THE WEEK

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25537, 3 July 1948, Page 5

THE WEEK

JO WOOL STOCKS Mr G. A. Duncan gave a most encouraging picture of the position of JO wool stocks in his review this week. In effect, nearly two seasons’ production from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa has been ! cleared since JO began to operate, beside three current clips. Stocks which were originally equivalent to about two and a half seasons’ clips ' from the three countries have been 1 reduced to less than one season’s nor- ■ mal production. The relative posi- I tion of New Zealand stock wool has not been as good as that of other 1 countries. The total JO stock pile ! has been reduced by 68 per cent. South ! African and Australian stocks have ! been reduced by 71 per cent., but : New Zealand stocks have been re- ' duced by only 54 per cent. This in- j dicates the strength of the demand in i the last three years for fine wools, ■ and justifies the decision of the direc- ? tors of JO in fixing the new season’s , floor prices to leave wools of under ; 50’s counts where they were last i season, and to raise the limit lor fine ' wools. A substantial amount of cross- ; bred was sold in New Zealand in the 1937-38 selling season at very little i above the JO floor price, but JO, in ! maintaining the floor price for crossbred?, exhibits an encouraging faith in the future of the market, at least for the coming season. EXPORT LAMB JUDGING The comments of the London judges of the District Competition lambs this year were, as usual, given in detail for individual pens. Eastern Southland Pen No. 19 was placed first in the South Island individual pens, and was one of the very l few London placings to agree with the New Zealand placings. Tne judges described the exhibit as ‘‘Three superb lambs conforming to the standard desired for the London trade. No criticism of this pen. A credit to the exhibitor.” Second place went to Southland. and third to Mid-Canterbury Pen 155. This the judges described as "Three very good lambs of fair make and shape. Very good butcher’s meat. A splendid exhibit.” The London judges placed first in the district place judging a pen placed eighth at Belfast, exhibited by A. P. Chamberlain (Burnham). The judges remarked that they were “Three excellent lambs of good make and shape. Very good butcher’s meat. A splendid exhibit.” The pen placed second was one exhibited by R. T. Lambie (Leeston), which was placed sixth at Belfast. R. T. Lambie’s was second last year also. The judges’ comment was, “Three very good lambs. Faulted for first place because all three carried slightly too much fat on the dock.” The pen placed third was one placed third at Belfast also, and shown by R. B. Shellock (Te Pirita). Of these the judges said. “Three good lambs of good make and shape, but two carried excess fat on docks.” The judges’ remarks on lambs placed in New .Zealand but unplaced in London concerned a pen from H. G. Chamberlain '(Leeston). which was placed first here, and one from Lincoln College, placed second here. Of the first pen the judges said. “In two instances the fat on the shoulders was excessive, but still a very eood exhibit.” Of the Lincoln College pen they remarked. “Three very good lambs, but pen faulted as one slightly wasteful on the back.”

PLOUGHING NOVELTIES

Upwards of 5000 visitors turne.. out last Saturday to the Papakaio Ploughing Match Association’s annual events on the property of Mr A. C. Hurst. Beside the normal events, several novelties were introduced, and attracted much interest. One event was the preparation of a seed bed on lea land by means of some instrument other than a plough, and entries included such implements as the rotary hoe. hustler, stiff tine cultivator and bush and bog harrows. It is proposed to sow down the cultivated land with chou moellier, and compare the results obtained. Land turned over by various forms of ploughing will also be marked and results compared. Another novel and practical competition was ploughing, discing and harrowing with all coupling of implements done by the entrant without assistance, and time required counting heavily in assessing points. A competition for the bulk distribution of lime was also held.

LAMB GRADING

Mr I. L. M. Coop writes:—

For “Fattener’s” information the price paid in New Zealand currency by England for South Island lamb is: 23/361b. 11.2532 d; 37/421b. 11.0304 d. Seconds. 23/361b, 10.4734 d; 37/421b, 9.8048 d. In this matter the Meat Board were placed in a difficult position. First the manure and lime subsidies were taken off, and the price of lamb had to be increased to compensate farmers. Superphosphate rose from approximately £4 to £lO a ton, and free railage on lime was discontinued. These were not Government subsidies—they came out of the meat stabilisation account. On top of this the North Island farmers wanted a substantial premium placed on lightweight lambs, with the object of getting farmers to kill earlier, because in the North Island they have not sufficient works to handle the kill at the peak period, and they thought by this method they would spread the kill. The South Island representatives were opposed to this policy, and still are. The result of all these factors was that second quality in the South Island is down by lid per lb. I feel confident that the position will be rectified next year. The chairman and manager of the Meat Board are at present in England negotiating a new contract with the Imperial Government. Mr Hinton, of the British Food Mission, said that if the eye of the meat was one inch he wanted l-Bth of fat. if it was 2in he wanted a J, and it is interesting to note that most of our show lambs were put out because they were wasteful—too much fat on the dock.

The Americans are eating a lot of lambs, but as Mr Perry, who recently returned from there, pointed out, our firsts carried too much fat for their trade, and if we wanted to do business witn them we would have to ship them seconds. All this goes to show that our second quality lamb in many cases is preferred to our first quality. One does not hear of the English butcher charging less for seconds than he does for firsts.

PENICILLIN FOR MASTITIS

Supplies of penicillin have become plentiful enough to justify the Department of Agriculture in organising a series of demonstrations on its use in treating mastitis in dairy cows. In recent years .sulfanilamide has been used with success against mastitis, but penicillin is a far more effective substance. It has the great advantage of being easy to administer to cows, which can be treated quite simply by dairy farmers themselves. Veterinarians of the department will demonstrate its use at the saleyards at Rangiora on Tuesday. July 6. at Addington on July 7. at Leeston on July 9, at Oxford on July 15, and at Duvauchelle on August 6.

IRRIGATION AND WATER LEVELS

R. D. Robinson (Ashburton) writes: —Would Mr Collins, of D.5.1.R., Timaru, be so good as to give results of water level observation in Kyle’s pit during this dry autumn, comoared with same of 12 months ago? I feel this would be of interest to many of your readers, in view of the possible effects of irrigation on the Levels scheme this year, as against last year, when little water was used.