The Press THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 1937. Australian Lamb Production

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22050, 25 March 1937, Page 14

The Press THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 1937. Australian Lamb Production

The significance of the cablegram from London, printed this morning, which records the satisfaction of Smithfield buyers with lamb from New South Wales, should not be lost on the farmers of New Zealand. The lambs were entries in a competition, and according to the message, their quality indicated that Australia has made great strides in meeting the requirements of the British market. The best were considered to be equal to the best from New Zealand. It is particularly significant that New South Wales, which has not been in the past regarded as a potential producer of high quality export lambs, should have received such praise from so critical a group of judges. Other states, notably Victoria, have been successful in establishing themselves on the Smithfield market with a reputation hardly less good than that of New Zealand. Since the depression, when wool was at a price that did not allow growers to make expenses, Australians have been turning with energy to the fat lamb trade which suffered in the bad times comparatively much less than did wool; and that they are prepared to pay to establish the trade is proved by the very heavy exports of suitable breeds of sheep from New Zealand. In the last five years, abbut 7000 sheep have gone from the Dominion to Australia. Most of them are of long-woolled breeds, and the majority have been sheep of the best quality and consequently high price. The development of the lamb trade in Australia is not likely to displace New Zealand produce from its favoured position, unless New Zealand farmers become careless and allow quality to slip. Australian exports, however, are subject to wide fluctuations in quantity according to seasonal conditions, which in all states are most uncertain. Heavy pitchings of Australian lamb on Smithfield must obviously embarrass prices in a market which is becoming increasingly heavily supplied. It is notable that in the last 12 months, when wool prices have been decidedly attractive, Australian purchases of New Zealand sheep for meat raising have shown no signs of falling off. It is probable that some form of regulation of supplies to the markets of Great Britain will be undertaken when the Empire Meat Council begins to function, and will be made to include Australia and New Zealand more or less as a unit. In the meantime, however, the increasing concentration of Australian farmers on the production of lamb can be nothing but a disturbance to a market in which New Zealand is vitally interested.'