of Northumberland, there's no such thing as a 'stone'. They are all 'staens' (pronounced steens). And it's similar on the Scottish side, so when 'Borderers' set off to meet at a noted landmark Staen, like the one near Kielder - they all arrived at the same place - even if some lived to regret it! Don Clegg's report could only be told in his native North Tyne English.

Planning a hill walk
Phillip, wor youngest thowt it wud be be a gud idea for him and me, to hev worsels a weekend away, hill waalkin like, somewhere on the Scotch side. Aa thowt it was a grand idea an’all, so in nee time the Isle of Arran at the end of April was decideed upon, and the B & Bs and MacBrayne’s ferry wor booked. Champion idea!

Gettin fit for't
Nuw, Aa hadn’t dun ony serious waalkin for a canny bit, so Aa thowt Aa’d bettor git some practeece in. So a few weeks afore tekin off, Aa set off wi’ me flask, some chocolate, me camera and mobile phone (just for fear) to ‘bundle and gan” from Kielder Castle and waalk te the ‘Kielder Staen’ by way of Deeedwattor Fell and Mid and Peel Fells.

So Aa set oot ‘o the car park at the Castle aboot nine i’ the mornin’ and was soon leggin it alang the track for the bottom of Deedwattor Fell. At this bit, the track torned intiv a bit clarty path and then just a stretch of open moor, all heathor an’ bent an’ deed bracken. It got steepor by the minute and was gay rough gannin Aa can tell ye.

Peden's cave
Aa was gannin canny and hardly stopped at aall, apart from tekin a bit keek at Peden’s Cave under an owerhingin rock abun Light Pipe cotteege, and te tek in the treemendus view doon the Tyne valley and ower Kielder wattor.

The last bit te the top was steepor yit, an’ it was a case of just ‘heed doon and keep tewin on’. Aa got te the top just aboot an oor an a half eftor leavin the Castle car park, right on schedule!

It was gay hazy up on the top, but Aa had a grand aall-roond view of hills, forest and lake, as far as the haze would allow. It was also bloomin cad, so Aa didn’t hing aboot ower lang.

Aa'l try me phone
Aa thowt Aa would try me mobile phone, and yiss thor was a signal. Man this modern technology was clivor like nowt! So Aa gave the hoose a ring just te let wor Sylvia the missus knaa where Aa was.

The next bit was deed easy, a bit boggy mind ye, but it ownly took thorty minutes te git te Mid Fell, and another thorty saa is at the Border Fence. Some fence! It wadn’t hev stopped ony o’ the Hott aad yowes Aa can tell ye.

Time te git me flask oot
Time te git the flask oot Aa thowt so Aa had a quick moothful of tea and a couple of Twix’s, sittin in the sun, listenin te the Corlews, and spyin a couple of Golden Plovers porched on a bull snoot. It was like bein on the roof of Northumberland at var nigh 2000 feet abun sea level, sorroonedeed by acres of cotton grass, bent, moss and hethor. Oh man what a grrand smell.

Noo then Aa hade to torn right and follow the rotten fence posts doon past the Kielder Staen, just thre quarters of a mile away. Nee bother man! But afore Aa left, Aa called haeme again on the mobile phone te say where Aa was, where Aa was ganin, and huw lang it wad be afore Aa’d be back haeme.

30 year since Aa was heor
Thor was nee guarantee the phone wud work doon in the Kielder Staen cleugh. It took us just 20 minutes to waalk te the Staen as it was aall doon hill. It must hev been thorty year since Aa was last heor, but it hadn’t changed a bit. Still the same greet muckle chunk of weathered grey sandstone, as big as a fair-sized cuw byre with a heathor thatch that Aa’d remembored.

As Aa walked roond aboot it in the sunshine, it was hard to think that at this ootbye place was yince the meetin place for the Wardens of the Marches, as over fower hundred years ago, this whole countryside was fair hotchin wi’ ootlaas, robbers, kidnappors, rustlers and mordorers, aall oot for what they cud git and neebody really to stop them.

One side as bad as t'other
Scots or English, or mixtures of baeth, it made nee difference, one bein just as bad as the t'other. It was hoped that the appointment of ‘Wardens of the Marches’ wud ridd things oot a bit. The Border history (see The Steel Bonnets by George MacDonald Fraser on woolshed1 blog)

Ivvery yeor, the Scots and English Wardens for the Middle March (i.e. Redesdale and North Tynedale mostly) met at the Kielder Staen te thrash oot thor diffors and settle aad scores an aal. Mony’s the time fightin’ brok oot and mony a split heed te show for’t. Warse than a Saturday night dance in the Toon Haal at Bellingham in the owld days, when the pubs emptied oot at ten o’clock and afore the local Bobby arrived.

Ring heem - but where's me phone?
Aa checked me mobile, just for daft, an by heck, thor waas a signal. Right, Aa thowt, Aall ring haeme eftor Aa’ve taen a photo o’ the Staen. So Aa had te move back aboot thorty yards so’s Aa cud git the Carter Bar in’t the backgroond, and then when Aa cum back to where Aa’d left me rucksack on the grund te phone Wor Sylvia - the bloomin phone wasn’t theor!

Aah must have spent 20 minutes or mare scuffling aboot i’ the heathor and bent tussocks, checkin inside me bag, afore Aa hed to give ower and mek me way back up te Peel Fell.

Aa'd hev te cum back
The retorn trip was a wonderful repeat of the jorney in, but spoilt by the thowt that Aa’d hev to come back again te sorch for me blowd phone – it was ower valuable just te leave oot theor for the Curlews and Foxees. Anyway, Aa was back haem by half past two te tel me sorry tale.

Aa hed meant te gan back the next day until a freend said that by then the mobile’s battery could be flat, so ringin it up on a second mobile cud be a bit tricky. That settled it! Aa hed ne option but te set off theor and then, armed wi Wor Sylvia’s mobile phone.

Help from a freend
Anuther canny suggestion from the same freend was te tek the car up a sartin forest track tiv a point weel past Kielder Heed farm, and waalk up the side of the born, then follow the Kielder born up te the Staen itsell. This meant three mile insteed o’ six. Ne contest Man - Aa was away like a linty!

Aal went accordin’ te plan until Aa got te the end of the afore-mentioned track. The forst one-and-a-half miles was easy enuff, following a rough road and then a deer track alang the forest side. When this petered oot, Aa made me way doon to the born thruw reshees, heathor and whin bushees, only te find the bank hed given way and Aa cudn’t get ony farther.

Back on me tracks
So Aa had te gan back on me tracks, fightin me way thruw the whins and reshees yit again, dodging hidden rocks and crevicees to try to skort roond the landslide te git to the born farther alang. That done, Aa was faced wi a blummin muckle deer fence, eight foot high, right alang me path. Lucky for me it was kind o’ rotten and Aa was able te clamor ower where the posts hed given up the ghost.

By this time is was nigh siven o’clock, and Ad been fightin heathor for ower an hoor and Aa had three quarters of a mile still te gan. Aa didn’t fancy struggling on an gittin catched be the dark so far from the road. So yince again, Aa hed te admit defeat and mek for haeme! It was gittin a bit of a habit!

Git ahad o' Bornie
Aa got haeme this time at twenty past eight, in not ower gud fettle, and that night Wor Sylvia suggested gitten ahad of Bornie, the Forestry Ranger at Kielder. He was a good freend and might hev some helpful ideas. His reply was ‘nee bother, son! Be at the Castle at ten o’clock the morn and Aa’ll tek ye up te the top of Deedwattor Fell i’ the Landrover. That’ll save ye a canny bit hike.

It torned oot another grand, fine day an Aa was up te the top of Deedwattor Fell by ten thorty. It was gay warm by this time, so Aa was pleased Aa hadn’t had te howk aal the way up from the Castle on foot like yistorday. Aa enjoyed the waalk ower the tops to Peel Fell and went doon the Border fence, feeling croose like a linty.

This time the Corlews wor borblin’ away and Aa sa a couple of Red Grouse inti the bargain. As soon as Aa got te the muckle Kielder Staen again, Aa used Wor Sylvia’s mobile phone te caal my lost mobile. At forst there was nee soond that Aa cud mek oot – only the wind. Aa thowt that the battry’s deed alright, so thor’d be nee chance of finding my lost phone.

Listen! Ring-ring, ring-ring
Then aa hord eet. A faint ‘ring-ring, a pause then ‘ring-ring’ again. So Aa heeded oot into the heathor and cast aboot trying te pin doon the soond – and by man it took some dein. But eftor what seemed like an age, Aa var nigh stood on the blowd thing, lyin in a hoole amang the heathor ruts and coverd in bracken, but neen the warse for its night oot.

Man Aa was that chuffed. Aa rang heame te tell them the gud news and celebrated with a cup of tea, two Twix and two shortbreed biscuits, sittin in the sunshine in the bield o’ the famous Kielder Staen – thinking aboot them meetins o’ the Wardens.

Nee time to lingor
Nee time to lingor, so Aa took off and when Aa reached Mid Fell eftor an hoor’s waalk, Aa rang the Castle and good owld Bornie the Ranger cam oot iv his Land Rover te pick is up and tek is back te the Castle car park.

By the time Aa got haeme at last, me ‘get fit for Arran’ waalk had covered 25 miles an tean var nigh 12 hoors. Nee doot yill be thinkin’ like me that’s a helluva lang waalk just te tek a phone caall!

Footnote by Clive Dalton
Since Don Clegg's blog, a few folk have been in contact trying to find the stone on maps. There seems a bit of confusion, mainly about which is the best place to start your walk.

Don Clegg's instructions from Kielder
Google 'http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/leisure' and find OS map OL42, Kielder Water and Forest, Bellingham and Simonside Hills. 1:25 000 scale.

• First locate Kielder at 628935.
• Travel due North to Deadwater Fell (3 3/4 kms) 625973.
• Travel NE then N to Mid Fell 636984.
• Swing NNW along ridge towards Peel Fell.
• Before the summit you'll find a broken down wire fence approx 630995.
• Swing NNE downhill for approx 1km to the head of a small burn - Kielder Stone Burn.
• Thar she blows! Watch oot for addors and goats!
  

By Clive Dalton

An impenetrably cryptic inscription appears on a stone at the side of the B6318 Military road from Carlisle to Newcastle, marking the spot where Stanley Dalton died. It reads “SD 11 Sep 1926” and conceals an extraordinary story of murder, and how a killer escaped the noose.

Stanley Dalton had been missing for the best part of two weeks. The odd-job man was employed at Walwick Hall, a large country house on the Roman Military Road between Newcastle and Carlisle (see photo right).

He had been seen riding his motorbike towards Haltwhistle on a Saturday afternoon in the warm early autumn of September 1926. When he did not appear for a couple of days, the police were called in and a search began.

The first find was Dalton’s motorbike 12 miles away at Quarry Cottage near Haltwhistle. Inquiries revealed that whoever had dumped the machine by the cottage, it was not the 22 year old Stanley Dalton, a single man without –said friends and relatives- an enemy in the world. The description of the man seen abandoning the bike didn’t match.

Foul play as it was called then was now a distinct possibility and the police redoubled their efforts. This time they felt they were searching for a body.

A 22-strong team investigated a heather-covered terrace at Limestone Bank (see left). To begin with it was hard work for no result. Then one of the searchers found a shoe. At the same time another man noticed a pungent smell. A pile of branches were moved. A body was found. Curiously its arms were folded across its chest as if laid for burial.

Dalton’s father was one of the search party. He was able to identify the decomposed body of his son by his clothes and front teeth. The blue overalls the man habitually wore had gone and so had his black boots. Presumably the killer had taken them.

Forensic examination showed that Stanley Dalton had been hit in the head with shotgun pellets. But these had not killed him. The murderer had finished him off by bludgeoning his head to pulp.

There was no apparent motive and it certainly wasn’t robbery. A few days earlier Dalton had borrowed money from his father to go to a dance. But a description of the man seen with the stolen motorbike told them who they were looking for. He was about 5ft 9in with a prominent Roman nose and was wearing a fawn coat. There were no other clues.

Then came a call from Newcastle police. A man in East Denton had reported that his double barrelled shotgun, two cartridges and a jackknife had been stolen. He suggested that the thief may have been a lodger who occasionally stayed with him. He was called Alexander Cairns, an unemployed joiner from Scotland. He was about 5ft 9in, had a prominent Roman nose and sometimes wore a fawn overcoat.

Police inquiries revealed that Cairns had several convictions for theft and had once been charged with shooting a man with a shotgun. That case had not come to court because the victim was a passionate believer in the rehabilitation of offenders and had refused to give evidence.

It was then learned that Cairns had become engaged to a Northumberland girl. In fact he was already married and had children in his native Scotland. On September 13- two days after the murder, the fiancé received a letter from Cairns. It was postmarked Northallerton and made no mention of Dalton or why Cairns had gone away.

Other letters arrived in the following weeks and they showed that Cairns was keeping on the move. Then Cumberland and Westmorland police revealed that a house on the Langholm road between Carlisle and Edinburgh had been broken into and some cartridges stolen. Northumberland police thought their man was probably responsible.

Nothing more was heard from Cairns for some time. On October 7, Cairns’s fiancé received a puzzling telegram: “Tell Alec to come Struan Tuesday. Thompson”.

Struan is a village on Tayside in Scotland, but the girl knew nobody called Alec or Thompson. The Post Office was able to say the cable had been sent from a house in Edinburgh. Police in Edinburgh found Cairns had been staying at the house and had sent his landlady’s son to the Post Office with the message.

There was no need to find the meaning of the telegram; the important thing was they had a location of the man they were hunting. But by the time they reached the address Cairns had gone. But he had told the landlady about his fiancé in England and that he was thinking of visiting her.

When the lodgings were searched, police found a cardboard box containing the jackknife stolen from East Denton and a cartridge similar to the one used on Dalton. Most damning of all, the dead man’s boots were found in the room.

Then word reached the Northumberland police that Cairns had been spotted in Alston walking towards Haltwhistle. It was decided to lay a trap at the foot of a steep hill Cairns would have to descend.

Detectives dressed in overalls and pretended to be examining the engine of a Post Office van. Cairns stopped to find out what was up and he was overpowered and arrested. Police spent another two days gathering evidence before charging Cairns with Dalton’s murder. The evidence was circumstantial as no motive had been found. But a number of witnesses appeared to testify that Cairns had been in the area where Stanley Dalton had gone missing.

And the fact that Cairns had the victim’s boots and a cartridge similar to the one used in the shooting confirmed to the police that they had the right man. Cairns told police that he had nothing to do with the killing. He admitted that he had stolen the shotgun and cartridges, but only as a favour for a friend, a criminal called Joe Kelley who had an Australian associate. Cairns had decided to join the pair in a burglary of a house near the spot where Dalton’s body had been found.

When he had reached the scene, the Australian had appeared and given him a set of overalls and the boots. He had not known where they had come from. The agreement was that after the burglary, the trio would meet in Northallerton but his partners in crime had failed to turn up. On is way back to Edinburgh, Cairns said he had broken into the house at Langholm to get some cartridges “because Kelly told me to”.

But Cairns was unable to produce either Joe Kelly or the Australian as witnesses. With this pitifully thin defence the Scot argued for his life when he appeared at Northumberland Assizes in Newcastle on February 26, 1927. He was saved by a lone juror who said he was opposed to capital punishment – the only punishment for murder at the time- and under no circumstances would he return a guilty verdict. So a second trial was ordered in Durham the following week but abandoned due to the illness of several members of the jury.

A third trial was held in Leeds in March 1927, and the strain was beginning to tell on the accused whose hair had started to turn white. The trial did not take long and neither did the jury when they returned a verdict of “guilty as charged”. Solemnly the judge placed the traditional black silk square on his wig and told Cairns that he would be taken to prison and “hanged by the neck until you are dead”.

But Cairns escaped the noose. Two days before he was due to hang, the Home Secretary granted a reprieve and he was sentenced to life imprisonment instead. Records show that Cairns was released from prison in 1939. What happened to him then is not known.

But at some point someone placed the engraved stone in the wall near where the murder spot to remember the victim of what remains to this day as a motiveless murder.


Story in the Hexham Courant, by Brian Tilley, 1996

Thousands of hikers each year tramp along the Military Road through Tynedale as they take in the glories of Hadrian’s wall. But only a tiny proportion glimpse a poignant reminder of a grisly murder which rocked the district 70 years ago.

Travelling west from the Tower Tye crossroads near Humshaugh the Military Road drops into a sharp descent with an even steeper ascent up the other side before the road bears right close to an Ordnance Survey triangulation point. Some 50 yards before the bend, screened by some trees, a simple gravestone is set into the drystone wall.

It is dedicated to the memory of 22-year-old Stanley Dalton of Cowper Hill, Humshaugh who disappeared when riding his motorcycle along the Military Road on September 11 1926. His machine was found the following day at Common House, Haltwhistle and a massive search was launched.

Family, friends, neighbours and police formed search parties but it was two weeks before the decomposing body of the young man was found concealed by bracken and branches in Limestone Wood. He had been shot in the head. The dead man’s father was among the party that made the grim find.

A full scale murder hunt was launched and on October 8th a man was arrested near Cupbola Bridge at Whitfield in connection with another matter. He was Alexander Cairns (33) of Carluke in Scotland who was interviewed by police and subsequently charged with the murder of Stanley Dalton.

News of the arrest was broken by the Hexham Courant and large crowds gathered in Beaumont Street on the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning when Cairns was expected to appear in court. He did not in fact make his appearance until Saturday evening when he was not only charged with the murder, but also of breaking into a house in East Denton and stealing a shotgun and a knife.

Cairns finally appeared before Newcastle Assizes on February 23rd, 1927 when prosecuting counsel Mr G.F.L. Mortimer QC said the case was an unusual one in that as far as the prosecution was aware, the dead man and the accused had never met until the fateful day of Mr Dalton’s death. The prosecution could not offer any motive for the killing.

Mr Dalton was in the habit of riding his motor cycle along the Military Road on his afternoon off from his workplace of Walwick Hall which he did on September 11th. Cairns who was engaged to a girl from Haydon Bridge and had been lodging with her family was seen in the vicinity of Limestone Wood that day and a man answering his description was seen climbing a wall out of the wood where the body was found the same day.

He was subsequently seen tinkering with the carburettor of a motor cycle on the Military Road in the Haltwhistle area and called at a farm to wash his oily hands. It was found that the petrol tank of the motor bike had been punctured by shotgun pellets. During the trial, Mr Dalton’s skull was displayed in court and evidence given that not only had he been shot, but he had also been beaten with a heavy instrument.

Giving evidence, Cairns said that he had fallen in with “two flash crooks” he had met in a Salvation Army hostel who has asked him to steal the gun from East Denton for use in a robbery. He had stolen the gun which he gave to one of the crooks, an Australian, in Newcastle in exchange for “a few shillings.” He subsequently wandered around the North of England and Scotland, not returning to Tyneside over a week after Mr Dalton had been killed.

While admitting lying to the police and his fiancé, Cairns denied ever firing the gun. He admitted he had been seen carrying a long parcel wrapped in a coat but claimed it was a rope ladder for use in further burglaries.

Defending, Mr Osbert Peake claimed that the evidence against Cairns was purely circumstantial. Mr Dalton could have met his death by crashing his motor cycle into the wall, or by being accidentally shot by someone hunting rabbits.

After a three-day trail, the Newcastle jury was unable to reach a verdict and a re-trial was ordered to take place at Durham assizes. However due to the illness of several witnesses, the trial was again rescheduled, this time at Leeds Assizes.

The new trial began on March 22nd when new evidence offered that Cairns had been seen travelling on a bus from Common House where the motor cycle had been abandoned, back down the Military Road towards Brunton.

Summing up for the Crown, Mr Mortimer said that horrible as it may seem, robbery could not be excluded as the motive for the murder, as Cairns was known to be penniless and desperate. Mr Peake said that it was possible that the two flash crooks Cairns had fallen in with had been responsible for the killing, after Mr Dalton had refused to help them to break into Walwick Hall. This time the jury was in no doubt and found Cairns guilty.

He was sentenced to death by Mr Justice Fraser and the date of execution was fixed for April 28th. However less than a week before Cairns was due to go to the scaffold, the Home Secretary commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. Cairns was said to be “overjoyed” at the reprieve.

There had been some public disquiet over the death sentence because of the lack of motive and the jury’s failure to agree at the original trial, but according to the comment column in the Hexham Courant, the general feeling in the district was that Cairns was guilty.

Another fact that emerged after the trial was that Cairns’s engagement to the Haydon Bridge girl was bogus- he was already married in his native Scotland.

Story in the Hexham Courant, by Brian Tilley, January 7, 2011 (p4)


The roads of Tynedale have become a mecca for motor cyclists from around the country in recent years. Long straights, sweeping curves and a marked absence of police officers have encouraged several biking websites to encourage readers to come to Tynedale to test out their machines. The Military Road is favourite route, where bikes howl along the narrow road within yards of the Wall where Roman sandals used to tread.

But not all of the bikers are mindless thrill seekers attempting to outrun the police on their 140mph machines. A knowledgeable few rein in their mighty steads on the long stretch between Tower Tye crossroads and Carrawbrough and doff their helmets in silent tribute to one of their number who met a grisly fate long before they were born.

It’s easy to miss the simple headstone set into the drystone wall opposite the Ordnance Survey triangulation point on a reconstructed section of the wall. Its lettering is hard to decipher now, but its poignant message reads: “S.D. – September 11, 1926.” S.D. was 22-year-old Stanley Dalton, of Cowper Hill, Humshaugh, who met his death on that fateful date.

Unlike many of the biker breed, he was not the victim of a road accident – he was blasted out of the saddle by a callous shotgun wielding killer. The young Stanley was out on his bike when he disappeared – and his machine was found the following day at Common House in Haltwhistle.

A massive search was launched, and family, friends, neighbours and police formed themselves into organised search parties. However, two weeks had elapsed before a party led by Stanley’s father discovered a decomposing body at Limestone Wood, concealed by bracken and branches.

Tragically, it was Stanley, who had not only been shot in the head, but also savagely beaten with a blunt instrument. The man hunt became a murder hunt, but it wasn’t until four months later that an arrest was made. Police arrested a man at the Cupola Bridge near Whitfield in connection with another matter. He was a petty crook from Scotland, 33-year-old Alexander Cairns, from Carluke, who after being interviewed by police, was charged with the murder of Stanley Dalton.

News of his arrest was broken by the Hexham Courant on October 8, 1926, and large crowds gathered in Beaumont Street, Hexham, to await his appearance before Hexham Magistrates’ Court. They had to wait all day on the Friday, and the whole of Saturday, before Cairns eventually appeared in the dock. He was not only charged with the murder of Stanley Dalton, but also with breaking into a house at East Denton, and stealing a shotgun and a knife.

He was remanded in custody to await trial, which happened at Newcastle Assizes on February 23, 1927. The case against him was compelling, according to prosecuting counsel G.F.L. Mortimer KC. He conceded that the case was unusual, because as far as the prosecution knew, the killer and his victim has never met, and there was no obvious motive.

Stanley was in the habit of riding his motorcycle along the Military Road on his afternoons off from his workplace at Walwick, which he did on September 11. Cairns, who was engaged to a girl from Haydon Bridge and had been lodging with her family, had been seen in the vicinity of Limestone Wood that day.

A man answering his description had also been seen climbing the wall out of the wood where Stanley’s body was discovered the same day. Cairns was subsequently seen tinkering with the carburettor of a motor cycle in the Haltwhistle area, and called at a local farm to wash his oily hands. When Stanley’s motor bike was found in Haltwhistle, it was discovered that the petrol tank had been punctured by shotgun pellets.

During the trial, the jury was shown Stanley’s skull to demonstrate he had not only been shot, but also bludgeoned with a heavy object. Giving evidence in court, Cairns admitted stealing the shotgun from East Denton, which he had been asked to do by two “flash crooks” he had met in a Salvation Army hostel.

He knew it was used in a robbery, and gave it to one of the crooks – an Australian – in a pub in Newcastle in exchange for “a few shillings.” He then claimed he had left the district, wandering over large areas of Scotland and the North of England, and not returning to Tynedale until well over a week after Stanley had been killed.

While admitting lying to the police, and to his fiance, Cairns denied ever firing the gun. He admitted being seen carrying a long parcel wrapped in a coat, but said this had been a rope ladder, for use in burglary. Defending, Osbert Peake said the evidence again Cairns was purely circumstantial. He claimed it was possible that Stanley could have met his death by riding his motorcycle into the wall, or by being accidentally shot by someone out shooting rabbits.

The trial lasted for three days, after which the jury could not agree on a verdict. A retrial was ordered to take place at Durham Assizes, but that too was aborted because of the illness of several witnesses. The retrial eventually took place at Leeds Assizes on March 22, when new, damning evidence was presented against Cairns. The jury was told he had been seen boarding a bus at Common House in Haltwhistle, where Stanley’s bike was discovered, and travelling back down the Military Road towards Brunton.

Mr Mortimer told the jury that theft was a possible motive for the attack, as Cairns was known to be penniless and desperate at the time. Mr Peake countered that the two “flash crooks” could equally have been to blame for the murder, after Stanley had refused to help them to break into Walwick Grange.

This time, the jury was in no doubt, and Cairns was found guilty of murder. He was sentenced to death by Mr Justice Fraser, and the execution was scheduled for April 28. But, with less than a week to go before the Scotsman was due to go to the scaffold, his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. The Home Secretary showed clemency because of the lack of motive, and the jury’s failure to reach a decision after the first trial.

Cairns was overjoyed, but the consensus in the district was that he was guilty, and was lucky not to have had his neck stretched. It also emerged after the trial that Cairns’s engagement to the Haydon Bridge girl was entirely bogus – he already had a wife back home in Scotland.


Comment from Clive Dalton(Stanley Dalton's nephew)

Stanly Dalton's memorial headstone in Humshaugh church yard. Photo by Kenneth Wood, 2011.

• Family members were sure that it had been a case of mistaken identity. Apparently there was a rabbit catcher in the district with a motor bike who at certain times carried his earnings with him in cash. Cairns it was thought was after him, and Stan was the wrong man.
• Stan’s father (George Dalton) apparently never wanted Cairns to hang, and the family made no complaint when he was let out of prison early.
• The family erected an ornate memorial to Stan which stands in Humshaugh church yard near the door of the church.
• It was about this time that my father (Henry William) and mother were married the searching for the body was very stressful, and especially for Granda George Dalton who found Stan’s body.
• It’s very interesting that nobody knew who erected the memorial coping stone in the wall on Limestone Bank.

• When visiting UK in 2000 I talked to a member of the local Parish council and they were concerned about the stone being a hazard due to interested observers stopping on the busy road, as there was no layby on the crest of the hill to protect them from traffic.
  
• I suggested if it was ever removed it should go to Humshaugh church yard to join Stanley's official memorial and grave.

• Stanley's brother George is also buried there and is listed on the role of Honour of those who gave their lives in the 1914-18 war. George died at Humshaugh after the war, probably with the after effects of gas, so was added to the list of those who fell in battle.
  
• I found out from a friend in Bardon Mill whose father used to tell the story many times that Cairn's girlfriend, a local lass, was called Hilda Bainbridge. Some locals folk believed that Cairns was simply after the motorbike.

• Brian Tilley added in 2011 that in response to the January 2011 re-telling of the story, he was contacted by Charles Enderby, whose father Sam found the shotgun used in the shooting in the mud in Grindon Lough (see below) in 1936!
  

View Larger Map

By Dr Clive Dalton.

The story starts at Leeds
This bit of Australian agricultural history has turned out to be a fascinating tale - and it's necessary to tell it backwards! This is because it developed from my lecturing years at Leeds University Department of Agriculture, when some funny looking sheep arrived at the University farm around 1967 which we learned were ‘Merinos’, along with a Mr H.B. Carter who was given an office in the Textile Department, and not with us. We had no contact with the textile department staff, as we in Agriculture had no interest in wool and synthetic fibres. This attitude was similar to our association with the University Leather Department (one of the few in the world) - we just never met.

None of us on the Agriculture staff knew anything about either Carter or his Merinos, other than they had arrived from the Animal Breeding Research Organisation (ABRO) in Edinburgh, where it was rumoured that Carter (an Australian) and his sheep had departed, but not by choice.

It wasn't easy in 2010 to find people who remembered what went on at Leeds after I left in 1968, but I was fortunate through one of the few ‘agriculturists’ who was there after me, (Tim Johnson), to find Professor Richard Carter in the Institute of Immunology and Infections Research, at the School of Biological Sciences in the University of Edinburgh. Richard is H.B. Carter's second son and fortunately had documented his father’s papers after his death in 2005, intending to deposit them in a Sydney museum which specialised in the history of sheep and wool.

More on my part of the story is blogged here: http://woolshed1.blogspot.com/2010/05/merino-sheep-hb-carters-book-on-sheep.html

H.B. Carter scientific archive
On H.B. Carter's death in February 2005, Richard Carter assembled and listed his father's papers and equipment at Yeo Bank, Congresbury Somerset, UK, 6th May 2010. It's a fascinating list and is indicative of a man passionate about his work.


Contents of archive
1. About a dozen rolls, 1 to 3 feet in length comprising data maps of Australia and NSW (e.g. numbers and distribution of Merino sheep, pedigree flocks) and including a package of rolls of plans by H.B.Carter for the C.S.I.R. Sheep Biology laboratories at Prospect.

2. Metal cabinet ( 9" x 19" x 38") containing approx 10,000 glass slides of tissue sections (sheep skin) fixed, stained and mounted under glass (6 to 8 per slide) in 5 shelves or tiers, each containing 14 drawers of slides (all with identification numbers)

3. Three portfolio-sized folders with research data, charts etc.

4. One box (20" x 20" x 26") containing HBC's saddle, harness and other "bush" equipment

5. Forty one boxes (11" x 18" x 18") containing HBC's books, documents and original paper records, correspondence etc. identified as follows:

• Box (l) - HBC, records, scientific etc. (Australia)
• Box (2) - HBC, records, scientific etc. (Australia)
• Box (3) - HBC, records, scientific etc. (Australia)
• Box (4) - HBC, records, scientific etc. (Australia)
• Box (5) - HBC, records, scientific etc. (Australia)
• Box (6a) - HBC, records, scientific etc. (Australia)
• Box (6b) - HBC, records, scientific etc. (Australia)
• Box (6c) - HBC, records, scientific etc. (Australia)
• Box (7) - HBC, sheep & wool ( National statistics)
• Box (8) - HBC, Edinburgh & after, 1954- 1970s scientific records & correspondence.
• Box (9) - HBC, Leeds, 1963 ? - 1970 ; correspondence 1948 – 1969.
• Box (10) - HBC, Massy "Australian Merino"; other bound material, 1929 – 1988.
• Box (11) - HBC. papers, mainly correspondence - 1948 – 1998.
• Box (12) - HBC, papers, Yeo Bank years,1970 - correspondence.
• Box (13) - HBC, scientific research data pre 1953.
• Box (14) - HBC, scientific research data - Australia - pre 1953.
• Box (15) - HBC, papers & correspondence Edinburgh & later.
• Box (l6) - Approx. 400 fleece samples annotated (each 1/2 x 2 X 18 inch) in 7 x card boxes; samples are from cross-bred sheep grown at the Animal Breeding Research Organization (ABRO), Edinburgh, Scotland; dating from between 1954 and 1963. H.B.Carter personal skin biopsy punch kit. Photograph album of fleece collecting in action. Envelope of H.B.Carter’s pen and ink drawings of Merino sheep.
• Box (17) - 560 well annotated slides of fixed and stained skin sections from Merino sheep mounted under glass in 7 boxes and 1 package. Documents from Russia.
• Box (l8) -2 black file boxes containi11g:- 1 x envelope 4 x 6 inch containing 18" and early 19th century fibre specimens (presumably sheep, unknown breed); 54 sheep skin biopsy specimens preserved in wax (Bradford) (3 x packages); 144 sheep skill biopsy specimens preserved in wax (1966/67) (18 X packages); 93 tubes with label slips inside them (no biological material evident); 1 cardboard box approx l cubic foot containing 58 sheep fleece specimens (unknown date and place of origin, possibly from around 1990). 2 A4 envelopes with Merino wool samples (Edinburgh 1956).
• Box (19) - Approx. 100 slides of Soay (Scotland) sheep skin sections, fixed, stained and nlounted under glass; Approx. 100 slides of skin sections of cross-bred sheep - e.g. Merino X Border Leicester - fixed, stained and mounted under glass; Approx. 100 slides of skin sections of Scottish rodent species (most likely including Microtos sp., Apodemus sp. or Mus musculus , fixed, stained and mounted under glass (4 packages); Approx. 400 slides of skin sections of Scottish deer (most likely Red Deer, Cervus elaphus or Roe Deer, Capreolus capreolus, fixed, stained and mounted under glass (4 packages); Approx. 200 slides of skin sections of Merino sheep, fixed, stained and mounted under glass (2 packages).
• Box (20) - Approx. 1000 coarse wool fibre samples from Scotland (likely Blackface Sheep, or other such breed) (second half of 20th century); 3 jars with early Australian wools (presumably early Merino); 5 jars fleece samples from Afghanistan (presumably some breed of Afghan sheep); Blue card box containing:- 55 tubes with labeled slips inside (no biological material evident); Brown card box containing 45 tubes with labeled slips inside (no biological material evident); Small brown box containing 24 tubes with labeled slips inside (no biological material evident); 8 wooden racks containing:- 192 tubes with labeled slips inside (no biological material evident).
• Box (21) HBC, sheep follicle drawings, photos, film and sundry.
• Box (22) HBC, papers UK post 1954.
• Box (23) HBC, papers UK post 1954.
• Box (24) HBC, papers UK post 1954.
• Box (25) HBC, papers UK post 1954; incl photos ?pre 1954.
• Box (26) HBC, (fleece samples) papers UK post 1954.
• Box (27) HBC, papers UK post 1954.
• Box (28a) HBC, papers UK post 1954.
• Box (28b) HBC, papers UK post 1954.
• Box (29) HBC, literature reprints A – C.
• Box (30) HBC, literature reprints D – G.
• Box (31) HBC. literature reprints H - I.
• Box (32) HBC, literature reprints M – P.
• Box (33) HBC, literature reprints R – T.
• Box (34) HBC, literature reprints U - Y + lit card files + "books" from Leeds (1960's).
• Box (35) HBC, personal publication reprints & other published material.
• Box (36) HBC, other published materials.
• Box (37) HBC, other published materials, pre 1945.
• Box (38) HBC, other published materials.
• Box (39) - 1 plastic bag with 18 labeled fleece (sheep unknown breed) samples (1 x 1 x 4 inch); 1 plastic bag with 8 labeled fleece (sheep unknown breed) samples 1 x 1 x 4 inch); 1 plastic bag with 26 labeled fleece (sheep unknown breed) samples (1 x 1 x 4 inch); 1 plastic bag with 12 labeled fleece (sheep unknown breed) samples (1x1x4 inch); 1 plastic bag with fleece (sheep unknown breed) samples (9 x 9 x 9 inch); 1 envelope (The Rodd 29th May 1973) containing 10 envelopes (3 x 4 inch) with fleece samples (sheep unknown breed);5 plastic sleeves (2 x 4 x 4 inches) with fleece samples (sheep unknown breed); 1 envelope (Ulundri/Castle Hill/NSW) with 20 plastic sleeves with fleece samples (Merino) (presumed pre-19541; Folders of data records, documents and plans with reference to Sheep Biology Laboratories, C.S.I.R. at Prospect, N.S.W.; Metal syringe (function unknown).
  

The HB Carter ‘Memoir’
Among H.B. Carter's documents, Richard found what his father called his ‘Memoir’, which Richard kindly let me read. I felt it was of such significance, not only in Australia but around the sheep world, that I suggested it should be made available for future agricultural researchers and historians via my blog.

The memoir made me realise that all the things we at Leeds had thought and inferred about Carter and his sheep, were in total ignorance of the calibre of the man, and his contribution to sheep and wool science, as well as to the textile industry in Australia and around the world.

The 'Memoir' knol
Richard Carter and I have worked on getting the memoir from HBC’s version (typed on his portable Remington with very few typing errors) through as a Google Knol (see http://knol.google.com/k/clive-dalton/h-b-carter-personal-memoir-of/2txpuk4gtju3n/18)
with the kind permission of the Carter family. To HB Carter's original words we have only added subheadings and some of his original photos from his archive to break up the text for easier reading.

Richard has written some personal notes to put the Memoir into perspective, in both time and location.

Notes by Professor Richard Carter – January 2011
A story about a sheep flock
When my father, Harold Burnell Carter, was in his late forties, he began to write a story about a flock of sheep that had been gathered together at the behest of a King who would go mad, and about the man who served him as their shepherd.

The flock of sheep was a very special one for it was descended from the sheep from whose backs came the Golden Fleece - that treasure of ancient legend sought by the Greek hero, Jason, the Captain of the ‘Argonaughts’. For, true to its name, whoever possessed the Golden Fleece held in his hands the wealth of a nation.

His Majesty's flock
And to this end also, the king who would go mad sent out his servants to find and bring him descendants of the miraculous sheep. My father called his story ‘His Majesty’s Spanish Flock’. The sheep of the Spanish Flock were Merinos, coveted throughout Europe for the extreme fineness of their wool and upon which the looms of England depended for their lucrative industry.

The king was King George III of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; his “shepherd” was Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society of England. In 1788, the small beginnings of the flock of Merinos, smuggled from their native pastures on the plains of Spain, was secretly assembled at Windsor Castle on the banks of the River Thames.

Intended as the seed stock for a revitalised wool industry in the United Kingdom – in the words of the King “a most national object” – the little flock, gathered in twos and threes by Spanish “contrabandistas” and smuggled through Portugal for shipment to England, was, indeed, destined to found the fortunes of a nation. For about 100 years, from perhaps the 1830’s to the 1930’s, the wealth of that nation would be built upon “the sheep’s back” – upon the back of the Australian Merino.

Founding the wealth of Australia
My father’s story - the story of the Spanish sheep that would found the wealth of the Australian nation - was the product of a personal quest, a quest that grew from his own instinct, common to his generation, to work for the prosperity of his country, the Commonwealth of Australia.

The means he found were through the scientific study of the Merino in Australia. And he began, in the early 1930’s, at the age of 23, by working for an organization called the “Australian Estates and Mortgage Company Limited” as a veterinarian for Merino studs on sheep stations in New South Wales.

As his second of three sons, growing up in the late 1940’s, early 1950’s, on a small farm on the edge of the Australian bush, 20 miles from the centre of Sydney, the line of the Blue Mountains marking the western horizon, I knew my father to be a “sheep scientist”.

Off to work in the 'lab’
My father went to work in Sydney most days to the 'lab', which puzzled me for a long time as I understood this to be the “lav”. When he wasn’t at the 'lab' he would be working on the farm making fences or ploughing or doing things with sheep.

This might be making them walk through, and be ‘drenched’ with, a very green liquid, and occasionally tying them onto a bench and shaving the wool off a square patch of skin followed by a short sharp dig in the sides with a metal object that neatly removed a small circle of skin.

Bare-foot in the dust

While this was going on, I and my brothers would be running around bare foot in the dust taking it all in and occasionally being chatted to by my father’s mates “Wol” Clarke, Daly and Ken Ferguson, of whom Ken always seemed more smartly dressed than Wol, Daly or my Dad. Once or twice there arrived at our farm, along with Wol and Daly, an impressive looking vehicle called the “Battle Buggy”, and an even more impressive one called the “Chev”, which had a canvas back.

Run! – here comes ‘Butty’
The sheep themselves also had quite a lot of character. There was one ram in particular called Butty. He was ‘unherdable’! In fact the only way he could be brought into the yard was, apparently, for someone, Bill in my recollection, to walk out into the back paddock, attract Butty’s attention, an easy task, and then run like the blazes with Butty in full pursuit, having calculated in advance the distance that could be covered and still reach the fence before Butty caught up with him.

Meanwhile someone else, probably my Dad, stood by to do some deft gate work, which with luck, would divert Butty into entrapment in the holding yard. Unconnected with any of the above was a Sydney Funnel Web spider which the same Bill captured by placing a glass coffee jar over the spider’s hole. I can still recall, as I imagine, the thwack as the spider hit the bottom (now the top) of the jar. Brave man was Bill.

Names and more names
Away from the yard and the paddock, in addition to those already mentioned, names such as Bull, Hedley Marston, Gill, Peggy Hardy, Noeline Schwann, Des Dowling, Dunlop, Tom Austin and Bunny Austin are ones that come readily to mind from recollections of conversions between our parents. All our table place mats had what I now realise were mites and parasitic worms and such like embroidered on them.

Factors and fleeces
There was also much talk of 'factors' and the 'fleece'. Once in a while the family would be treated to slide shows projected onto the wall of our “sitting room” in the tumble down shack that was, at the time, our home. These were thrilling occasions. The images were uninterpretable but very exciting.

There were whirls and coloured, somewhat circular, shapes within shapes, odd dots and what not. Slide after slide was projected, each quite as transfixing as the previous one, until it was all over and we were sent, more reluctantly than on most nights, to bed.

From time to time my father was absent altogether for days on end. This had something to do with places with names like 'Wanganella' and involved “Sheep Stations” and “Austin”. Whatever all this was about my parents seemed pretty happy with their lot, and so were we; who wouldn’t be?

Off to Bonny Scotland
And then, all of sudden, we learned that we were leaving Australia and going to Scotland. This was in 1954. And so we did, and came to live near Edinburgh while my father carried on working there as a “sheep scientist”. Unfortunately there were no more paddocks or sheep and horses and chickens, and less unfortunately, no more spiders and snakes, at least not to worry about.

So from here on my father just went to work at the 'lab', until, that is, he began to spend more and more of his time collecting old letters, or rather photographic copies of them, hundreds and, indeed, thousands of them. And sooner or later we learned that he was preparing to write a book, a book about some sheep, the mad king, George III, and Joseph Banks, a name familiar to me then, and to most of any who had heard of him at all, as the “botanist” who had accompanied Captain Cook on his voyage to “discover” Australia.

From Edinburgh to Leeds
Not long after this my father stopped working in Edinburgh and went instead to work in Leeds, still with sheep but now mysteriously associated with the “textile industry” and the names Sir Francis Hill and David Knight crept into the family vocabulary. The family didn't follow him to Leeds.

By now we were heading out and away to wherever our own lives were going to take us, and in 1970 my father, with my mother, now a senior consultant psychiatrist in hospitals and homes in the West Country, retired to live in a house in a country village near Bristol. “Retired” my father may have been but not idle.

By 1988 he had completed and published a definitive biography of Sir Joseph Banks. My father, his work begun with youthful optimism to understand and produce a better sheep, ended by lifting the vale of obscurity from 'the botanist who sailed with Captain Cook' to show him as he truly was - Sir Joseph Banks, inspired Godfather of British science in an 'Age of Wonder', and perhaps more than any other, Father of the Australian nation.

Continuing interest
My father’s interests and correspondences continued until near the time of his death in early 2005. Our mother’s death followed three years later to the day but one, in 2008. Thereupon began the task of dismantling the family home and the safeguarding of, as we now fully realised, our father’s double legacy and archive.

Most clear and obvious was the huge collection of his library and documents related to his historical research, now with the 'Sir Joseph Banks Archive' at the University of Nottingham.

And then there was the archive of material directly concerning his own work as a 'sheep scientist'. From out of this emerged the 'memoir' which is a main feature of this blog and knoll, and which reveals at last what was behind the slide shows, the names and the places, the Chev truck and the strange business of snatching neat round circles of skin from a shaven patch on the side of a sheep. The memoir itself was written to assist Charles Massy in writing his monumental work - 'The Australian Merino'.

Comments by Dr T.S.Ch'ang
'TS' was a young newly-recruited scientist at CSIRO at Prospect soon after it opened, and now retired, his 2011 comments are interesting. HB Carter was seen by these young scientists as a rather shadowy aloof figure around the lab, and there was little communication between them in the very hierarchical structure of CSIRO. This was even expressed in the colour of the overalls worn by the different ranks - scientists with white overalls of course!

'The Carter memoir made interesting reading with many, if not most of the names, places and events known to me, which places me in a category of dinosaurs or its near relatives.

'Helen Newton Turner recruited me to initiate and carry out research in CSIRO on meat sheep genetics and breeding in Australia, which may now appear like an after-thought after reading the Carter draft.

'Without the benefit of knowing what or how much Carter had already done in Merino sheep, e.g. such as sampling the Merino Studs for wool genetic studies etc, I also went to the trouble (in 1968) of writing to Dorset Horn Stud Flock owners, South Australian Merino (Collinsville), and some Corriedale ram breeders.

'This was to assemble my collection of experimental sheep for the definitive meat sheep genetics study on 'Arding' - a field station down the road from 'Chiswick'. I even designed and built an abattoir on 'Chiswick' to do slaughter for the carcass work.

'My years at Prospect - a geneticist rubbing shoulders with the physiologists now appear to be pre-ordained by Carter, and not a convenience move in CSIRO after the merging of Divisions, among other reasons to save money!

'A little history does provide perspective - even retrospectively, to see things which otherwise might be viewed as a linear process in time, but it's really a circular motion coming to its logical conclusion'.

By Dr Clive Dalton




Problem for 100 years
For over a century now, Facial eczema (FE) has caused massive animal suffering and economic loss to New Zealand flocks and herds, and every year it still takes its toll. It’s a fungal disease of the autumn, thriving in a combination of soils still warm from summer, dead pasture litter, and moisture from autumn rains and heavy dews.

Looking down a microscope, it’s hard to imagine how the tiny hand grenade shaped fungal spores can produce a toxin that can permanently damage an animal’s liver, leading to photosensitivity, great suffering and often death. When cases get really bad the animal has to be euthanased. Stock sent for meat processing end up being condemned, as their flesh is jaundiced and has an unacceptable 'off' smell.

The Fusarium fungus (Pythomyces chartarum) which produces the spores, is common in many other countries such as Australia, South America and South Africa, but for some unknown reason does not produce the ‘sporidesmin’ toxin. The toxin is most dangerous from young rapidly-growing spores like the ones in the picture below.


Finding the cause
Facial eczema has been known in New Zealand since the importation of modern grasses in the 1870s, and it was certainly reported by J.A Gilruth in the Department of Agriculture's Annual Report in 1897.

Finding the cause and working out prevention measures took 40 years of solid research, (including many setbacks) by scientists at the New Zealand government’s, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Ruakura Animal Research station, working in close cooperation with local farmers desperate to find a solution, many of whom regularly lost more than half of their sheep flocks in bad years. It took them years to get over one bad FE year.

Farmer demands
In fact, it was farmer action led by a Waikato farmer, Mr F.C. (Togo) Johnstone in 1939, strongly supported by Waikato Federated Farmers, that got Ruakura under P S Smallfield to take a serious look at the problem. A long hard road of research was started and got a major boost in 1943 when Dr C.P. McMeekan was recruited from Massey College (later University) to develop the Ruakura Animal Research Station.

McMeekan recruited a team (many from overseas), to find the cause and then provide a prevention to the scourge causing massive economic losses on farms in the warmer northern parts of the North Island of New Zealand.

Today, with the climate warming and more dry summers, the disease is being found in many other areas of New Zealand.

When I arrived at the Whatawhata Hill Country Research Station in 1968, researchers had done most of the hard work. The fungus and its toxin had been identified, and treating animals with zinc salts was the accepted prevention.

Gladys Reid
A famous part of the zinc research story was Mrs Gladys Reid who farmed at Te Aroha in the Waikato. There was always an argument, which continues to this day even after her death at age 92, as to who was first to ‘discover’ zinc to prevent FE. As a former dental nurse she knew about the qualities of zinc, and tried throwing zinc sulphate into water troughs with clear benefits to preventing the disease.

To her dying day, she declared that she told the scientists at Ruakura about the value of zinc, and that they needed to follow it up. She must have spent 30 years goading them on to do more, and they certainly didn’t like it, and to this day they claim to have discovered zinc before Gladys.

Things certainly got heated from time to time and much of it was played out in the local newspaper - the Waikato Times under farming editor Peter Bourke. I got involved in the cross fire at one stage when Scientific Liaison Officer at Ruakura and in the end, I and Dr Rex Munday were the only two scientists at Ruakura who Gladys would talk to, and who were in contact with her. We always listened to her, difficult though it was at times as she was so deep into biochemistry and certainly well ahead of my knowledge of the subject. Rex could certainly follow her theories and ideas. Scientists from all around the world kept in touch with her and used to visit her.

There was the famous letter from overseas addressed to ‘The zinc lady, Te Aroha, New Zealand’ that got to her with no problems!

Before she died, I managed to get most of her original papers and correspondence into the archives at the Hamilton City Council’s public library, where they are publically available. In my opinion, from reading all her original letters, she clearly was the first to see zinc as a practical preventative for FE.

But I don’t expect my former colleagues to ever agree with me, and even years after it was all over ( I thought !), I was reprimanded by the President of the Waikato branch of the NZ Institute of Agricultural Science, for some words I had written for a display in the Hamilton City Museum of Art and History on the history of FE research. My scolding was because I had ‘given overdue emphasis to the role of Mrs Reid in the story of FE research’. Certain scientists never gave up their pique.

What made things worse for them was that Gladys was awarded an OBE for ‘Services to Agriculture’, an honour she always felt was a ‘sop’ to compensate her for the years of insults and rebuffs she’d had from Ruakura scientists as well as MAF's Director General of Agriculture.

One of the wonderful switchboard staff at Ruakura - Ruth Utting, told me that she was told by certain scientists and the Director that if 'that woman phoned', she was to tell her the person she wanted was not available. Ruth told me that Gladys got wise to this, and once got her daughter to phone the Director who then handed the phone to Gladys!

Google ‘Gladys Reid’ for her obituary.

Easy for dairy farmers
Daily drenching dairy cattle with zinc oxide was easy for farmers, as for most of the year cows had to be dosed for bloat and were well used to being handled – almost opening their mouths when approached with a drench gun. And when technology advanced, zinc sulphate could be applied via drinking water systems which circulated around the farm.

Messy chore
However, for sheep farmers where prevention involved weekly drenching with zinc oxide, it was just not practical, which was good because it got them determined to find an alternative solution.

I well remember seeing the mess in many woolsheds, as old washing machines were being used to mix the powder and water. You would think the shed and the sheep yards had been whitewashed – which was in stark contrast the shepherds’ blue language over their weekly mustering and drenching chore. The stress on sheep, dogs and staff was too much.

Why did some sheep survive?
Some smart farmers noticed that there were individual sheep that survived whatever the season (based on the survival of the fittest), so Ruakura researchers picked this up and started a flock selected for high and low FE resistance along with a randomly selected control group, and it continued for many years.

This was possible as the toxin (sporidesmin) had been isolated from the fungus (Pythomyces chartarum) grown in the lab at Ruakura, so sheep could be dosed with it to measure their liver reaction. As this was a very nasty toxin, handling and dosing animals with it had to be done by veterinarians, or under their supervision.

FE resistance heritable
These selection flocks soon showed that FE resistance was heritable and quite strongly too with heritability around 45%. This was similar to wool production, so it allowed farmers to start selecting for it along with their other important production traits. And they did – with great enthusiasm and success, working closely with Ruakura staff.

Colin Southey
A major driving force in this was the late Colin Southey who was a Farm Adviser at MAF Pukekohe, along with former Farm Advisor Andy Dalton. In their Raglan coastal hill country area in the early 1970s, FE was killing off over 40% of flock replacements causing enormous economic loss to hill country farmers. Many farms were losing 1000 sheep every year, and the losses in their replacement hoggets were particularly devastating.

It was Colin who drove the FE testing from the Ruakura labs into woolsheds and sheep yards for vets to administer the toxin and measure the response in blood tests using the enzyme GGT (gammglutylthiamase) which had been developed for measuring liver damage in human alcoholics.

Colin was a great driving force to get groups of breeders working together to select for FE resistance, and share the genetic gain made between their own flocks before passing it on to commercial ram buyers.

Two-tooth rams tested
Farmers put up the best of their top two-tooth rams for testing, and only kept those that survived the increasing levels of toxin as the years went on. In theory, if the flock had been achieving overall genetic gain over time, the two-tooths were the best genetics so were the obvious age group to test.

It’s a pity that the test was so expensive, around $300/ram, as it prevented stud breeders testing females, and hence speeding up overall genetic gain in their flock to pass on to commercial buyers. Selection on the female side had to come through survival of the fittest.

Dose rates
Dose rates were based on weight, so when farmers started, this was 0.1-0.2mg of sporidesmin/kg of body weight. Today most Waikato sheep breeders have sheep that will now take 0.6 mg/kg. In today’s flocks even in severe years, they never see a clinical case of FE so the programme has been a massive success.

Disappointing uptake
But the disappointing feature to me was that after 40 years of hard work and investment, none of the Romney, Coopworth or Perendale breeders who put large amounts of time and money into their flocks, got rich selling their FE-resistant rams to committed commercial sheep farmers.

The main reason was farmer complacency – as FE was never severe every year. Farmers seemed to believe that like lightning, it never strikes twice in the same place. So after a bad year, panic many drive farmers to buy FE resistant rams, but it may not based on the 'lightning logic'. But if they did buy the progeny of tested rams from stud breeders as they didn’t see the impact for some years which may not be bad seasons, they concluded that nothing had worked.

Genetic change takes time
Commercial sheep farmers didn’t seem to understand that genetic change took time, especially as new genes were only entering the flock on the ram side. So it took many sheep generations (average 3 years) to see any dramatic change, and it needed a few bad FE seasons to show this.

Buying rams locally
The other frustration was that even after massive losses, too many sheep farmers were loathe to buy rams from their local area. There seemed to be something wired into farmers that made them assume that you had to travel well out of the district to get ‘good rams’!

These 'good rams' were inevitably massive animals, covered in wool and usually very fat, as they’d come from very good farming areas. Some had even been on ‘hard feed’ and regularly drenched before buyer inspection time. Inevitably, these rams came from areas where FE did not occur!

Buying replacement ewes
After a devastating season, farmers never bought replacement sheep in their own area – they always went well away south to sales, which was the very worst thing genetically that they could do, as this diluted any genetic gain made by resistant rams that they had been using.

Stock agents
Stock agents had a major part to play in this misguided practice, and I battled with many of them over the years about their role in improving hill country sheep flocks in the Whatawhata Research Station (Raglan) area, where lambing percentages were the lowest in the country.

Agents always reckoned that rams from Raglan breeders were ‘too blardy small’, assuming size was a major indicator of genetic merit for sheep to survive and perform on hard hill country. They could never understand that most of a ram’s size was caused by the environment (feeding) and not genetics.

The visual look of a ram always took pride of place in ram selection by agents in those days and any records were a mystery that only held up the 'ram picking' job and delayed the time spent by the drinks cabinet in the front room of the house!

I always suspected there were Company deals going on to move surplus big fat rams from, the classical ram breeding areas (we called them ram alley) in theWairarapa and Manawatu up to the Waikato, as a sort of clearing house for their surplus.

Agents would take off with a car load of buyers at crack of dawn, pick the rams for the client, empty a whiskey bottle or two, and be home after the last pub closed on the way. It was great business as the rams didn’t live long, and the agents got regular business each season and the ram buyers had their ‘ram picking trip’ to look forward to as an annual feature!

I once met a very tired farm manager at 6pm, who had just been dropped off at a friends house where he’d left his car at 4am to be picked up by his agent. He was proud to tell me he’d been ‘to pick the rams’. I asked him where he had been, and he wasn’t sure – other than it was somewhere in the Manawatu and it had taken over 5 hours to get there. I then asked about selecting the rams and he said the agent had done this for his boss, and he just looked on to give them a final approval. I asked if the Sheeplan performance records had been used to pick the rams but he didn’t know what I was talking about. He had not seen any paper sheets around.

Dalton’s 13-pub rule for genetic gain
Once in a farmers’ meeting discussing this issue, I formulated a ‘natural law’ which said that if any sheep farmer wanted to be sure of getting genetic gain through his or her Stock agent, then they had to go past at least 13 pubs in the agent’s car, listening to all the agent’s wisdom and war stories, before genetic progress could be guaranteed from anything they bought! I sometimes still meet many farmers who can remember this – but nothing else I said!

Things have changed
But things have changed, and especially in the last five years, with this year seeing a total clearance of breeders’ rams selected for FE resistance. This is mainly due to increasing dry seasons (climate change or not) and the appearance of FE in new areas of the North Island.

What’s good for stud breeders selecting for resistance, is that seeing FE every year and enough losses to show on the bank balance, has made commercial farmers concentrate on finding a solution – which is through genetics and not their veterinarians. This has never been helped by veterinarians as they are not strong on genetics – and in any case genetics do not sell the farmer anything off their shelves.

Zinc boluses

The bolus is used by farmers who see it, and the costs and work involved in inserting it, as a basic protection. The problem is that it does not provide enough zinc when spores rise rapidly and dangers of toxicity are high. The sheep in the picture at the top of this post were all given a bolus which clearly was not enough zinc to protect them from the 'natural challenge' they got on the farm.

Ramguard
All the past years of research at The Ruakura Agricultural Research Centre has been built into a programme called ‘Ramguard Facial Eczema Tolerance Testing Service’. Here sheep breeders can get information on how to test for FE tolerance and how to build this information into an overall breeding programme. Google ‘Ramguard’ for details.

Tolerance and resistance
I have been involved in many academic arguments about which is the correct term to use. I don’t really think it’s important – I use resistance.

Breeders need thanks
The sheep industry should be grateful to these Waikato breeders of FE-resistant sheep who never gave up, and were prepared to invest in on-farm R & D to deal to a major animal scourge. They have also proved conclusively that to farm sustainably in today’s world, genetics will have a better long-term outcome than chemotherapy.

Further reading
John D.J. Scott (1989). Ruakura - 50 Years of Research and Recreation.
Facial Eczema. Page 29. Chapter by John Scott and Archie Campbell
ISBN 0-477-08021-9.

By Dr Clive Dalton

The day we were told to ‘Go Out & Sell’
Agricultural research in New Zealand, the foundation of our national economy for well over 100 years, died in my view the day we were told to go out and ‘market our services to clients’ – very strange words to our ears at the time. We soon learned that this was bureaucratic code to get out and sell what we had previously provided for free! I remember that day well - it must have been in the early 1980s. But first some background.

‘Change’ - the first worrying signs

The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF), which evolved from the New Zealand Department of Agriculture had ‘Divisions’ - Research, Advisory, Animal Health, Meat, Dairy, and Fisheries. 'Information Services' was not a Division but was attached to the Director General's office. These Divisions had all served farmers and fishers well since MAF’s foundation in the 1890s.

(See: White collars & gumboots: A history of the Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries, 1892-1992. By Tony Nightingale, Dunmore Press, 1992. ISBN 086469-168-8)

In the late 1970s the cult of changing names started, which we were told was more ‘modern’ and would make us more ‘efficient and effective’. We were to hear a lot more of these two words, as corporate speak started to spread like gorse and blackberry. Like these two noxious weeds, the seeds seemed to spread in faeces carried by vectors!
We were told with great confidence that our old ‘image’ was outdated and needed updating. No doubt the PR company they asked for advice, sold them the idea and made big money from the change. I can't imagine any PR company telling a business that their old logo was OK!

Who said ‘change’ was needed?
The changes must have been spawned in Treasury with somebody proposing they would be more ‘cost effective’. Then the message would be handed down from the Minister of Agriculture to the then MAF Director General (DG).

Remembering the DG at the time, I cannot imagine him doing anything but agreeing with what came ‘down from the hill’ from the Minister’s office in the Beehive building which was fairly new. He had been a former Director of the old Farm Advisory Division.

Also remembering the Acting DG who followed him, a veterinarian who had been Director of the Animal Health Division; he wasn't a person to rock boats either, in the short time he was in charge.

MAFTech, MAFQual and MAFCorp


So the old MAF was reshuffled into MAFTech (MAF Technology), MAFQual (MAF Quality Management) and MAFCorp (MAF Corporate Services).

• MAFTech was the old Research Division and the Farm Advisory Division.
• MAFQual was the old Meat, Dairy, Animal Health, Horticulture Divisions and the Agricultural Quarantine Service (AQS).
• MAFCorp was the administration staff. I think the Information Division was part of MAFCorp.
  

Some of us were a bit suspicious about these fancy names and the waste of money involved with new stationery and logos. The new logo which didn't impress many of us, and we felt that the money spent could have been used for better things - like research!

We lost our old logo ( below) with the ‘a’ with the fish in it which every farmer had known for donkey’s years since the days of the New Zealand Department of Agriculture.

Restructuring started quietly with parts of MAF such as Ag Quarantine and the Farm Advisors being made partially cost recoverable. And things grew from there. In 1992 more restructuring continued and MAF ended up with separate parts for MAF Policy, MAF Regulatory Authority, MAF Quality Management, Fisheries, Agriculture NZ (the farm advisors) and the MAF Corporate Office.

Later on the farm advisors in Ag NZ were purchased by Wrightsons, and was still supposed to operate as an independent business. It was the kiss of death for extensive farm advice.

At the Ruakura Agricultural Research Centre, I was one of three ‘Scientific Liaison Officers’ in the McMeekan Communication Centre (1979-80). We were in MAFTech, and our job was the same as it had always been - to get the latest research information from scientists into a form which advisors and farmers could use. Somewhere along the road, 'advisers' had become 'advisors'.

We had an arsenal of ways to do this, from printed booklets and manuals, the excellent AgLink series of over 500 technical leaflets, films, displays, and our pride and joy - the Annual Ruakura Farmers’ Conferences and Field days. The 'Farmers' Hall' at Ruakura was full to the rafters with over 1000 farmers on each of two days- first dairy and then beef and sheep. There was four media tables down the side of the hall with 2-3 journalists on each.



Delivery methods
Out in the field, Farm Advisors either delivered the message from researchers to farmers themselves, or the scientists delivered it; but the best method was a combination of both.

I have fond memories of being involved in many of these combined efforts, where for example, for the farmers up the East Coast of the North Island, or the far North, two or three of us scientists would join the local farm advisors and have a Mini Farmers’ Conference in a local hall. They were a rip-roaring success for all of us, and we scientists certainly got feedback from the real world of farming. The conferences at Wairoa and at Kaiwaka in their local halls were specially memorable.

There were also regular visits by farmers (usually led by Farm Advisors) to research stations, where scientists talked about current research, and got vital feedback from farmers and advisors about this. Ruakura's Number 2 dairy was world famous for this.

At the Whatawhata Hill Country Research Station where I was a scientist for 11 years, apart from the 1000+ farmers who came to our Annual Field Day in June each year, up the twisty track up to the yards and woolshed, we regularly entertained busloads of farmers from all over New Zealand down at the office (then the old woolshed). A special feature for us was the annual visit of the third year degree students from Massy and Lincoln Universities.

It was 'two-way communication' at its very best, and we knew it worked simply because it had been proven by the work of MAF over the previous 100 years.

The Ra-Ra-Ra meeting
I was working with MAFQual on this memorable day in the 1980s. Talking to some old colleagues about it, they have this image of a large room with a stage - some think it may have been at the University of Waikato. Maybe it was a hotel in town.

We all remember that at the meeting we were honoured by the presence of a bevy of heavyweights from Head Office, and the MAF Director General of Agriculture. This meeting was part of a motivational traveling circus which went around other regions too.

Massey marketing guru
To rev us all for the new era we were addressed, (more like assaulted) by a member from the Marketing Department at Massey University. He told us all about the science, the art, the mysteries and the challenges of marketing, and it sounded all very exciting stuff. He illustrated his experience in the business using the story of the Tullen snips, and his skill in helping to make them a marketing success.

We got a fair ear bashing about the importance of ‘branding’ discussing the famous brands around the world. We had to think about MAF as a brand, and what it meant to us and our clients when they saw our logo. That's why we needed new logos of course to get away from the old public service image we were reminded.

By the end of the Tullen snips saga we were punch-drunk, and most of us left in silence. Confusion reigned – to put it mildly, as we tried to get our heads around how the heck we were supposed to make money!

But there was more to goad us on. We were told to read the classical marketing books – one in particular was 'In search of excellence' by Tom Brooks, about successful marketers in the USA. One example was the supermarket owner who made it his business to know the names of all his customers, their children and grandchildren, and stand by the door to greet them as they came in and wander around chatting to them as if they were family - and making sure they were filling their trolleys.

It was stressed that he was successful because he used MBWA (management by walking about). It was so exciting, and in a way it was like a Billy Graham meeting where at the end, we all rushed forward and committed our souls to the ‘ God of Marketing’.

The DG sent us away with his final blessing and the new MAF mantra of ‘Go forth and sell’. It wasn’t hard to work out that we were not the only ones going to be judged by our sales; he would be too – and he was probably as concerned as we were. DGs don’t like to have their butts kicked by the Minister and unseen faces in Treasury, as it could mean no gong at the end of their tenure.

Stunned and confused
The shock and confusion lasted for days, weeks and months – because although we’d been in the business of giving out advice for all of our careers in MAF, we had never had to even think about asking for money for it. The whole essence of our relationship with farmers (who were never our 'clients' for goodness sake), was based on the fact that there was no hidden motives like money, for what we told them.

Most of us in MAFQual with our separate parts, could see immediately what was coming – a bureaucratic monster of keeping time sheets, charge sheets and to sending out accounts.

MAF Information Services
As part of my role in MAFQual, I managed what had been the old 'MAF Display Unit' in Dey Street Hamilton. If you traced its roots to Head Office, I’m not sure where it would end up- I think it was in Information Services. Our office admin work was done by the wonderful staff in the Hamilton MAF office (later at Ruakura), led by Alex Taylor, the Regional Admin Officer.

They were all fantastic folk. Alex, ex NZ Navy serving on the Achilles, with 40 year’s in the public service was a master at knowing how to get around things. There would never have been a more loyal public servant in the history of MAF.

If you had a problem, Alex loved to see how it could be circumnavigated and fixed. For one National Fieldays ,where MAF a few years beforehand had acquired a permanent wooden building – again ‘arranged’ by Alex, I wanted some green shower-proof jackets for our staff so we would stand out, so farmers could see who to go to for help. We gave away thousands of AgLink leaflets at the Fieldays.

Head office said we could not buy these locally as the MAF ‘clothing contract' had been let to some major company in Wellington. Alex fixed it in two seconds by telling me to call the jackets ‘fabric’ which was under another code. The DG appeared at our stand at Fieldays, so we had a green jacket his size ready for him. He never asked who approved it as it sure wasn't an 'official uniform'.

The Unit had been set up when MAF used to go around shows and Field Days with a bus supporting Farm Advisors , and the Unit made all the displays for this. We had an office, a workshop, spray booth, dark room and our staff was made up of a graphic artist, workshop technician and photographer. They did some great work for MAF staff all over New Zealand.

By the time I joined, attending shows was over and my job as manager under the new deal was to get new business! It was a difficult concept as the customers were our own colleagues.

Our good ‘clients’
Animal Health veterinarians
The Unit did work for MAFQual vets, mainly from the Ruakura Animal Health Laboratory. I was regularly called in to suggest ideas for promotional programmes where they wanted to get their message out to earn income from their clients who were practising veterinarians. An example was the Karaka Horse Sales where they advertised the lab’s services to horse vets.

The Lab Director was very tight with his budget (to put it nicely) and seemed to think, along with many others of our other clients, that the Display Unit had a budget for their projects. He'd been a young vet in Cumberland working for a Scotsman so I certainly understood where he had picked up the habit!

Many a time I’d do a promotion job for an enthusiastic field vet, and then find out that their boss would not approve the payment! So on my time sheet I had to put my time and that of the Display Unit staff, with nothing to show for it.

Livestock officers
Livestock officers were animal health field staff , many recruited to carry out the nation-wide TB and brucellosis testing of cattle. They also had a role as animal welfare officers so could report any welfare problems they saw on farms. They were daily out on farms and were great communicators with farmers.

We at the Display Unit loved helping them with their promotional work. Outbreaks of exotic diseases were another important role they had. They were all brilliant staff to work with and we never had any concerns with them over money as they knew they had to get their boss to approve things before they came to us.

One officer Vince Roberts was a communication zealot and got money from his bosses for a trailer which he took around meetings and field days all over the region. We made him displays and he must have given away thousands of AgLink leaflets.

My not-so-good clients
Two dairy consultants
These were two Farm Dairy Advisory Officers who were national experts in their field. They were an endless source of ideas about getting milk out of cows and getting it grade-free to the factory, and in the process, making sure the cows were happy.

They were great colleagues, but they drove all of us at the Display Unit mad. After endless sessions with them discussing their ideas, they’d finalise their work for us to complete (e.g. a display, brochures, etc, etc), but then, when we had the display half made (if we were lucky), or fully made (more blinkin likely), with the work back from the printers, photos done, etc, etc, they’d want to change something – or everything!

I had to charge them for all the time and materials involved, and when they got the bill they went ballistic. They regularly would not pay, as they had to get the bill signed off by their boss who also thought we had ripped them off.

MAF meat inspectors
These had a major image problem which I worked hard to improve – but failed. They were employed by MAF and operated in all meat works. There was also a MAF veterinarian in every works, who signed off all products for export after it had been checked by the meat inspectors.

The meat inspectors were never loved by the meat workers as the inspectors could stop the killing chain, which meant loss of earnings for the workers. Inspectors could also go on strike, which again closed the works and cut workers' pay.

Photographs were a critical part of my work, but taking a camera into a meat works was as dangerous as taking in a loaded AK47. To take photos you had to get the OK from the works General Manager, the Meat Workers’ Union boss, the MAF resident vet, and even then, when a flash went off, there was always a risk of a 'stop work', and someone approaching you in a threatening way, knife in hand asking - ‘What the F**** did you take my F****** photo for. You had no F******* right to take my F****** photo'! It was not very pleasant.

Even walking through the works gate with a camera got the gate keeper on edge, and grabbing his phone to the Union boss.

Diddled
I was ‘diddled’ by my clients (my own MAF colleagues) so many times before I learned to say – ‘Look mate, let’s get this straight before we start – what’s your charge code and the size of your budget for this job’? If that was too fancy a way of putting things, I said – have you got any blardy money? I found that enthusiasm and giving out ideas was a very dangerous part of my job in this new charging environment - my clients read this as me being willing to pay too!

Large mural photographs
At the Display Unit we had the facilities to print massive mural photographs, and we had a great collection of old glass negatives from the Turnbull library. I never could find out who had acquired them, and whether they should have been sent back.

We sold many of these prints to both our MAF clients and to outside organisations. I remember helping print some and delivering them and hanging them in the Lambton Quay entrance in the new MAF Head office in Wellington.

Outside work
To try earning income, I once went to Wrightsons in Hamilton to sell them the idea of having a staff newsletter. They bought the concept so instead of me getting on and working for MAFQual’s clients – meat inspectors, dairy inspectors, Ag Quarantine staff and the like – I interviewed Wrigthson’s staff to tell them in a Newsletter what a great company they were working for. How stupid was that?

Exotic sheep
The Massey marketing guru who came to liven up our lives must have made a good impression because in no time after this, he was appointed as a Marketing Manager for MAFTech, residing initially in the Hamilton office and then at Ruakura where one of his jobs was to sell the ‘exotic sheep’, - helped by another marketing executive type.

The importation of Finn, Texel, Oxford Down and German Whitehead sheep cost a lot of money, and MAFTech must have been pushed to get some return. The Texels were most popular for their meat potential and MAF had imported top genetics from Holland, unavailable from anywhere else. The sheep were sold after MAFTech had met their research needs.

The new ‘Business Managers’ loved it
It was depressing. Suddenly there were ‘cost centres’ and ‘business managers’ who wore business suits and ties to work, carried ‘organisers’, ‘man bags’ and black leather brief cases. They wore black slip-on shoes and carried mobile phones – which in those days were large and fairly rare, so they stood out in a crowd and especially on their arrival at airports. They just loved all these trappings of importance and some power.

I often had to meet managers at Hamilton airport from Head Office, and they generally came running off the plane as they were so rushed to get to their meeting. I assumed it was a toilet stop they wanted from the food and booze they’d quaffed in the Koru lounge at Wellington airport (they all qualified for membership), but I was wrong.

In the major snow crisis in the South Island in 1999 I had to travel to Christchurch as the MAF Media person, and arrived at a closed and deserted Wellington airport. I had to take a flight to Christchurch on the hard back seat of the Westpac rescue helicopter.

In desperation I joined the Koru club to get some food, and when the Director General (no less) was checking membership some months later, I got a reprimand for doing this, as my rank did not qualify me for this honour. I should have phoned to ask for him to bring me some sandwiches and a flask of coffee to the closed-down airport!

The Ruakura MAFQual managers were given little portable word processors (like today’s laptops), but none of them could type, as before the carve up we all relied on the wonderful ladies in the typing pool. The typing pools were all split up, but what was amazing was the ease with which Apple II computers appeared on everyone’s desk, which were simply used as typewriters. Where that money came from was never explained.

The other big deal was that they were all given bank cards instead of having to get expenses refunded from the office clerk with the petty cash box. This sure was a sign of new power!

Personal Assistants (PAs) who used to be secretaries appeared, and this boosted the new power and status of both the business manager and the PA. The PA's job was to manage the manager!

Networking
Our MAFQual Regional Manager was an enthusiastic ‘networker’ – and an even more enthusiastic name dropper, and we were encouraged to develop our networks in ‘growing the business’ – another famous bit of corporate speak we learned. I enjoyed working for him as he had come from a science background.

Part of this networking carry on was to get management heavy weights from outside industries to talk to our MAFQual business managers at a four-day retreat, to goad them onwards and upwards towards commercial nirvana.

One memorable one was held at Flock House near Bulls still then under the care of MAF, and I got in as an observer because the 'new business manager' backed out - the very bloke who should have been there. I remember a session on 'synergy' by an Australian guru (at enormous expense) who had motivated the Australian army. He made us listen to 'The Bolero' to hear how all the separate instruments came in at different times, to end up as one wonderful climax. The music was great, but I was mystified as to how I could use this concept to help farmers. Maybe MAFQual needed an orchestra!

In fun, I starting using buzzwords from a ‘buzz word generator’ I had been given by an American visitor, but I had to stop as folk didn’t realise it was a spoof!

I worked out that good networkers and name droppers had to be involved with meetings all the time, so when someone wanted you, you were either (a) rushing to a meeting, (b) were in a meeting, or (c) had just finished a meeting and were preparing for the next one.

Latticing
I thought I was keeping up, but then found myself left behind again, as our MAFQual Manager started talking about ‘latticing within networks’! I gave up with fancy concepts after that, and never did get to the bottom of latticing. I had an image of it being something like darning socks, which I am still very good at.

‘Stakeholders’
This ugly word soon became a regular part of the jargon which we had to learn, and that some ‘clients’ were also stakeholders! You had to watch the spelling incase you got the wrong kind of steakholder!

‘Retreats’
To keep us on the ball, our MAFQual Director was keen on Regional Conferences at a retreat off the campus, so we could also do a bit of ‘bonding’. Taupo was a favourite spot to thrash out or plans for the future, and especially how to make more money. It was clear to the simplest of minds that we were good at spending money but not earning it.

We had to have one such urgent meeting as we were told that the business was verging on bankruptcy. If we were going broke - I could never understand why we had to spend money to meet in Taupo.

Pool cars
MAF always had a pool of cars for staff use, and in the old days this worked like a charm with some really great folk in charge of them. They saw it as their job to help you, and not make it difficult.

But in the new deal, things changed. The business managers were allowed to use their MAFQual-allocated car for private use, and in theory these cars were still part of the pool. So if all the pool cars were out and a manger’s car was in his office park (as near to his desk as possible), they were available for staff use.

But of course, theory and practice were very different and you had to be a very brave person to go and ask a manager for their car. If they did reluctantly agree, you were reminded to be back in time good time – time for them to drive home!

Time sheets

One day, in the refurbished Ruakura Homestead which was our excellent MAFQual headquarters, an Indian gentleman appeared around my door with a time sheet, and kindly explained how I had to fill it in every Friday.

Every 15 minutes, I had to record who I had been working for and include their ‘charge code’. He provided a list of charge codes, but there was never any code for ‘Information’ or ‘Promotion’ which was my business. I failed to ever get one, as I had to charge somebody else for everything I did. Apparently if lawyers and accountants could charge clients every 15 minutes, we as a business could follow suit.

In no time, this gentleman had acquired an army of women helpers and computers to handle all the data generated and he took over a whole wing of the Homestead. You got your sheet on Friday morning and you had to have it completed for collection on Friday afternoon, when it was processed. Presumably the Regional Accountant needed all this to justify to Head Office that we he was earning his pay.

At the end of any day, I could never remember who I had worked for every 15 mins! My phone never stopped ringing and my door was always open for staff to call in and discuss things. How could I work out who to charge for a three-minute phone call or a 10 minute chat?

So I just fudged the charge codes and put a bit on each, small enough not to trigger an inquiry. This was OK until the Regional Manager one day must have had a close look. I once attended a Facial Eczema meeting in the McMeekan Centre as the only MAFQual representative (by invitation), so I charged the four hours to Animal Health, for which the RM gave me a reprimand. He would not approve payment, as he (rightly I suppose) said we didn’t make any money from the disease, although we were the source of information for farmers about how to prevent it. It was rampant stupidity!

‘Change management’
Out of the mists of all this upheaval, we started to hear about another group that seemed to have hatched in Head Office - called ‘Change Management’. It was a mystery to us what they did other than change things, and as everyman and his dog seemed to be doing this, we couldn’t work out why did we need more of them in Head Office. This clearly was a group to keep away from, and thankfully none of them spread into the regional MAFQual office.

This certainly confirmed our suspicions that the business world and all their jargon would be the end of the way we could work for farmers. Change was going to be a permanent feature and the bureaucrats who had found a nice cosy nest in our midst - changing things, would make sure they had long-term employment.

Auditors
Strangers kept arriving in our midst who we were told were 'auditors' - accountants checking on accountants. It must have been a difficult job as they seemed to hang around the corridors for months on end like a bad smell, spending long hours in the regional accountant's office.

The Crown Research Institutes (CRIs)
Change was like a bush fire, and no doubt somebody in Treasury must have had a bright idea that research organisations should be able to attract and make money to save the taxpayer forking out for agricultural research.

So from this bad dream, the Crown Research Institutes (CRIs) were spawned, and in the case of Agriculture, 'The New Zealand Pastoral Agricultural Research Institute Ltd.' was the result set up in 1992. In 2000 this was changed to 'AgResearch Ltd.', and in true corporate style, they had a 'Mission Statement'. Many organisations also had ‘Statements of Corporate Intent’. I never knew the difference. Here’s AgResearch’s Mission Statement.

‘Our Mission is to help New Zealand lead the world in creating sustainable wealth in the pastoral sector through application of leading-edge knowledge and technologies. Our research, development and knowledge transfer is focused on five major areas - creating the future dairy, meat, textiles and biomaterials industries, helping achieve a pest and disease-free New Zealand and enabling capacity for change in agriculture and its future communities’.

Mission statements
What I always found interesting with mission statements, was how much of them could be remembered by the staff. I used to ask staff to quote their mission statement, and when this regularly failed, I used to ask if they could just quote any of the key words in it. Any who knew what I was talking about usually struggled, and you were lucky to get 4-5 words. They really needed a ‘slogan’ that they could remember and quote to their clients.

Research staff culling
Trying to get a research organisation like a SOE to make money for its shareholders (the taxpayers) never made sense. You rarely make money from research - if you understand the lag factor. Returns can be a long time in coming.

With any research organisation the biggest cost is salaries, so when the books are in the red, you cull staff - and AgResearch has certainly done that over the years with sometimes 40 going in one hit. Then with key staff gone, how can you do research, if and when some money appears?

This has been the worst advertisement in recent years for any young person to go into science in New Zealand. Needing two degrees ending up with a massive student loan and no guarantee of employment in either the short or long term, why would any young person be interested.

A recent AgResearch CEO used to use a lot of media space complaining about the lack of young people coming into science. The reason should have been staring him in the face, and especially when each bus load of staff of redundant staff went out the gate taking all their expertise and corporate memory with them.

DSIR
The other famous New Zealand research organisation, the Division of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) was morphed into ‘Environment & Science Research (ESR)’ and most of its former roles were amalgamated, and to the casual observer seemed to disappear.

Information flow
Information flow in my view died the day CRIs were set up, as from that point on, they were forced to get support from the commercial world as government funds tailed off, and the bureaucracy of applying for government money became more difficult. Scientists who had not left or been made redundant, were open in their criticism of having to spend up to 9 months of their year producing submissions for funds for the next few years to keep them going.

With AgResearch came embargos on what could be said and reported, when information could be released, and the worst part of all – what individual scientists could say to the media.

CRI Public Relations staff were haunted by any scientific or technical staff who became ‘media darlings’ and were popular for radio or TV interviews. They didn’t want to be outdone as it was boosting their image and not the company that seemed to rule their behaviour. Staff were muzzled from talking to anyone in the outside world – especially the media and farmers, if they had ever remembered who farmers were and could recognise them.

A young new Ruakura AgResearch scientist once phoned me to ask if I knew of any farmers who reared calves? She wanted to source some for her research. I felt real sorrow at how we could ever get to this stage of disconnect between researchers and farmers. I pleaded ignorance to save my pain, and told her to contact Federated Farmers who she had not heard of.

Directors of Corporate Communications (DCC)
These are the kiss of death to information flow in any organisation, and as a business or corporation grows, there seems be a death wish to appoint more of them. They immediately need assistants to give them more power, especially if the business is organised into regions. For example the AgResearch DCC is in Christchurch so to keep an eye on things on the Ruakura campus there is a 'Branding and Events Seniour Executive'. You have to wonder who dreams up all these fancy names!

I often ask newly-appointed staff in organisations bubbling with enthusiasm, if they have a DCC. If I hear an enthusiastic ‘Yes’, I tell them that they are stuffed as nothing of value to clients (farmers) will ever get out of their organisation! I am not joking as I see it so often.

Publicity is always much more about what’s going to happen (‘gunnas’), and not what has actually happened which is of use to farmers.

My reasons:

• DCCs think that they are the only ones who can write English, and anyone else’s words will not do. Most have come from the poorly-paid media jobs to a mega salary, and will not be dictated to my mere hacks!
• They rarely understand what a word limit is, and even when given one, their words are so important and perfect, that the publishers or editors limit shall be ignored and will be expected to print every word of their perfect prose.
• They do not understand that the media has a thing called a deadline, and it’s usually very short like 10am tomorrow. And after deadlines are passed, printing presses worth mega millions have to roll. They think that their meetings are much more important than a journalist on the phone asking if their copy has been approved.
• They cannot allow the staff to talk to the media, as their own importance and status will be threatened. In one classical case recently I was told that an old scientist mate who had talked to farmers for over 30 years could not speak on an issue as he had not had 'media training'.
  

Rock Star CEOs
The other thing that seems to have evolved with the CRIs (and other big corporates) is the culture of appointing CEOs who like to see themselves are ‘rock stars’ – demanding fat salaries, and most importantly of all – massive ‘parachute packages’ for when they bail out early from their contracts. And bail out they do – the average time in harness of a CEO is 18 months of 3-year contracts. How can the Boards of Directors who appointed them be glad to see them go so early – and then repeat the exercise over and over again?

What of the future?
I am not optimistic that agricultural research will ever recover, because in New Zealand governments have three-year terms, and it’s easy to switch off money for R&D especially in tough economic times, and not be blamed. So much momentum has been lost in applied agricultural research, and I cannot see any party with the political will to try to catch up the lost time.

AgResearch has sold off research farms, and those leased like Whatawhata would need $1.5million to tidy the place up and get it going again - probably more. The last time I walked with a group of ramblers around the farm road, the place was a neglected tip. The two staff cannot cope and in six years the CEO had been there once. I cannot bear to go back.

In any case, despite what the Treasury's books say about agriculture being the foundation of our economy, there are few politicians of any party who understand this. The current Prime Minister is also the Minister of Tourism so that doesn't help farming's political status. And the Minister of Agriculture is about 10th down the pecking order, which confirms the cabinet's political awareness about the farming and horticultural industry.

In the early 1990s an economist Dr Grant Scobie joined the staff at Ruakura and found that the return on investment in agricultural research was a massive 80%, but there was an average time lag of 10-12 years before it was fully implemented by the industry. So this again is a reason why politicians and bureaucrats can cut the money supply for research, and it never be noticed and them never blamed.

We had the age of ‘blue sky’ research bristling with high technology which was supposed to save the world. In my view it has not delivered at the farm level where farmers have to invest big to keep New Zealand moving ahead economically, in an ever-challenging world.

Sheep research & extension
This is my real major concern having been in the sheep research and extension business.

Once the world beat a path to New Zealand’s door to see how a sheep industry was run. We had the world’s top sheep academics in Ian Coop at Lincoln and Al Rae at Massey. We then had the independent MAF Research Division, the Farm Advisory Service and the Information Service. There must have been 20 of us boffins working on sheep at about 5 research stations, and some 30 Information print, radio and TV specialists in our Wellington head office.

We then had a small group of about 5 Farm specialist Advisory Officers (Animal Husbandry), who were supported by about 15 Sheep & Wool Officers and Sheep & Beef Officers. The latter were our ‘foot soldiers’ in every region, hands-on with farmers to get science into practice. There were also Farm Advisory officers in every region who dealt with farm business management issues.

Today – who? They’ve all gone to join the Dodo. This former great structure is history, killed under the heading of ‘progress’ when AgResearch was spawned. I keep asking where was AgResearch when hill country farmers were in their first crisis, never mind the subsequent ones? Nobody was home to set up a task force to package appropriate parts of the past two decades of sheep research, which could have been used to ease farmers' economic pain. For researchers to say there was no money for this is a cop-out.

So sad, and sadder still, is the fact that the whole neglect of our hill country (remember it's two thirds of New Zealand) will never be restored under the current CRI set up of research and the extension from it. It seems to me that there's nobody left who seems to know much about it any more; those who did have all gone.

The AgResearch gate sign at what was the MAF Whatawhata Hill Country Research Station summed it all up for me - total neglect of hill country farming and farmers. I'm glad to see somebody has cleaned it after my stirrings, but nothing else has changed. It's a national tragedy which I fear is now too late to rescue under the present political and CRI climate.

The Ministry of Science & Innovation
The evolution of this new bureaucracy is the latest development. I have little faith that much of their resources will reach hill country farmers. At the moment, nobody seems to know what it's going to do.

Comment - Professor Paul Callaghan, 2011 New Zealander of the Year
Reported in NZ Farmers Weekly, 25 April 2011 in column by Alan Emerson

• We are a country bending over backwards to promote tourism. The Prime Minister is also Minister of Tourism.
  
• Tourism is an industry for unskilled workers. This is not a route to prosperity.
• We have Agriculture at number 10 in the cabinet,` and Research, Science & Technology at number 13.
  
• We need to spend more in R&D. Israel spends 4% of GDP on it, USA 2.5%, Australia 1.6% and New Zealand 1%.

Further reading
'The triumph of the airheads and the retreat from commonsense'.
By Shelley Gare. 2006. Park Street Press. ISBN 1-876624-54-X

By Dr Clive Dalton

Launch
'Wormwise' was formed to come up with a 'National Strategy' to combat the rising resistance of internal parasites in sheep and cattle to the chemicals used in drenches to kill them. It's launch in 2006 was sponsored by Meat & Wool NZ, the NZ Veterinary Association, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Agcarm. It is still in business with the same objectives, but its work and promotion seems to have gone quiet.

Getting the message out


The Wormwise message was spread by farmer meetings, field days and a seasonal newsletter with Number 1 in May 2006, and the last one I have is Number 9 in September 2009. Wormwise also appointed a national manager (a veterinarian) to keep up the momentum and motivate farmers into action. There have now been two of these.

What's gone wrong?
There's now big concern that the 'national worm management strategy' may have run out of gas, while the problem certainly has not gone away. I believe the programme has done well to last this long, and the organisers should not be surprised at its current status if they looked at what happened to the many other national farming campaigns.

Campaign stages
In my MAF days I worked on many campaigns that went for a while then tailed off, no matter how much money or resources were thrown at them. There were always these well-recognised stages, listed in rough order of priority:

• Identify a problem. Report and publicise it as a 'crisis'.
  
• Brief the Minister to get political traction, and make sure he gets political kudos from it.
• Get boffins to push the campaign stressing that ‘this has got to be good for farmers’.
• Use panic to get the attention of farmers via the media who are always hungry for 'news', especially if it's new and generally bad.
  
• Keep the panic going to extract a budget from the bean counters, and keep complaining (through the media) that it’s never enough, and if you don't get more, an even greater disaster will hit the industry.
• Prepare an information ‘package’ and a ‘campaign’. Hire costly PR help, or build your own communications team with a ‘champion’ for the programme.
• Organise 'delivery of the programme' with publications, press releases, newsletters, videos, print and TV adverts, field days and seminars.
• Have media-trained 'experts' in your team available for interview at all times.
• Always have a press package available.
• Nowadays, set up a website - and forget to keep updating it or run out of ideas over what to put on it. Keep repeating the same old message.
  
• Keep informing the knowledgeable, and preaching to the converted.
  

Initial flush of success
Things go well for the first 18–24 months, and then they start to go flat. It’s like a slow puncture, which you try to ignore hoping it will stabilise, and you won’t have to buy a new tube or worse still a tyre.

Failing the basic marketing test
We boffins regularly failed the basic test of marketing - ‘to wear your clients’ boots’ and we forgot that farmers had a million other things to worry about as well as what we were pushing at them.
We remembered the boot's advice at the beginning, but forget to keep running the check as things tailed off to see what was changing. We failed to see things were changing all the time.

Blame the innocent
We also operated the great ‘Yes Minister’ advice from Sir Humphrey, of never taking the blame for failure, and always blame the electorate. In our case it was farmers who didn’t take up our brilliant ideas, didn’t come to field days and didn’t read our literature. They couldn't see what was good for them! It was their entire fault and never ours.

Looking back now, I’m not proud of the opportunities we botched through running around like headless chooks, and missing the obvious signs of where the wheels were getting loose.

Why Wormwise has done its time and should RIP:
Here's my thoughts:

• Killing the wool levy and the new drenches on the market are not the main reasons.
• The campaign always had too much veterinary input, and not enough farmer psychology.
  
• Farm owners (average age around 60) quickly got weary of being earbashed about the impending disaster, and their failure to act. Humans get sick of this after a while, especially when disaster doesn't arrive.
  
• The main Wormwise message to find out where your sheep were in terms of drench resistance seemed great, but unless farmers had big death rates, it was one of those things that could be left ‘till the first wet day’.
• Most farmers genuinely believed that they didn’t have a drench resistance problem - again as death rates were not high, and worms were not an obvious problem.
  
• When asked about the drenches used, most farmers said that their current drenches ‘seemed to be working OK’.
• Farmers accepted dagging and drenching, and then more dagging and drenching as normal routine. Things had to get very bad to get some veterinary involvement.
  
• Farmers realised that a full Faecal Egg Count Reduction Test (FECRT) took a lot of work, and cost a lot more than expected. Vets didn’t feature this - obviously.
• Many farmers simply didn’t want to know. It was like being told to have a health check. Farmers in the last 10 years have had other things to worry about like finding ways to stay viable and reduce work as staff became harder to find.
• Farmers can be easily convinced that their stock need a drench, and few base this on a FEC. If in doubt they drench, and at least they feel better afterwards and the dogs have enjoyed their run!
  
• Farmers are starting to understand the ‘Refugia’ concept of not drenching big healthy-looking individuals in a mob. They like it as it saves drench!
• The advertising for the new drenches reassured farmers that if they did have major problems with resistance, these products (which were expensive) would save them quickly.
• Repeating a known message soon gets boring as farmers know what it is, so ignore the repeats and switch off.
  

The future for worm resistance
Drenching based on ‘chemotherapy’ was never sustainable in the past, although we thought it was. It cannot be part of a future New Zealand which is clean and green, and a low-chemical animal protein export business. Evolution being what it is, the more drugs we hit parasites with, the more they will use genetics to get around their problem. We must use the same weapons.

Sadly the large international pharmaceutical companies who manufacture anthelmintic drenches don't see it this way in marketing their products. So large animal vets are in a quandary as they depend on drench sales for a large part of their income, while on the other hand trying to carry out the Wormwise principle of reducing the overall rate of anthelmintics.

The drench business is very competitive with few products being sold as 'vet only'. So this results in a massive adverting push in all the media, especially on TV during rugby events. The list of promotional giveaways used to be limited to domestic products and clothing, but now it has moved to electronic equipment.

Reduce chemotherapy


More and more chemotherapy is not the answer - genetics is, but this message has problems as it is mentioned, almost as a last resort in the Wormwise programme. New Zealand trained veterinarians are not strong on genetics, and in any case, using genetics doesn't earn them much money, other than from Faecal Egg Counts which farmers can do themselves now.

Plenty of evidence that genetics is working
We now know that sheep can be bred that can handle worms, to cut the costs of dagging and drenching (in that order). It’s simply a repeat of how sheep breeders fixed Facial Eczema using the survival of the fittest, and with modern technology, progress could be very much quicker.

There are now plenty of breeders who have been working away unrecognised for years, and now have a genetic solution. This is measured in many ways but the simplest one is how few drenches they need to give to their lambs and hoggets. Their mature ewes have never been drenched for years.

Change when profits decline more
Sadly genetics won’t get traction unless sheep profits decline further, and farmers realise how much they are spending on animal health (mainly drench). Also that farm labour dries up as young folk realise there's an easier way to make a living than hauling around today's 80-100kg ewes to take dung off their rear ends.

It's not worth Wormwise getting upset at farmers' complacency over the national strategy. Somebody needs to talk to farmers and get their views about how they want to manage internal parasites, and not fall into the age old trap of boffins preaching that 'this has got to be good for them'.

And it would be a good idea to get more lectures on animal breeding and genetics into vet training.

By Dr Clive Dalton

Today's urgent need
In today’s world, getting a message across in a clear and concise way has never been so important, yet there seem to be a lot of people and organisations, who despite their good intentions, have developed a culture of making communication difficult.

Where did problems come from?
How this has grown, and where it came from is debatable, but the United States of America has got to be high on the guilty list. I well remember the moon mission when the man on the moon was told to put some rocks in a box. The box had about half a dozen descriptors!

The cult seems to based on the aim of ‘never using one word when more will do’, and the more ‘high fallutin’ you can make your words, the better you will sound – and that’s the read danger. It’s all about YOU the deliverer, and not about the receiver of the message.

This verbal creeping cancer seems to have started in the corporate and political world, and is where it keeps growing. It’s very infectious, spreading to many other areas including the media.

The sound byte
This is the age of the 'sound byte'. You cannot have a silence and space has to be filled with some sort of sound or picture filler. Failure to respond quickly because you are thinking will get you into immediate trouble, as either the listener will panic thinking something has gone wrong with the technology, or someone else will leap in to fill the space.

You have to learn to speak without thinking, and this is where buzzwords are useful.

The common use of ‘you know’ or ‘er’ are classical fillers to allow time for thinking, but they soon become irritants, unlike buzzwords which listeners take as valued information without knowing they are crap!

Here's what you do

Choose an opening
You need a beginning so start off a sentence like this:
‘Mr Chairman, My Lords. Ladies and Gentlemen, Honorable Members, Mr Minister, Members of the Board, Fellow Trustees, etc, etc - thank you most sincerely for the invitation to speak to you. I would like to say right at the start, or before I go any further-----‘.

Start buzzwording
Then you let go, taking a buzzword at random from each of the columns set out below, and keep doing this in rotation across the three columns.

Also go up and down the columns at random to select a word before diving into the second and third column. Build up a frenzy, and every now and then reach a crescendo ending up with a specially favourite word in column three!

With experience you'll be able to see ahead which word you'll need and keep special ones for the highlights of your speech.

Use linkages:
For links, when you need to add continuity, use such things as:

• Clearly - (when things are certainly not clear).
• There is no doubt - (when there is considerable doubt).
• At this point in time - (when "now" sounds too simple).
• The fact is - (when there is no such thing as a "fact" anywhere in sight).
• Any reasonable person would agree that -(when they would not).
• You know, as well as I do (when you know he/she does not).
• Notwithstanding - (when you know you have lost).
• Hitherto – (a useless filler for any occasion).
• Notwithstanding.
• Without doubt - when there is considerable doubt.
  

Basic buzzword list

Integrated	Management	Options
Total	Organizational	Flexibility
Systemized	Monitored	Capacity
Parallel	Reciprocal	Mobility
Functional	Digital	Programming
Responsible	Logical	Concept
Optical	Transitional	Time phase
Synchronised	Incremental	Projection
Compatable	Third-generation	Hardware
Balanced	Policy	Contingency
Ongoing	Modular	Interface
Synergy	Consumer-driven	Scenario
Utilised	Down-sized	Signal
Bottom –line	Dysfunctional	Deception
Pivotal	Dissemination	Niche
Market oriented	Differentiated	Down-side
Post	Structural	Time
Neo	Feminine	Perspective
New	Holistic	Body

Advanced buzzword list
If you find the above list restrictive in any way, here is another list which you may find more useful, especially for "planning" and "management" discussions.

Centrally	Motivated	Grass-roots	Involvement
Rationally	Positive	Sectoral	Incentive
Systematically	Structured	Institutional	Participation
Formally	Controlled	Urban	Attack
Totally	Integrated	Organisational	Process
Strategically	Balanced	Rural	Package
Dynamically	Functional	Growth-orientated	Dialogue
Democratically	Programmed	Development	Initiative
Situationally	Mobilised	Co-operative	Scheme
Moderately	Limited	On-going	Approach
Intensively	Phased	Technical	Project
Comprehensively	Deligated	Leaderhip	Action
Radically	Maximised	Agrarian	Collaboration
Optimally	Consistent	Planning	Objective

Grab new words
After a while you'll find that you can start to make up new buzz words, and that's a vital sign that you have all the qualities for very senior management.

Grab new jargon
Here are some fashionable jargon words in current use, but be careful as they age rapidly, and it's not good for your image to be using worn-out versions.

Great power comes from inventing new ones, and using them with the attitude that everyone should know what they mean. You never need to explain them as your listeners will be too scared to ask and so exposing their ignorance. So try these:

• As you all know - when you know they don't.
• Get up to speed with.
• Hook into.
• Identify a niche.
• Look for a window of opportunity.
• Examine the scenario.
• Take on board.
• Indicate where you're coming from.
• Signal intentions.
• Revisit issues.
• Run a few things past you.
• Touch base.
• Put a few things in place.
• Walk you through the main points.
• Flag a few things on the way through.
• Scene set.
• Share with you.
• Look at the trend line.
• Check the bottom line.
• Bring into sharper focus.
• Check where we are on the learning curve.
• Bracket some of the issues.
• To see if they can live with.
• See if you are comfortable with.
• Check the transparency.
• When things come on-stream.
• Examine the down-stream effects.
• Get a handle on.
• Study the whole raft of options.
• What I hear you saying - when your ears are closed.
• I hear what you are saying - when you violently disagree.
• Do some down-sizing and up-skilling.
• Going forward.
  

Fresh crop
Collected by Des Williams 
Community Relations/Media 
NZ Department of Conservation from a 2011 talk by Canadian Brian Freeman, an expert on "shared services.

• New learnings. 

• New architectures of government.
  
• 
Map the process. 

• Multi-channel access.
  
• 
Silo that piece of business. 

• Spin the terminal aspect.
• 
Fishboning. 

• Rapid return of benefit.
  
• 
You can't make the donuts and change the donuts at the same time.
  
• 
Use that square-footage for other things.
• 
Channel change is happening.
• 
Nail one of the tyres to the table.
• 
On the other side of the pond.
  

Body Language
Never forget how powerful and important this is to go with your buzzwords. It’s all about the way you stand, the way you lean, the way you take your spectacles on and off, the finger gestures, the ‘knowing’ look, the wry grin, and the very serious face when you are saying something outrageously funny, then the smirk when you deliver devastating news to show that you have things under control.

Turn your head to look to both sides of the hall as if you had a slightly stiff neck. If wearing a suit is appropriate, insert you hand in the side pockets with your thumbs outside pointing forwards. Don’t overdo this – a little now and then.

The lectern
Always try to have a lectern and use all the tricks of the trade here. Grasp it with both hands at regular intervals; thump it on occasions with the finger not the fist as you’ll blow the microphone. Lean back from it, then lean forward as you reach a mini crescendo!

If there is no lectern, use this opportunity to move around for impact (if you have a mobile microphone). Move slowly into the audience as you speak, walk with bearing. They’ll be terrified, especially if you build a few questions into your speech. They’ll think that they are your next target! (Watch Billy Connolly!)

Eyeball everybody in the room, don’t just stick to one poor sucker. Do this as you prowl, they’ll not dare look away from your constant search for the inattentive.

The microphone
Remember the microphone is a powerful weapon to sell your message. Use volume for impact but you can speak very quietly too for impact. Use it to drown out the heckler when you know your comments will cause unrest.

As a speaker, remember YOU have the power. Never waste a moment of it. Drive home the initiative, go for the jugular, administer the final “coup de grace”, do it with panache!

The clock
The biggest sin of all time is to over-run you allotted time. Few people can do this, and it gets worse with age. So get someone to give you a signal when to wind up – and wind up even if you have not finished. The audience wont’ know that, and they’ll be thrilled that it’s over!

A good chairman will warn you of the time, but many are too nice and let you run on. They should never be asked to chair a meeting again, as it causes all sorts of problems later in the day – especially for the cooks!

HM Royal Navy
But above all, never forget the basic philosophy of Her Majesty's Royal Navy during 1939-45. It was the secret weapon that Hitler never cracked. It was that:

"Bullshit Baffles Brains Me Lads!"

By Dr Deric Charlton


The pinfold or village pound is better known on Tyneside as the 'poond' or the 'pundfald'. The one in Ryton village has been well cared for for probably 200 years or more, and you can see from my photo taken in 2005, that some cement has helped keep the dry-walling stones and the coping stone in place and secure from rockery lovers.

The term 'Pinfold' is of Saxon origin and they appeared in Medieval Britain to impound stray livestock which strayed from farms and from common grazings. Stock found grazing on commons illegally were taken off and impounded. A fine or 'mulct' had to be paid for their release.

There would be few other places in Northumberland or Durham where the village pound is still in such good order, and is a feature of the village.

By Dr Clive Dalton
(Photos by Des Williams)

Shearing a sheep using hand shears.
A blade shearing method.

There are may methods used around the world to shear a sheep using hand shears or blades.

The method shown below is used in the north of England and in Scotland. In parts of Wales the sheep have three legs tied together, and are shorn on a long stool with the shearer sitting on one end.

In New Zealand Merino sheep in the high country are still blade shorn when shorn in winter or pre-lambing to leave more wool on them to protect them from cold weather. To achieve the same result with a shearing machine, combs (called 'snow combs) are used with deeper teeth.

Step 1
Sit the sheep on its rear end in a comfortable position . Keep your toes well in below the sheep with its body leaning against your legs. The sheep will initially slump into a concave position.



Step 2
Take hold of the sheep's ear in your left hand (right handed shearer) and start shearing down the side of it's face, around the back of the head past the mid line, and shear the wool down towards the brisket to open the fleece out.

Step 3
Start shearing down along the back of the neck and keep coming around to the front leg. Notice in the picture how the sheep is now pushed out away from the shearer with the knees.


Step 4
Lift up the front leg and shear along it. Then holding the front leg, continue shearing down the side.


Step 5.
Continue shearing starting near the backbone and then come right around to include the belly.
Go as far across the belly as you can. In males watch out for the sheep's prepuce, and in rams their penis which may protrude with the pressure on the belly.



Step 6
In females, take care not to cut the udder or teats. In young females (hoggets) put your fingers over the small teats to protect them when shearing near them towards the bottom of the belly.




Step 7
Now the job gets easier as you can lay the sheep down. This is especially useful with very large sheep such as rams.

Note that the sheep is kept down, and is lying very comfortably, by kneeling on the neck wool, which is unshorn on the other side of the sheep.

Then you can concentrate on shearing along the length of the sheep, making sure you first shear well over the shoulders, and then along the back.

Note my left hand being used to steady the sheep if she starts to kick. Press down and she'll soon lie quietly.


Step 8
Now change from kneeling on the neck wool to putting your knee right across the sheep's neck. The sheep now cannot move, and allows you to easily reach the rear end of the sheep.


Step 9
In this position, resting on your right knee and with your left foot in the sheep's crutch, it's easy to shear around the tail and the crutch.


Step 10
Now you need to shear as far over the tail as you can reach, as this is where the sheep is going to sit when you sit her up to do the last side. First loosen the wool so it's standing upright and easy to cut. If the sheep is lying on that bit of wool, it's hard to shear with the blades.

To raise the sheep up, pull it over by some skin around its tail dock. This is much easier with UK hill sheep which have long tails - and which have to be shorn by going down one side and up the other.



Step 11
You now want to get the sheep from lying on its side to sitting on its read end again - like when you started. There's a tricky move (shown in the picture) by grabbing a front leg to pull it up from where you ended - but just get it back up as easy as you can.


Step 12
Here you can see I am back on one knee with the sheep held by the nose and its head resting on my other knee. Then start shearing from the brisket up to the nose to start the last side.



Step 13
Continue to open up the neck and down to other front leg.


Step 14
You can keep on shearing while kneeling, but it's much easier to lay the sheep down and hold it there with your knee over its neck. You can then shear from the rear end (which you shore when you did the first side), right up to the neck.




Step 15
Preparing the fleece. Lay the wool out for 'skirting' which is where you remove the belly wool and all the stained and coloured pieces around the edge, short bits of wool and any wool with raddle or plant contamination. The aim is to keep the main 'body wool' with similar length staples in one lot to be marketed.





Step 16
Rolling up the fleece. There's no need to do this in New Zealand but it's used in UK, and is a handy trick to carry a single fleece. Lay the fleece out and fold in both sides. In UK the hill breeds are wrapped with the skin side in, and lowland breeds are folded with the skin side out.

Once the sides are folded in - start rolling the fleece from the tail end. If confused over which end is which after the wool is off - look for the neck wood which is usually shorter and finer.


Step 17
When you get near the neck, start pulling some wool and twisting it into a band.


Step 18
You end up with the fleece wrapped up for easy carrying without it falling apart. In New Zealand, fleeces are put loose into the fadge.

By Dr Clive Dalton


Docking lambs' tails
Removing lambs' tails has been a standard part of sheep husbandry from early times, mainly to prevent the formation of soiled wool or 'dags' sticking to the wool of sheep eating lush pasture. Removing soiled wool or dagging has always been one of the least popular jobs on a sheep farm.

Hill and mountain sheep in Britain for example, and sheep in dry desert areas do not need docking, as their normal diet is made up of dry herbage which does not produce soft faeces which then stick to the wool around the britch.

The other important reason for not docking hill and mountain sheep breeds in cold climates is that the tail protects the udder and rear end and is a said to be a source of fat which the sheep can use in times of poor nutrition.

It is done for these reasons:

• First to prevent blowflies laying their eggs among the dung and the maggots hatching out and eating into the sheep's flesh. In the worst cases flyblown sheep can die very quickly.
• Lambs sucking daggy ewes get dung on their heads and this makes them prone to blowfly attack.
  
• To prevent the soiled wool from contaminating the clean wool of the sheep with green dung stain which then costs money to scour out.
• The NZ Shearer's Union requires all sheep put up for shearing to have been dagged. This is to prevent shearers picking up bacterial diseases such as campylobacter and salmonella from the dung.
• For cosmetic reasons - there's nothing worse than looking at a flock of sheep with rear ends caked with dags.

Consumer concerns
An ever increasing number of people these days think food comes from supermarkets. They have no reason to believe anything else, as they are totally ignorant of what goes on in the production end of the agricultural or horticulture industry.

But they are concerned about animal welfare issues, which they learn about via television - usually when there is a crisis which has good media attraction. The docking of lambs' tails is one of those issues, highlighted by an inquiry I had from a researcher at a major UK supermarket chain, about the tails of New Zealand lambs being too short and causing concern.

NZ Code of Welfare:

Fortunately in New Zealand we’re well covered in the new Animal Welfare (Painful Husbandry Procedures) Code of Welfare 2005 as part of the Animal Welfare Act 1999. Here’s some key points from it.

Minimum Standard No. 4 – Tail docking of sheep

(a) Tail docking of sheep must only be undertaken where there is significant risk of faecal and urine contamination, and/or flystrike, that leads to poor hygiene, health and welfare and/or failing to do so adds a significant cost to the system.

(b) While complying with Minimum Standard 2(a), tail docking without pain relief must be performed when sheep are as young as possible, and not greater than six months of age.

(c).When tail docking a sheep over the age of six months, pain relief must be used.

Minimum Standard 2a says that:

‘Painful procedures must not be performed on newborn animals less than 12 hours old where handling, pain and post-operative complications are likely to compromise survival through impairing maternal bonding and/or colostrum intake.’

Minimum Standards will stand up in a court of law but the Codes also have ‘Recommended Best Practice’ which do not have the legal power of a Minimum Standard.But they are meant to be followed as part of ‘Best Practice’.

Recommended Minimum Standard

For tail docking of lambs, the Recommended Minimum Standard says that ‘when sheep are tail docked, their tails (excluding any wool) should be left long enough to cover the vulva in females and at a similar length in males.’

Why Kiwis dock too short?

If you have ever been in a docking gang on a big farm, you know why.When lambs are coming at you at great speed, you have to hit the right spot on the tail with the hot cauterising iron or the ring pliers without delay. You are not allowed much time to decide which is the correct spot. The greater concern is that you may leave the tail too long, (which will upset shearers later on), rather than dock the lamb too short.

Consumers's concerns must be recognised

But from now on ‘getting it right’ has become an important priority from what folk are thinking and clearly dictating as they push their trolleys around the supermarkets of the world.

It’s no good us thinking shoppers don’t know anything about sheep farming. They don’t. But this is no reason to ignore the messages about buying lamb they are sending via the supermarket checkout.

Stud breeders

These in my view are the worst offenders at docking too short, as it seems that a very short dock, or none at all does a better job of showing off a ram’s meaty rear end.

Damage caused by short docking

Short docking damages the tissues around the anus and can affect the sheep’s ability to defaecate properly hence causing more dags. A lambs tail needs to be long enough to wag!

Lamb tail docks
In your photos you can clearly see the caudal folds with ligaments that run alongside the anus and under the rectum, so when the tail is lifted the rectum is lifted and poo (even runny poo) is directed away from the body. Short tails can't do that and the poo slitters down the back end.

What is the correct length?

By Dr Clive Dalton

Castrating lambs with rubber rings
Using rubber rings is the best way to castrate lambs in both large and small flocks. It is bloodless and research has shown that the intense pain only lasts a short time. Lambs should be castrated using rings before they are 6 weeks old - the younger the better.

The main concern is to make sure the ring is placed in the correct position, so the ram will become a proper wether.

If the testicles are missed, then the lamb will be a 'cryptorchid' where one or both testicles can be felt under the skin along the belly, or squeezed back up into the body cavity. These sheep are usually infertile, but there is always the risk of an odd animal being an effective ram.

Cryptorchids grow faster than wethers due to the testosterone produced by the testicles.

Objective
The procedure must be done so that the scrotum, along with both testicles, is captured when the ring is released. The ring must be above scrotum and testicles, and below the rudimentary teats.

Method

1. Get an assistant to catch the lamb and sit it on its rear end on a board or rail at standing height.



2. Grab the end of the scrotum and pull it through the open ring.



3. With the ring fully open and resting on the lamb's body, use your fingers and thumb to locate the testicles and press down to squeeze them through the ring. Hold them there and release the ring.


4. Before flicking the pliers off the ring, make sure there are two testicles now in the scrotum.


5. Double check - testicles in - teats out!