Weight gain contest

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33791, 13 March 1975, Page 10

Weight gain contest

A good example of the show’s adaptation to modem farming needs is the introduction of the steer weight gain competiti' n, which this year has attracted 39 entries from exhibitors between Kaikoura and Oamaru. This contest is run on the lines of a chiller beef competition, but the animals have been grazed together on the property of Mr M. V. Poff, Rakaia Gorge, for the last six months, and with regular checks made on their weights to determine their weight gain on the same feed and conditions.

The animals will be judged on the hoof at the show for the best chiller beef type, and will then be judged on the hooks at the Islington freezing works on Tuesday. On Wednbsday a field day for exhibitors, officials, and others interested will be held by the association, at the Kaiapoi freezing works in the morning for the prime lamb contest entries on the hooks, and in the afternoon at Islington for the beef weight gain entries.

The president (Mr J. W. Marshall) said the beef weight gain contest, introduced two years ago, was a way in which the association could benefit farming by showing which breeds of cattle showed the greatest weight increase on the same feed, and hence were the most profitable for farmers to raise. The regular chiller beef competition will still be held at the show, for animals ■■ exhibited for judging on show day, and entries in the weight gain compeition will also be automatically entered in the chiller beef competition.

A trophy valued at $65 has been given to the association in a bequest by the late Mr R. J. Low, president from 1924 to 1926 and also a past patron, for the Methven district exhibitor gaining most points in the annual flock ewe and field roots competitions. Exhibitors must enter and gain points in both competitions. A challenge trophy given by Mr Ray Miles will be at stake for the first time this year in the welding sec-

tion, for the most outstanding exhibit. This section was introduced two years ago, and Mr Marshall

said many farmers now had their own welding plants, and fairly elaborate workshops, and were proficient at maintaining and making up machinery items. Record entries Entries in the show this year total 4685, 544 above last year’s show and 210 more than the previous record show, in 1973, which had 4775 entries. Detailed entries, with those for 1974 in parenthesis, are: Sheep, 616 (502); cattle, 38 (32); export beef and weight gain competitions, 67 (76); light horses, 494 (332);

ponies and pony competitions, 516 (412); dogs and dog trials, 65 (69); pigs, 62 (71),