FARMING IN MANAWATU.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 285, 2 December 1925, Page 20

FARMING IN MANAWATU.

I LAM feS NOT DOING WELL; In the Manawatu district farmers are feeling the* effects of the present backward season. A local sheepfarmer, interviewed by the "Standard" on Saturday, said that compared with other years, the grazing was very shor . "The lambs," he continued, "are not doing well at all, and, in fact, are not nearly up to standard. I will go so. far as to say that I don't think I have ever seen the lambs in this district look so poorly for this time of the year. Dairy cattle, too, are showing the eifects of the bad season, but nevertheless we are better off than a good many other districts. "If we had a deal of rain from now onwards tho white clover would come.away i and pastures would be in much better . heart. Sheep require fresh, short feed and . do not thrive nearly so well on the lon°- , dry stuff. The snap's of cpld weather, and . especially the cold nijrhts, have se.ved 1 materially to check the growth of the I lambs. , "There has been little or no advanced r selling of lambs, for which freezing t works prices will probably be about 9d a per lb, while mutton will, of course be p correspondingly lower. Last year we got , 1/ per lb for iambs and about Sid for . mutton whereas this season the latter c will probably realise about s}d. Still the 0 market for sheep has been good up to v the present, and only recently I 60 ld shorn ewes for 30/. 3 "Cattle, which have been commanding 3 good prices, have eased somewhat but . are still selling better than was the case 3 last year, although export values will be , a good deal below local market standards." r . _____