More Wool Expected

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31169, 20 September 1966, Page 6

More Wool Expected

A 5 per cent increase in the wool clip ! to be sold at Christchurch and Timaru is I forecast by Mr W. : Pease, chief wool I officer of Dalgety and ' New Zealand Loan, ! Ltd. ! Mr Pease says that the! I clip handled in Christchurch ! is likely to increase by about; ! 9600 bales or more than 3.2 m lb. ; Expected increases in pro-! ! duction for areas supplying; I the Christchurch sales are: !Christchurch 5 per cent, Ash-, (burton 4 per cent, Blenheim! :71 per cent, Nelson 5 per i cent, and the West Coast 3| per cent. Under the, good growing conditions in all districts except the Blenheim area last season, the production of wool per sheep reached maximum levels, said Mr Pease. Further increases this season would, therefore, come only from in- ! creased sheep numbers. The Blenheim district, however, had experienced an excellent autumn and winter and should also show an increase in production per , sheep. increase.

The Ashburton district is troubled with grass grub which is proving difficult to check, and this may adversely affect the percentage On present indications, he says, the wool from all districts should compare favourably with last season’s clip. Ln South Canterbury, where Mr Pease is also predicting a ;5 per cent rise in the clip, , farmers generally are carryi ing greater numbers of breedI ing ewes as a result of better growing conditions in the late summer and autumn, and also as a result of the Gov- | ernment’s request for ini creased production. Where feed had been i abundant clips were heavy, I but where over-stocking had i occurred weights were not so; good. An over-all increase of 2.5 per cent per sheep is ex-’ pected. Over the country as a whole, says Mr Pease, the clip is officially estimated toj reach a record level of about

! 730 m lb greasy equivalent. , which would be 5 per cent up on last season's production. ’'This follows an 111 per cent • increase in production in the ’ 1 1965-66 season. ’ The 5 per cent increase ■ could well be on the conserva-l ■! tive side if present indications are maintained, he says, ; • Sheep numbers at about! l -58m would be more than 4m; ■ up on the previous year. Pro-; ‘.vided there was a reasonably ; ■: good spring after the very ; ' favourable growing conditions ■I so far, the clip would be i b better grown than last sea- ' j son's. Seventy per cent of the wool would be under 50's, i quality, with coarser wool, ,! predominating. I Multiple shearing con-1 i; tinned to increase, and 32 per; cent of the clip now came■ •; into the category of early | I shorn or second-shear wool, j II The trend was towards shear-1 > ing three times in two 1 years | 11 rather than twice a year, to, t I help reduce shearing costs. |