N.I. Cattle For South?

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31784, 14 September 1968, Page 8

N.I. Cattle For South?

With more dairy farmers in the North Island turning to producing a proportion of cattle for beef to supplement their incomes, there is a surplus of young cattle in areas like South Auckland, Rotorua and Poverty Bay, and North Islanders are interested in the possibility of moving some of these cattle to the South Island if it can be established that there is a demand for them here and that they can be landed here at a suitable price.

One of those interested in the proposition is Mr G. Harford, of Reporoa, near Rotorua. He has been producing dairy beef himself for about six years.

Mr Harford says the cattle are up there, they are willing to send them to the South Island, and they are of a useful type. As a member of the Dominion dairy council of Federated Farmers he says that from talks he has had with South Island farmers in Wellington he believes that Canterbury and Southland may be the best prospects for these cattle. Most of them would be Friesians but there could also be some Friesian beef crosses and also Jersey-Fries-ian crosses. They would range in age from four to five months up to about a year old.

As a member of the Waikato Dairy Beef Committee he has put it to the committee that it should look into this proposition. It is suggested that the committee might

ensure that only suitable cattle are sent if the project should become viable.

The big problem would be freight, said Mr Harford, and this was being looked into. The Railways Department had been asked for a reasonable quote. One suggestion was that the cattle might be brought to the South Island in a special express train. Another is that they could be brought through by lorry in crates. It is thought that air freight might be too costly. For weaner calves about four months old of good quality, Mr Harford said, current North Island prices would be between about $2B and $35. It was thought that freight to the South Island could add on about $7 or $8 a head and that they could be landed down here for about $45 a head.

Mr Harford turns off dose to 200 head of dairy beef a year himself. They mostly go off as weaners and over the last two to three years have averaged about $2B to $35.