LIGHT WEIGHT LAMBS

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25365, 12 December 1947, Page 9

LIGHT WEIGHT LAMBS

BEASON GIVEN FOR EXTRA PREMIUM

The position seemed anomalous, said Mr R. G. Gerard, M.P., at the fat lamb contest at the Fairfield freezing works yesterday, when asking Mr G. H. Grigg to explain to the farmers - why an extra premium had been allowed on lightweight lambs this season when there was a call for more production for Britain. Mr Grigg said the request for the increase came from the North Island, where the bulk of lambs were fattened off the grass. There was great congestion in some of the freezing works, made worse in districts by the 40-hour week and prospects of a record killing of about 12,400,000 lambs this year. The congestion would be especially great in the dry season. When investigating the increased schedule of prices for this season it had been necessary to take into consideration increased costs and the taking off of the fertiliser subsidy. A flat increase on all meat of |d per lb had been made. It had been said that the increase dio not meet all costs, Mr Grigg continued but with sales of wool being free, that commodity had to stand its own increase. In discussions concerning the new price schedule for meat it had been made quite clear that the Meat Producers’ Board did not agree with the lifting of the subsidy on lime, this being a transport and a price subsidy. _ “The next we knew was that "the Minister of Agriculture and the dairy conference announced the abolition of the lime subsidy, and we had no alternative but to go to the Stabilisation Commission saying that we wanted an increased subsidy for the meat schedule to replace the lime subsidy,” said Mr Grigg. In assessing what this allowance should be, the Meat Board came to the conclusion that 70 per cent, of lime was used in the sheep industry, 20 per cent, by the dairy industry, and 10 per cent, for cropping. The subsidy on lime this year would have amounted to £325,000, and on the basis of the meat industry’s share being 70 per cent:, it would be entitled to £240,000 An increase of Ad per lb on all lambs would amount to £200,000, while an increase of gd per Jb on lambs, 361 b and under, would amount to £240,000. These were the only alternatives, and taking into consideration the congestion difficulty and the amount of money available, the board had decided on the gd increase on lambs under 361 b, said Mr Grigg. It had been said that the increase in light-weight lambs did not encourage the production of more meat for Britain, continued Mr Grigg. The average weight of lambs was dependent upon the season and not on the price. In the North Island, if the lambs were exported earlier it would leave more grass to fatten store lambs, and this would mean the later iambs would be better. One of the ways to increase meat production was to have fewer second grade lambs. About 25 per cent, of the lambs that went away each year were second grade. The problem had to be looked at from a national point of view, said Mr Grigg. From a purely Canterbury point of view the board had probably done the wrong thing. It was practically certain that the lime subsidy would come back again in a slightly different form, the subsidy being on both rail and road transport, he added. .