NOTES FOR GRAZIER AND DEALER.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13879, 2 November 1910, Page 6

NOTES FOR GRAZIER AND DEALER.

j ("Weekly Press and Referee.") The frenzied rush in Vienna for Australian and Argentine frozen meat augurs well for the future prospects of a new market on the Continent. Only a few weeks ago it was stated that there was no likelihood of Austria adniittin'_r frozen meat, but the trial consignments havo met with a reception that could not have been anticipated. It can only Ik> a matter of time when other Continental countries will take, frozen meat, and tho advertisement that the Viennese have themselves given the first consignments will do more than anything else to assist tho movement. The London correspondent of tho "Pastoralists' Review" writes:—On August 26th I visited .Swift's Central Market .stalk to havo a look at the beef from the -show' steers which tho La Plata works purchased at such high prices. The enormous direct loss upon the transaction is noted -when one .stares that animals costing £1000 a head sold, as beef, at the market pricecf the day for best chilled lieef—3d to -Id nor lb fores, and Od to 7d hinds. It is stated that the total "loss" runs into over £20,000, but, of course, it is not a loss, and whatever tho "Joes" was, it was good business! The beef I saw was magnificent—as good as any beef ever received from North America, but it was Christmas beef, not August. The only criticism to n.ake was that it w:ik tco'good, too fat. Messrs Swift inform mc that "the general opinion on the market, and of people who visited Smithfield and saw this beef, was that it was the finest quality beef ever ship]>ed to Smithfield. This would also apply to tbe condition, which was perfect." .I'notod this myself. The meat was "cherry-ribbed"—an indication of youth, two and a-half year old beef. Hut from the butcher's point of view it . was too fat and wasteful. "But the exhibition of these quarters will do a lot of good to -South America," said a salesman to mc, "as showing what Argentina can produce in the way of fat cattle of high quality." Tlie "Review of the River Plate" announces that "sellers have suddenly" increased their ideas of value, and boldly ask 150 dollar.'} for what a few weeks ago they would gladly havo taken 120 dollars." No wonder 1 The same writer states in referenoe to tho first shipment of frozen beef from Venezuela, that it consisted of "121 quarters, weighing 400 tone, and it was despatched to Liverpool, where it arrived on August 23rd. An unfortunate accident—the bursting of a boiler—took placo at the works on July 23rd, and owing to this the beef got partly thawed on being taken lo ship. New boilers aro now on tho way, and the factory will be in 'working order by Christmas. Tlio capacity of tho -works for storing is 1000 tons of meat, and 1000 tons can be shipped every ten weeks. A quantity of tbe beef just arrived had to be condemned owing to unsoundness, caused as above. The part put on the northern markets is making 2d to 2}d ]>er lb for sides, and had the beef arrived -undamaged, there is no doubt that it would have made a fair price. This venture is worth looking into closely, representing an enterprise- undertaken by experts, likely to result eventually in success. At tho annual sale of rams at Kelso, a number of Border Leicesters wore bought for New Zealand. Air Itoss secured a Leaston ram at £100, Mr Muir a Polworth ram at £35, and. aJnofher from the same flock was purchased at £70 for Mr I>. Archibald, Cheviot. Mr Sutherland took ono from the S-andyknowe flock at £-10. The highest price -at the sales 'for a 15order Leicester ra,m was £160. paid by the, Hon. A. J. Balfour tor a -Sandyknowo ram, and this flock made the highest average—£29 15s 2d —for 2-5 rams. The highest price for aLeaston ram was £105, for a Galalow ram £100, and for a Congalton ram ; £12-5. j The wool-selling season is now in ! full swing, writes "Ranco" in tho j "Sydney Mail." The present basis--1 of values is a highly remunerative one. Truo, the American demand is this year entirely absent, and it is, therefore, unlikely that last year's ■sensational highest figures will bo reached. Still, super wools have sold »n to Hid, and possibly thero will bo tsd in the market for choice lines later on equal to, say, 16d in London, v hich is a very remunerative price. Large numbers of lines are selling at uuwards of 12d per lb, which figures will yield handsome returns, and whilst* a largo number of burry and dusty wools do not make last year's prices by pence per lb, the difference j is accounted for by the large quantity | rf burr and extraneous matter, a'-nd I tho net return to the owner for his I whole clip will be little short of last ! year. As to the permanence of pre* i sent prices, opinions differ. Trade ' conditions abroad continue to justify j them, but no doubt buyers will try to j •bear" the market later on when ! their immediate requirements are sat- j 1 is tied, and the stores aro crammed - with wool. A critical time is ahead, hut careful cataloguing should save I the situation. j It is reported that a company has been formed in England to raise Asiatic buffalo on Melville Island, off the Northern Territory, Australia. Thero .ire now between 15,000 and 20,000 ot : these animals there. There are about "J-1,000 hxies exported from there annually. All along the North of Australia there are mobs of buffalo to be found in the swamps which fringe tho coastline. They were introduced there fully 100 years ago by a colonising expedition which failed." Lor cunning the Lonks are tin- , rivalled, says U. H. T>ixon in his essay [on "Mountain Breeds of Sheep." They . i are. in fact, always working ior themselves with a zeal and saga"city which rr.qkes them very bad neighbours. Mr.al. farmers buy the wethers from the moor by twenty or thirty at a time, and if thero be one better acre [ than another in a parish, be it gar- i don or churchyard, the strangers soon i : make themselves tenants at will. I ' He nee it is necessary to "hopple"' ! ' them in springtime. On the hills they I run tt:i walls like a cat, when' they ' < cannot "off and mi,' 1 but a i ' wire fence sft high is too much for I ' them. The Lonk is believed to have I i

come originally from the hill ranges of •; Yorkshire and Lancashire. j The extent to which Victoria ha.s be- ; come a country of small flocks of sheep :is shown by the latest official returns. There arc 'nearly l.'?,(»00.OC0 sheep in the State, or oxactlv 1_,1'»37, ( J83. and oniv 1,081,000 of the.s-? arc held m flocks of over 20.000 head, 0,1)00.000 are in flocks of less than 2001. and about 1,800,000 in flocks between 2001 and 5000, tho rest being in flocks ot between 500 and 20.000. The fact that thero aro 18,589 flocks of less than 500 each, totalling 2,014,051 sheep, shows to what extent sheep-keeping i.s being carried out upon farms of moderate eize. An American sheep farmer, writing to an agriculturist with reference to feeding tobacco to sheep, says:— "Trainloads of tobacco are now being ■ fed to sheep and lambs, it'.s no longer 'Will tobacco prevent, or cure stomach . worms, and is it t-afc to feed it?' Let the educators and the experimentalists say what they will, the tobacco treatment is "doing the work' all over the land. Tobacco, either in the proprietary medicines and foods, or fed alone with salt, is saving hundreds of thou- . sandri ol lambs, and that means the fsal- , vution of thousands of iloekmen, who , had almost given no in despair their , light aiiain.it the stomach and intcsti- . nai pesits. Don't he afraid of tobacco, i Feed it three times a week. Give it to , your horses and colts, and your hogs, ii they are wormy or out, of condition, you will note a radical change in three weeks." , ' Dr. Pellegrini, in tiie Argentine , Chamber of Deputies, recently introi ducod a motion proposing that a minute should be sent to the Executive Govorn- - mont expressing the wish of the Chamber that negotiations with European countries for obtaining the opening of their ports to Argentine live Ktoek •should be renewed. This, however, . would bo futile under present circuin- , stances, lie, however, quoted figures ' showing that Argentina is quite indejKiident of tbe live stock export traf- , lie. The value of the live stock cxportied had not in any year exceeded 9,500,000 dollars, gold, he said, while that of chilled and frozen meat had . been over 33,000,000 dollars. Tho average value of sheep in Canada is 24s Od, as against 21s Od in 1908 , They aro above tho average in the • North-west provinces. British Columbia, and Ontario, and below the average in Quebec and the maritime provinces. From the general trend of remarks by correspondents it wouid teem that the sheep breeding industry i.s decreasing in consequence of tho ravages by dogs in the eastern provinces and by wolves in the western. "Pedigree sells and pedigree tells," . says the "North British Agriculturist." , referring to „ recent sale of pedigree Shorthorns. "If you have any Augustas, Golden Hoses, or Mysics * in your herd, you arc in luck. They are worth their weight in gold—comparatively speaking. At any rate, they are enjoying a boom just now such as the D-uehosses had in the 'seventies' cf last century. At the Moor Hall, a white AtigtLst-a cow, tempted Mr Wylie Hill of Balthayock into paying 250gs for her andl2ogs for her red roan heifer calf. Tho same buyer took another Augusta at _00gs, and still another yearling at 2_ogis. The top price of the sale was 320ys, paid by Captain Behrens for Golden Mary, a five-year-old cow of tho Golden Hose strain. Mr Duthie, Collynio, picked up a five-year-old Mysic at 200gs, and her white calf went to Balthayock at 80<is. Captain Gordon, of Conibscauseway, snapped up j an eight-year-old Lilac for 140" S." ' I