LAND STOCK & CROPS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 51, Issue 134, 19 March 1931, Page 3

LAND STOCK & CROPS

NOTES AND COMMENTS. (By “The Tramp.”) Alangels are excellent feed for cattle, provided l they have been ripened properly-; frequently they ripen unevenly/, and in consequence only the ripest. should be selected when carting ■out, leaving the greener roots to mature further before feeding. In feeding out mangels to cows it is also advisable to cut up! the smaller roots, as cattle are apt to swallow a small one whole and get choked. The cutting is best done after the roots have been carted to the field and scattered over the ground. Young cattle may also be supplied with a few mangels each day, but at first it is best to cut them with a spade until they' got accustomed 1 to them, after which they will break them readily themselves. The striking success that Flock House, situated in the Manawatu, has been in the. training of British boys and girls in farm work, was shown b.v the information recently given in an address of Air T. R. Rees, I.lie manager of Flock House. Over 700 boys and girls while being trained to earn their living on farms were also trained to become good and useful citizens and were encouraged to be thrifts*!. After eight months’ training they' were apprenticed out to work, the period of apprenticeship: being three years, and the trustees insisted upon twothirds of their wages being put aside uutil they' became twenty-one years of age. To illustrate what had been achieved in this connection. Air Lees stated that just over titff> boys and girls hadi in the bank to their credit a sum totalling £22,000, or total assets estimated to amount to. £35.(X)0. He questioned whether there were GCO New Zealand-born youths of between sixteen and twenty-one years of age could show such evidence el practical thrift.

In an interesting monthly' circular issued by Alessrs Gibson Brothers, Ltd, Buenos Aires, occurs the following:— In classic idylls it is always the shepherd and not the herdsman or tbe ploughman, who makes verses and sings threnodies. One must indeed be something of a poet to shepherd a flock through all the vicissitudes of its husbandry, witnessing the new-born lambs perish in the inclement blast of the wintry gales, or taking its golden fleece to a cold and lifeless market. It was not without reason- that an old Australian shepherd, writing liis memoirs.of the sheep industry in that country, .-chose tor the title oi his book, “The Romance of the Wool Trade.” The cycles in which the wool market goes to pieces occur with/alm.ost rhythmic regularity:. Without- going back to dates so remote that the facts may -be called in question, one recalls that in the season of 1899 and 1909 wool prices dropped from 12 dollars and 15 dollars to 1 three dollars and even loss. The Jute cloth covering the bale was worth more per lb than its contents. Again, in the season 1907 and 1908, wool dropped from .12 dollars and 14 dollars to less than seven dollars. After the Great War we witnessed in the' season- 1920 and 1921, prices dropping from 29 dollars and .25 dollars to five dollars. Once more, and at the present time, wool which was selling two years ago at 15 dollars and 18 dollars is worth now between 5.59 dollars and 7.59 dollars. Each time a depression in the trade such as the foregoing takes place. The voice ol the defeatist is heard in the land. The prosperity' of the sheep industry has passed away for evermore. There is a world’s plethora- of wool. Production has outsped all possible demand. A\ 00l fabrics have permanently gone put ol fashion. There is nothing for it but to liquidate one’s flocks. So runs the lament of the inexpert, but the old shepherd who makes verses and sings threnodies doesn't liquidate; lie buys his neighbour’s sheep.

Previous to December sheep farmers hoped that the very unsatisfactory position caused by the low price of wool would bo alleviated to some extent by a reasonable price lor fat iambs, i nfortunately this hope has not been realised, as the freezing price lias been lowered to iivepenee, or even less per pound ; and one naturally wonders whether such a low price in New Zealand is justified by market conditions in Britain. A southern writer received a letter from a friend in Yorkshire, who is a very prominent farmer, and in referring to the general farming position in England lie state's:— “I have sold just half of my fat lambs and the last 49 averaged 65 - each. T hey wore sold by: weight- at Is 2d per pound. All the latest are left, and some ol them will weigh 90!b. They are irom- a Masham ewe by a Suflolk ram. The Alasliani ewe is a. cross between the black - faced mountain owe and the Wensloydale ram. Prices will no doubt have fallen a little since mv friend sold bis lambs, but the great difference between British and New Zealand prices is unaltered. English .lambs sold wholesale' at Is 2d per lb would be retailed at prices varying between is 6d' and 2s 6d per lb., according to quality and cut. At the present moment the New Zealand freezing price is only 5a., although the meat is acknowledged to he- of excellent quality. AY by is there such a difference in the wholesale.prices and why are the British customers willing to nay more than double lor the price for fresh-killed than they are for the best quality New Zealand frozen? Are the New Zealand sheepfarmers making any special elicit to thoroughly inquire into and improve H eir frozen lamb marketing system m Britain ? T here is quite evidently- a good deal of 'money going mto the pockets of frozen lamb wholesalers and retailers in Britain, that should be goiim into the pockets oi New Zealand sheep-fanners. Another matter the New Zealand sheepfarmers might mouire into is the reason for the difference between the freezing price ol a 351 b and a 45!b lamb. Js there any difference in price when they are retailed in Britain? A!y Yorkshire larmor friend in referring to this pniticular matter states that there is it •difference in price, as long as the quality is good, and points out Lie lad that he is selling lambs weighing ii -m 50ib to 901 b at'more than double the price pew lb received by the New Zealand farmer for the best quality, J-'db lambs Yes a screw is loose somewhere and it will pav to spend some money h, searching for it. One wonders wlial New Zealand freezing companies won d offer for lambs weighing between oUlb and 9Ulb at the present time, although it is acknowledged that the ircozmg companies are making little profit, meantime.