Later lambing could present big losses

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33933, 28 August 1975, Page 1

Later lambing could present big losses

(By

L. R. EARLY,

agricultural reporter.)

Why do Canterbury farmers lamb in August? This question has been posed by correspondents to “The Press” this week, and with huge lamb losses two years running because of southerly storms, the practice bears some examination.

Canterbury farmers plan their lambing to begin in August, so that they will be able to get a large proportion of lambs away to the works before the dry conditions in the summer.

Under favourable conditions, a lamb will reach exnort weight—2Blb. to 301 bat at 12 weeks of age, but usually it takes up to 16 weeks for the top half in most flocks.

December is, in fact, a fairly crucial month on many nlains properties. By this time, the lambs still on their mothers are consuming a lot of pasture, and as growth begins to taper off, grazing nressure begins to make itself felt. Lambs are drafted off in large numbers. In fact, the demands on freezing comnanies at this time exceed their capacity to cope. As well as having lambs to sell, the plains farmer also aims to draft his cull ewes, so that he can “ride over” the expected dry period, with no surplus of stock.

Mid-August, then, heralds the start of lambing on many olains farms. In certain districts, such as Amberlev and Swannanoa, lambing begins in July, and these men usually manage to miss the late winter storms.

However, the typical Canterbury summer is not the only factor bearing on the start of lambing. The market-

ing of lamb, along with economic influences, Has, until the last two years, accentuated the trend towards early lambing. For some years, a great deal of emphasis was laid on the early lamb. New Zealand exporters regularly had three shiploads arriving in the United Kingdom for the Christmas-New Year trade. At one stage, substantial premiums were paid for early lambs—the earlier they reached the works, the higher the premium—but two years ago, exporters had their fingers badly burnt on early lamb sales. Their projections had been too optimistic, and because of the high prices paid to farmers they incurred a trading loss. In the last two years, realisations in the latter part of the trading season have been better than in the first half. More emphasis has also been put on heavier lambs for certain markets, notably the United States.

Why, then, should Canterbury farmers not plan their lambing for, say, September? They will again point to the typical Canterbury season, with pastures beginning to drv off by early summer. It will also be quickly pointed out that, last year, for instance, one of the two bad storms occurred in September. The more one looks at the position, the more evident it becomes that the Canterbury

farmer is a stickler for tradition.

Until the 19505, it was common farming practice to drill a supplementary crop—usually rape—for summer fattening of lambs. But during the grassland fanning decade, farmers could see that, by catering for the early market. they could get through on grass, so saving themselves the expense of preparing for, and growing, a supplementary crop. This was a sound proposition while conditions were favourable, particularly as the freezing industry was catering for a good kill in the earlv part of the season. But one has only to look at last week’s lambing losses —Bs,ooo—to see that the lambs saved by a later lambing would more than iustify the provision of supplementary feed if more stock had to be carried into the summer months.

The rape crop, incidentally, fitted into the Canterbury farming svstem admirably. If spelled after being fed down bv lambs, its regrowth was ideal for flushing ewes before mating in the autumn. Then, with a minimum of cultivation. the land could be put to a grain crop, usually wheat.

Later lambing was the subject of a useful trial at the Winchmore irrigation research station about 15 years ago. Lambs bom in October thrived in the warmer conditions of that month, and by

early January — at 12 weeks of age — they were drafted off at export weights of 281 b to 301 b.

Later lambing, on those results. seems an obviously sound proposition on irrigation country. Similarly, in foothill districts and inland areas not subject to 1 a sharp decline in pasture growth during early summer, Idter lambing could well be considered. No disadvantage Even if plains farmers, who lambed later, had to put lambs into the open market as stores, they would not be put at a financial disadvantage. Store lambs at Addington market, on an estimated weight basis, sell fully up to export rates. Indeed, the freezing works are the immediate destination for a large number of them.

The freezing industry today has grades for all types and weights of lambs — from the prime to overfat, the alpha (thin), and the omega (leggy). The alpha grade, for which store lambs are used, has been growing in popularity in recent years, with particular demand coming from Greece.

When one takes an over-all look at today’s farming practice. along with the markets, the answer to the correspondents’ question is that a farmer need not lamb in August. He does so, to conform with a practice followed for years.