Gordie McMaster likes to see a merino with a kind face. It's one way he can tell if it is worth keeping or not. He is a sheep classer, a rare breed in NZ, and comes across from NSW each year to look over the merino flocks of his 30 clients in the North and South islands. On his advice, the farmers make decisions on what sheep to cull or breed from, on how to better care for them, on what pastures to put them on and on how to market their wool reports the Dom Post. He is Australia's most well-known classer and his 55 years of service were recognised in the New Year honours with the Medal of the Order of Australia. In the stockyards at Brian Thompson's farm near Wanganui, he explains what determines a merino worth keeping. As Mr Thompson's son Kerry holds a ram firmly by the horns, Mr McMaster strokes its nose. "Feel that," he says. "It has a soft, kind face - as soft as silk. That tells me the wool will be perfect. The eyes are big and dark and that points to a good temperament." He next looks at what he calls the wool "surface", the outer tips of the fleece. They should be well nourished with natural lanolin and should have tips that spread wide - like a cauliflower, he says. The sheep should also be well structured and his glance takes in the feet, the top line of the back, the depth of the body and the width of the hindquarters. If the sheep measures up he then takes up to a minute to make a fuller inspection, concentrating mainly on the wool that is the merino's most valuable asset. At the yards, Mr McMaster is about to get to work. He is adamant his form of classifying sheep by eye and touch is not a dying art. He thinks selecting heavily on estimated breeding values - the records of measured growth rates and other technical points - should be discouraged as they produce extremes, not a particular type. He believes merinos should be bred also for their meat as well as their wool. Asked if he thinks sheep classers should be used for the more common NZ meat breeds he replies firmly: "Of course. The NZ cocky is proud to the point of stupidity. Many of them dictate the sheep to the country rather than let the country dictate to them what sheep would be best. Someone like me could sort that out pretty quickly."
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