Banks, Macarthurs and Merinos

Despite their widespread distribution the sheep is not an indigenous animal to Australia. A good guess that they were brought over from England with the First Fleet. Perhaps not so easy to guess or well known is Sir Joseph Banks’ involvement with the Merino sheep industry. It must also be said that his blunt assessment in 1803 of the potential for high quality wool production from Australia was not good. He said that he had “..no reason to believe from any facts that have come to my knowledge, either when I was in that country or since, that the climate and soil of New South Wales is at all better for the production of fine wools, than that of any other temperate climates and am confident that the natural growth of grass in that country is tall, coarse, reedy and very different from the short and sweet mountain grass of Europe upon which sheep thrive to the greatest advantage”. How wrong he was!

The Merino is a very economically influential sheep breed and regarded as having the finest of all wools. Sheep were introduced into North Africa from Asia Minor by the Phoenicians and then into the Iberian Peninsula in the 12th century. Over the next two hundred years genetic material was introduced from other parts of Europe, notably England. Spain built up a fine wool monopoly between the 12th and 16th centuries selling the wool to the Flemish and English wool mills.

Before the 18th century the export of live sheep from Spain was a crime punishable by death so important was the sheep industry. In 1723 some were exported to Sweden and more in 1765 to Saxony to the King of Spain’s cousin. Louis XVI received 366 Merino sheep in 1786 and they founded a stud at Rambouillet. Marie Antoinette used to tie ribbons around their necks and walk them at Versailles believing she was no different to the ordinary French people as she did. This and the cake comment explain why the French people revolted in 1789.

Sir Joseph Banks was President of the Royal Society and a large Lincolnshire landowner producing wool from his Wiltshire sheep. He also campaigned passionately to allow English wool producers to export their wool overseas and not be forced to sell to the domestic woolen mills and worsted makers’ cartels at lower prices. King George III asked Banks to oversee the improvement of the Royal Flock with a cross breeding programme and the overall goal of improving the British wool industry which yielded a staggering profit of £13.9 million in 1782. Banks obtained the first Merinos in 1785 and crossed them with Southdowns, Herefords and Norfolk breeds. By 1791 the King’s Flock stood at over 200 mostly with Merinos that had been smuggled out through Portugal. The Napoleonic Wars (1793-1810) almost completely destroyed the Spanish Merino industry with many flocks killed or dispersed. The first Merinos to arrive in Australia were from the Royal Spanish bloodline via Cape Town in 1797. They were sold to Captain John Macarthur upon their arrival in Sydney.

John and Elizabeth Macarthur arrived in Sydney with the second fleet ships Neptune and Scarborough in 1790. John was granted 100 acres of land near Parramatta and as a reward for improving it (with convict labour) he received another 100 acres. The farm was named Elizabeth Farm. The Macarthurs did not cross breed their Merinos but kept their stock as pure breds. By 1803 they had over 4000 Merinos (about 10% of all sheep in Australia at that time) and a strong bloodline. In 1805 Macarthur establish a new farm, Camden Park, and brought over some Merinos from the King’s Flock that Joseph Banks had been breeding. Macarthur later imported some Saxony Merinos in 1812 and in 1820 it is recorded that he sold 39 rams for £510-16s-5d. In 1830 there were 2 million sheep in Australia.

Elizabeth and John Macarthur were the founders of the Australian sheep industry and there are over 110 million sheep here today. Sir Joseph Banks was very wrong about the future of sheep in New South Wales but thankfully he did establish and improve the King’s Merino Flock. Who knows, some of Daramalan’s Border Leicester rams may mate with Royal Merinos next year!!

Seed saving cents...

Saving your own seed makes great sense. Not only is it effectively free but you are also replanting seed from plants that have, presumably, done well in your garden’s climate and conditions. You can share the seed with neighbours and friends and sow the seed a little more liberally than if it had cost you $3.50 a pack at the local nursery.

We have had great second generation broccoli this year from last year’s crop. Brassicas are rich in glucosinolates that are naturally occurring ant-cancer compounds. The DPI in Victoria have just released a Booster Broccoli variety that has double the amount of antioxidants compared to other varieties. It will retail in supermarkets for a premium price. It is a great initiative but I guess the DPI have researched what a lot of us already knew - the darker the vegetable the better it is for us. We will stick to our home grown broccoli. Who knows, maybe we'll get its antioxidant level tested too?

To collect our seed we let the flower heads and the seedpods dry on the plant and then cut them off and stored in a paper bag in a dark, cool place. After a few weeks we separated the seeds from the dried pods and stored the seed in airtight containers in the fridge until it was time to sow.

The one group who don’t want you to save seeds is the multinational seed company group. The 1987 Plant Varieties Act and the 1994 Plant Breeder’s Rights Act allow the seed companies to hold patents on their (genetically) modified seeds. The seed companies are, surprise, surprise, also the agric-chemical manufacturers. In 2002 the six largest companies sold 70% of globally used agric-chemicals and controlled 30% of the global seed industry. As I said in May this year I am not anti multinational but the serious problem with pesticide-laden seed is that much of the chemical gets leached into our rivers and groundwater.

The other problem with many of the current wheat cultivars is that they are so genetically narrow if they were allowed to self set there would be very little crop in the following year. Modern cultivars are designed to be sown only once, almost a disposable crop. Australian farmers are not meant to save seed from commercially grown crops but there has never been a successful conviction in any case brought against a producer here unlike in Canada.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation passed a genetic resources treaty in 2004 that acknowledged the necessity of preserving genetic diversity and the availability of that diversity to local indigenous producers. Ironic then, isn’t it, that in the country where wheat was first domesticated as a crop, Iraq, it is now illegal for farmers to save seed? Instead they must buy their wheat seed from an American multinational agric-chemical company. Now that is democracy in action….

...of droughts and flooding rains.

We have had some unusually heavy frosts and strong winds recently, which are sucking moisture out of the soil. There is still good pasture so no feed worries as the lambs arrive (165 as at last week from 128 ewes which gives a lambing percentage at birth of a cracking 130%). Not worried about rainfall yet but as most of Australia lies within the globe’s arid belt where rainfall is low and unpredictable the weather is always on our minds. Between 1864 and 2002 Australia suffered from 14 major droughts and in one of the worst in 1895 to 1903 the sheep population halved to 53 million head.

The single most important influence on Australian rainfall is the El Nino Southern Oscillation phenomenon (ENSO). El Nino and its opposite twin La Nina are anomalous warming and cooling, respectively, of the ocean water masses that result in changes in atmospheric circulation patterns with a subsequent effect ion rainfall amounts and distribution. The Southern Oscillation Index, shown to July this year above, is generally negative during El Nino events and positive in La Nina floods.

If an El Nino event is to develop it normally starts between March and May signaled by a falling SOI, usually to about -10. Parts of eastern Australia then begin to experience lower than average seasonal rainfall in autumn and late winter. As high pressure systems build into early spring there are fewer low pressure systems able to deliver rain and late in the calendar year the drought intensifies through summer. The effect normally breaks down in March, the SOI rises sharply and there is heavy rainfall often causing serious flooding.

Because ENSO events persist they can be predicted some months ahead. So we are watching the SOI carefully on the Bureau of Meteorology site and keeping our fingers crossed that we get some spring rains to get us through the summer.

As ewe are going to be...

We had hinted at this before but now it is a reality. There will be a change in direction at the farm next year and it is going to be a fabulous success. We will be known as Daramalan Border Leicester Stud having bought 170 stud ewes, average age 2 years, and the best 45 flock ewes from the Sylvia Vale stud in Binda. Sadly the owners are retiring after a very successful 35 years as a Border Leicester stud. We will take delivery of the ewes and their lambs, 80 so far and counting, in December and then select two stud rams from probably Ariah Park or New Zealand to complete the operation.

Much more challenging and much more rewarding for all concerned. It also allows a joint venture with a local Poll Dorset stud so that we will be supplying the best rams of each breed that we can for many years to come.

So, why choose the Border Leicester breed? Well, firstly because the opportunity to take over a successful stud’s existing flock does not come around too often and secondly, because it makes better commercial and financial sense. The Border Leicester-Merino first cross ewe progeny is the basis of the Australian prime lamb industry. To date we have been finishing first cross ewes and then selling on to other producers who will use a Poll Dorset, for example, terminal sire to produce lambs for meat. Our aim will be to produce the highest quality Border Leicester rams that other sheep producers, particularly those with Merino flocks, will utilize as sires in production of first cross ewes.

It is essential to start with the best ewes and stud rams, one per one hundred ewes, you can afford. The subsequent lambs of both sexes are obviously important. The rams because they will be the sires of the first cross ewes, the backbone of the prime lamb industry and the ewes because the best will be kept for the stud and the balance held for about nine months and then sent to Southern Meats.

So what makes a good Border Leicester sheep? We still have much to learn but as a starting point they should have a straight, good length back evenly covered with flesh that is firm to touch, wide shoulders with plenty of ‘heart room’, clean cut face with strong jaw and the classic Roman nose, legs and feet set squarely under the body with evenly balanced appearance, full and gentle eyes and a uniform 34-38 micron, long staple fleece. Their carriage should be even and symmetrical with a free and noble appearance and an alert and almost majestic character. Wow!!

Originally a British breed they are now found all over the world. A Leicestershire farmer, Robert Bakewell is credited with the improvement of the Leicester sheep in the 1750s. Today there are three types of Leicesters, the Dishley (Bakewell’s improved breed), the Blueface or Hexham and the Border.

The English is the largest of the Leicester breeds and has a long, heavy fleece. The Blueface and Border Leicester are of similar size and both have the Roman nose and erect ears but fleece on the Blueface typically somewhat finer shorter in length and weight than that of the Border Leicester.
The Border Leicester breed was founded in 1767 by George & Matthew Culley in Northumberland, England. They were friends of Bakewell and had access to his improved Leicesters. The Culley brothers developed the Border Leicester by crossing Bakewell's improved Leicester rams with Teeswater ewes and by introducing some Cheviot bloodlines. The breed was firmly established in England by 1850 and then exported to the rest of the world.
We are in for a very exciting and successful partnership with our Border Leicesters and are really looking forward to the challenges ahead. More news soon.
Ciao!!

The way we were....

The Australian landscape has been irrevocably change, some would say damaged, by over 200 years of agricultural practices. The indigenous Aborigines were not crop or livestock cultivators and lived off the land and with enormous respect for their natural world. Modern Australian agriculture is now closely linked with the fragility of our natural resources and though the Murray Darling may take decades to recover at least we are taking protective and restorative measures. In the past policies were reactive as mainly European farmers tested the limits of the land and their own innovations.

The first settlers cultivated the land by hand, well not their hands so much as the availability of cheap (free) convict labour. This was the case into the 1820s and though ploughs may have been introduced in 1797 they were horse drawn until well into the 1930s. The land was heavily timbered and had to be cleared before heavy ploughs broke the ground. Typically 1.6ha of land could be prepared a week. In 1876 a South Australian, Richard Bruyer Smith, invented the stump jump plough with a hinged mouldboard and share such that they rose over any obstructions in the ground.

Seed was sown by broadcasting and then covered using a harrow until about 1910 which seems extraordinary given Jethro Tull had invented a seed drill in 1701. The first Australian designed and made seed drill dates from 1895 and a Quirindi farmer made a combined seed and fertiliser drill in 1917.

Early farming systems were shifting as trees were cleared, burned and the land cultivated. When yields fell the farmer moved on to repeat the process on virgin forest. Really quite primitive and as late as 1826 in NSW one writer called NSW farmers ‘slothful and negligent’ in comparison to the ‘persevering industry and intelligence’ of their British counterparts. The agricultural practices meant marginal land had to be cropped as ‘good’ land became infertile and that yields fell until about 1900 when superphosphate and new varieties coupled with better fallowing and crop rotation practices kicked in.

In some ways not much has changed in the last 80 years of Australian farming systems and machinery. It has only been in the last 20 years that land resource management and planning have become essential to protect those resources and maintain productivity. Soil erosion and drought have been major mind concentrators. While Daramalan’s 70 acres of Graza oats are not on anyone’s radar we at least direct drilled to protect the soil structure and rotate our crops and sheep regularly. Next step may well be a permaculture/organic approach.

More on sheep, the real story of Goulburn, soon...