EXPORT MEAT

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 247, 26 July 1940, Page 7

EXPORT MEAT

RECORD PRODUCTION FOR YEAR OVER 10,000,000 LAMBS. Bu a substantial margin. New Zealand, in the season just closing, established a record in the quantity of meat killed for export. The kill of lambs exceeded 10,000,(190, and the production of mutton and beef were both records. In reviewing the season, the annual report of the New Zealand Meat Producers’ Board draws attention to the decrease in the Dominion’s flocks, which has occurred in the period in which the record was established.

“The sheep flocks in the Dominion as at : April 30, 1939, totalled 31,897,091, a reduction of 481,683 on the previous year’s record total of 32,378,774,” the report states. “The number of breeding ewes at April ’3O, 1939, stood at the record figure of 19,960,299, representing 62.6 per cent, of flic total flocks, the highest percentage yet reached. The lambing percentage over the whole Dominion was estimated at 85.26 per cent., or a yield of 17,017,395 lambs.

“The effect of the record kill this season, so far as mutton and lamb is concerned, is reflected in the flock returns at April 30, 1940. The official interim figures just to hand show that the total flocks at that date are now estimated at 31,050,850, a decrease of 846,241. The breeding ewes at the same date are officially estimated at 19.676,458, a decrease of 283,841. This occurred wholly in the South Island, where the estimated decrease is 314,000. In the North Island there is an estimated increase of 30,000, which brings the net decrease to approximately 284,000. Fresh Records. “Last season’s record kill has been exceeded by this season’s production, and a fresh record has been established in' 1 beef, mutton and lamb. The total weight of meat of all classes killed for export at all works during the current season to June 1 was 11,726,844 freight carcases, representing an increase oyer the previous season’s killings! to May 31, 1939 (tho nearest comparable date) of 1,649,922 freight carcases. This improved production represents an increase of 16 per cent. Lambs killed this season total 10,001,149 (North Island 5,180,004, South Island 4,821,085), an increase of 746,048, to which the North Island contributed 634)526 and the South Island 111,522. If an increased kill of, say, 650,000 carcases is maintained to the end of the season, the percentage of export killings to tailings for the 1939-40 season will he 61 per cent., the highest figure yet recorded. “A very substantial increase is also shown in the mutton group, the wether killings this season having been 1,274,287 carcases, and ewes 1,841,895. Compared with the corresponding period of the previous season, wether killings have decreased by 141,000, but the killings of ewes for export have increased by 715,000, making a net improvement this season of 574,000 carcases.

“This season’s killings •of beef in quarters, total 510,493 (North Island 503,358, South Island 7135), compared with 331,598 quarters for last season, representing the large increase of 54 per cent., or 179,000 quarters. “In the original war purchase agreement, the British Government stipulated that 75 per cent, of the total weight of pork shipped should be in the 1011 b to 1801 b range viz., baconer weights. However, in April, the United Kingdom Ministry iof Food agreed to the removal of this restriction on the percentage of porkers to baconers, though its existence for a substantial part of the< season resulted in the porkier killings to June 1 being 98,069 carcases only, as compared with 345,155 for the corresponding period of last season. Farmers have carried their pigs to baconer weights, with the result that killings of this type are 131,761 carcases ahead of thosei for the previous season. The result is that although in numbers, tho killings of porkers and baconers together have dropped by 115,000 (534,383 last season, and 419,058 this season) the current season’s production in actual weight is now equal to that of last year.”