Report on a Small Experimental Shipment of Fat Lambs to London

Abstract

The view that a greater measure of diversification could with advantage be introduced into farming practice in Kenya is one which has been steadily gaining adherents during recent years. Mixed farming offers greater financial security whenever a sharp decline in the value of any of the basic agricultural products is liable to occur, and robs such losses of their crippling effect. Moreover, the introduction of stock to arable farms, which up to date have been operated on the one-crop system, cannot long be delayed if the fertility of the soil is to be saved. Hardly any small flocks of sheep are employed on mixed farms in Kenya, and the Report of the Meat and Live Stock Committee draws attention to this unusual state of affairs in para. 11, page 6:—" The Committee observes that up to the present little or no use has been made of small flocks of sheep in mixed-farming operations. Here also the reason is to be found in the incapacity of the local market to absorb even the present production of fat wethers from the woolled flocks, which naturally discourages any effort on the part of farmers to breed mutton sheep or lambs." It is suggested that for the mixed farmer in the more fertile areas the most profitable method of running a small flock of sheep is to keep them for fat-lamb production. Draft Merino or Romney Marsh ewes are available in considerable numbers from the large flocks, and for the farmer who wishes to embark on the new venture with as small an outlay as possible these draft or culled ewes under a suitable cross will provide lambs fit for freezing