By Dr Clive Dalton Early arrivals in NZ On 22 May 1773, Captain James Cook dropped off a couple of Merino sheep in Sheep’s Cove in the Marlborough Sounds. He had picked them up during his stopover at the Cape of Good Hope, and had great hopes for them in their new home. But they … Read more
Dr Clive Dalton Breeds Saanan milking goats on rotary milking platform Milking dairy goats: Sannan Toggenburg British Alpine Anglo Nubian Fibre goats: Angora Cashmere Cashgora Feral goats Meat goats: Feral goats Angora male goat kids Feral goats mustered from the wild and farmed for their fibre and meat Beard: The hair which grows below the … Read more
Cattle, farming, husbandry, breeds, breeding, methods, stud breeding, performance recording, using records, crossbreeding, inbreeding, linebreeding, interbreeding, grading up, future developments in breeding By Dr Clive Dalton Who to believe?If you believed what some enthusiasts say about their particular breed of cattle, and the promotional advertising and literature produced by breed organisations, then you’d have to … Read more
By Dr Clive Dalton What’s a breed? The definition of a breed is often rather vague. All you can say is that it’s a group of animals with a common origin, that generally look similar. It’s really not very important to folk who want animals simply for their function – and that includes most shepherds … Read more