NOTES BY THE WAY

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22908, 3 January 1940, Page 5

NOTES BY THE WAY

NORTHERN SHEEP MIGRATION

The annual trek of Poverty Bay sheep to the dairying districts of the Waikato will commence this week. Although it is unlikely that the movement this season will reach the dimensions of the peak seasons of some years ago, it is certain that there will be an increase on the numbers in recent seasons. In one year (1936-37) no fewer than 355,000 sheep were dispatched from Poverty Bay .and the East Coast, all but a small proportion, which were railed south: going to the Waikato. One small lot of two-tooth ewes and wethers were put on the road before Christmas, but from now on mobs will be bigger and dispatches more continuous. Road, rail (where' available) and shipping methods will be employed. One lot of 2500 is to leave by boat for Tauranga, from where they will be railed to buyers in the Waikato or to the various saleyards as tar south as Taumarunui. From the peak year of 1936-37 the number sent away fell to 218.878 the following year,and to 164,327 last year. A Gisborne writer stated last week that buying for forward delivery has been proceeding steadily over the last six or seven weeks, and agents report handling larger numbers. Last year forward buying did not commence until a week or so before Christmas. A steady market has been maintained since the commencement of buying and, as prices for wool and export fat stock are fixed at present, little variation is expected. Twotooth ewes have been selling from 25s to 265.

WINTERING OF EWES

A booklet published by the Southland Frozen Meat Company contains an article on the feeding of ewes, which has a general application. The article states that in Southland, drainage, liming, the liberal use of fertilisers, and more particularly top-dressing of pas- . tures have resulted in the growth of wonderfully rich grass as compared with the pastures of. say, 20 years ago, resulting in more and better carrying capacity, until the business of growing fat lambs has Peen revolutionised. Heavy drafts of milk lambs are sent off in December and January, whije many farmers finish off the balance of their crop of lambs or grass paddocks without requiring to grow rape, kale, or turnips for that purpose. It is therefore clear that for eight months of year, from September to April (continues the article), ewes are fed on a much higher plane of nutrition than was the case formerly, but for the winter months from May to August the main feed, continues to consist of turnips, etc., and from various causes the quality of our turnip crops is not so good as in previous years. Thus there is a serious decline in the plane of nutrition in the winter months —much more serious than when the grass paddocks were of poorer quality and the turnip crops of better quality—and because of this drop in nutrition ■many successful flock- owners are experiencing heavier losses than formerly. In a recent publication dealing with the feeding of ewes, it was shown that losses were fewer when the sheep were indifferently fed during the summer and autumn and “boosted up” two months prior to lambing than in the case of ewes much better done by in summer and autumn which fell away before lambing. , _ , . It is an accepted fact that ewe flocks should be maintained on a high level of feeding when in lamb and most particularly for that period of six weeks before lambing, when the foetus is making maximum growth. It can now be realised that unless special care is taken ewes will suffer, ante partum paralysis may occur, the ewes will have insufficient strength to recover from lambing and be deficient in milk supply. It is not sufficiently recognised that in-lamb ewes require an extra supply of protein food; protein grows wool, hair, lean flesh and muscle, and no amount of carbohydrates or starchy foods can take its place in a 'food ration.

“ AUSTRALIAN DAIRYING

The figures of the Dominion dairying decline for the last year, published on this page, make disquieting reading in view of the big advances made in some of the Australian states. The production of butter in Australian factories for the first four : months of t/e season—to October 31—was 1,288,995 cwt, against 1,141,505cwt. in the corresponding four months of the preceding year, and 980,900cwt in 1937. Production leaped ahead in Victoria, the state which has developed the dairying side of production more than the others; For the four months under review in 1939 Victoria produced 532,607cwt, against 379,999cwt in the similar period last year. Exports'from all the states aggregated 661,594cwt for the four months, compared with 535,733cwt for the same period of 1938.