Trends in stock slaughtering

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33774, 21 February 1975, Page 10

Trends in stock slaughtering

Until the recent drop in slaughterings adult cattle killings were at a high leyel () compared with the 1973-74 season, according to the latest agricultural situation report of ■ the economics division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, which reviews livestock slaughtering trends for the current ’ season. >

The report states that 483,000 adult cattle were killed between October 1 last year and January 12. This was 30 per cent more than for the same period last season. The high numbers are thought to have resulted from earlier stock retention, some fear of further price falls, the need to meet financial commitments, and possibly from farmers quitting stock before the onset of dry conditions. The Meat Board’s guaranteed schedule scheme, which will operate from October 1, could also have contributed, says the report, by influencing farmers to sell older cattle and to produce younger stock which will qualify for the markedly higher prices to be paid next season. The report points out, however, that during the last month cattle killings have dropped noticeably and some works are now receiving insufficient numbers. The report notes growing concern among local suppliers that the flow of cattle to the local market will be disrupted from June, or even earlier, as farmers retain stock to qualify for higher prices in October. If this happens, local market retail prices

for beef are likely to rise around the middle of the year. , Lamb slaughterings had reached 8.169,000 by January 12 and, according to the report, are now roughly equal to ■ last season’s kill inspite | — of a slow start. “Earlier expectations j? that favourable pasture (/ growth would lift average carcase weights significantly above last '(/ season’s have not been , realised. So far the cu- |> mulative average is less 7 than 0.1 kg heavier than for the same period last \\ season.” The total number of (/ ewes killed between 7) October 1 last year and January 12 was 605,000, a fall of 38.4 per cent on the 982,000 killed during the same period in the 1973-74 season. /) According to the re- |x port, the continued : z decline in the ewe kill reflects an unwillingness ,> to kill such stock when : the schedule price for mutton is depressed (farm gate returns in some areas are well 0 under $3 per head), and the need to rebuild flocks following the marked V rundown recorded during the past two years. *>: