RECORD SHEEP KILL

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28926, 20 June 1959, Page 12

RECORD SHEEP KILL

Season Nearing End A record export lamb and sheep killing season in Canterbury is now drawing to a close. Export killing will finish at the Canterbury Frozen Meat Company’s Fairfield works on Tuesday and at other works in the province either later in the mouth or early in July.

Up until last Saturday killings of lambs and sheep in Canterbury were placed at about 5.25 m which is almost 1.25 m greater than at this stage last year. On top of the record lambing in the province last spring, the drought season, which resulted in heavier culling of ewes and some killing of capital stock, has contributed to the phenomenal tallies and there is a feeling in freezing industry circles that these figures will not be repeated for a year or two at least. However. Mr R. D. Iles, general manager of the Canterbury Frozen Meat Company, whofce three Canterbury works have achieved a record total kill, said yesterday he believed that when in three or four years’ time stock numbers had been built up again this year’s killings would be equalled and bettered again.

At June 13, the Belfast, Fairfield and Pareora works of the Canterbury Frozen Meat Company had handled 2.308,000 lambs and sheep, comprising 1,889,000 lambs and 420,000 sheep, which was slightly more than 500,000 in excess of last season’s kill when a total of 1.611,000 lambs and 188.000 sheep was handled in the whole of the season. The biggest previous over-all kill for the three works was in 1956. when the total was 1,891,000.

Both the Pareora works, which this week passed the million carcase mark for the season, and the Fairfield works which has handled more than 750,000, have had the greatest kills in their history. The best previous performance at Pareora was 844,000 in 1956 and at Fairfield 569,000 last season. At the company’s Belfast works the tally so far is about 560,000. Here the greatest kill to date was 593.000 in 1897 before the industry was so highly competitive in North Canterbury. Lighter Lambs

Figures given this week show that lambs killed at the these works this season have averaged 31.211 b which is a little more than 2Mb lighter than last season. In the South Island up to May 16 the average for lamb killings was 31.381 b, slightly more than 21b below last season’s average.

At other ' works record kills have also been recorded. At. the North Canterbury Farmers’ Freezing Company’s one-chain works at Kaiapoi the kill is reported to be about 525,000 and while the chain is now operating on a reduced basis, stock is still coming to hand at a rate which may mean that killing' will go on until about July 8 or 10. At still another , works killings were reported as the “best ever.”

A feature of the killing season in Canterbury on this occasion has been the interchange of stock between Canterbury and Otago and Southland. At the height of the Canterbury drought, thousands of lambs were railed south to ease the pressure on Canterbury works and more recently when storage space at Southland and Otago works was at premium thousands of sheep have been sent to Canterbury.

An imperfection, described by a Wellington philatelist. Captain E. T. Webster, as a “major flaw,” has been discovered in the latest issue of Red Cross postage stamps to commemorate the anniversary of Red Cross. The imperfect stamp is the extreme left one at the top of each sheet. The stamp depicts both sides of the globe inked in dark blue, with the white flag and red cross flying between the two globes. The flaw is on the southernmost tip of Greenland in the right globe. It is a whitish mark in the sea just off Cape Farewell and to the right of the town of Sydproven. —(P.A.)