Values Rise At Methven Fair

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31000, 4 March 1966, Page 17

Values Rise At Methven Fair

All classes of sheep met an excellent sale at the Methven two-tooth ewe fair yesterday, and values showed substantial rises on those of last year.

The sale drew an entry of 13,103 head, compared with 12,828 last year, and 85 per cent of them were Romneys. While values for the top sheep were much the same as last year, there was a rise of at least 12s a head for the average to good sheep, and there was one instance of one large line of sheep averaging 18s a head better than last year. Many Buyers The sale opened with a pen making 955, but it quickly picked up. and from there on, two out of every three pens sold for £5 or more. By the end of the day. 108 of the" 168 pens had sold for £5 or more, and 16 of these had reached or bettered the £6 mark. A large gallery of downcountry buyers spent the day trudging through alleys of mud, but they were bidding keenly throughout, and the sale was well up to the excellent values prevailing at Little River earlier in the week. Top price ot the day was £6 10s for a pen of 99 Romneys from A. A. Grigg (Alford Forest) and the same vendor sold

100 at £# Bs. and 37 at £5 Ils, to gain a pen-average of £6 3s. Top price last year was £6 2s, and on that occasron the £6 was reached or bettered only twice. T. L. Lucas, of Creekdaie. Methven. sold 529 Romneys from £5 15s 6d to £6 6s and his average over five pens was £6 2s Bd. D. W. Knight, at HWpark, sold 373 Romneys from £5 8« to £6 ss. to gain a pen-average of £5 18s 6d. H. j. Stevens, of Meth ven, sold 367 Romneys from £5 10s to £«, for a pen average of £5 ISs. Close behind him was the sale of 307 Romneys from the Lyndhurst vendor, C. C. Prebble, at £5 Ils to £5 15s. The pen average here was almost £5 13s 6d.

Other good sales included pen averages of £5 13s 3d for 372

Romneys from F. j. Arker (Lyndhurst), 214 of these makin £6 to £6 ss; an average of £5 12s 10id for 351 from R. J. Hill (Redwood, Methven); £5 10s 4d for 462 from V. L. Dobson (Spaxton); and £5 4s lOd for 541 Romneys from A. W. A. Lockhead (Methven). Comparing these with last year, Mr Arker’s sheep showed an improvement of 3s 3d, Mr HiH’s were down by just over 3s a head, while Mr Dobson’s were 3s lOd a head up on last year. Trend er Values These averages illustrate the trend of values at North and Mid-Oanterbury fairs this season, where the best sheep are siimtlar to last year's values. There were many other good averages of smaller drafts, one of the best of them being £6 Is for 200 Romneys from F. W. Early (Alford Forest). The biggest draft of twotooths on offer yesterday consisted of 1081 Romney cross and halfbred sheep from the estate of L. L. Richards (Mount Hutt). The 890 Romney cross ewes sold from S6s to £5 2s, while the remainder—two pens of halfbreds—sold from 88s to £5 3s. The over all average was better than 95s 6d, compared with an average of just over 77s last year. This sale vividly illustrated the rise in values prevailing for the average to good twotooth. Corriedales Only 11 pens of Corriedales were forward, and top price here was £6 for 72 from A. D. McLaughlan (Silverdale). The same vendor also sold 65 at 965. D. I. Ensor (GlenrOck) sold 110 at £5 Bs, and Double Hill Station sold 50 at £5 7s. Top price last year was £5 Ils. The fine-woolled section also Included seven pens of halfbreds, and these sold to £5 3s for 130 from the estate L. L. Richard’s draft. Three pens of Romney-Corrie-dales from M. V, Poff (Rakaia Gorge) met a very good sale, selling from £5 Is to £5 19s to give a pen average for the 212 head of £5 8s 4d. Last year. Mr Poff's sheep sold from 74s to 89s. Again, this demonstrated the great uplift in values for average to good twotooths. Most of yesterday’s yarding went to down-country buyers in Ashburton county, but several lorry loads went to Leeston and Southbridge, while several pens were bought for the Oxford and Sheffield districts, and early in the sale two pens were bought for Geraldine. Methven had had heavy rain before the sale, and ground conditions were very heavv. Two front-end loaders were used to push the lorries Into the loading bays, and after they had picked up their sheep, pulled them out to the roadway. More rain began to fall about mid-afternoon, and yard conditions for today’s adult ewe fair were expected to be even worse. Children. Messages to 23 Hall Following is a range of values td give a comparison with those of last year:—

1906 IMS 1. t s. s. to a. Romneys— Beit 110 130 104 122 Good 100 108 90 103 Average 90 99 74 38 Small 78 88 60 70 Flnewools— Best 107 120 87 111 Good 96 103 76 84 Other* »« 67 85 84 H