Commercial Difference In North And South Lamb Schedules

Press, Volume C, Issue 29402, 3 January 1961, Page 15

Commercial Difference In North And South Lamb Schedules

The tod difference between North and South Island lamb schedules is discussed in a statement issued by Mr H. A. Seifert, a spokesman for the New Zea-land-owned freezing companies. "The South Island schedule is ’nominally’ tod lower than in the north,” says Mr Seifert. "This dees not. however, mean that it returns the farmers less. In the North Island the farmer has to bear the cost of transport on his lambs to the nearest port; in the South Island only to the nearest works, for the companies there then bear the to-port charges. “As an example of how this works out, take the typical case of a farm 10 miles from Feilding in the North Island. It is found that lambs from there give a return of Is 3d a head less than lambs drafted 10 miles from

Ashburton. That is at the farm gate, and this is the point which truly determines what the farmer actually receives in cash. "It is unfortunate that there has not been a clear understanding of this different basis of schedule applying in the South Island, although it has been explained on numbers of occasions during recent year*. South Island operators maintain that their schedule is the one correctly based; though company management in the North Island doubles holds the opposite view," says Mr Seifert