Ram fair changes

Press, 7 January 1983, Page 12

Ram fair changes

The 1983 Christchurch flock ram fair at the Addington Showgrounds will be held on one day instead of over two days in previous years. This season’s date is Friday February 25, about three weeks later than usual. The main reason for the change in date is that many breeders had expressed the opinion that commercial producers were not interested in purchasing rams at the end of January or start of February when harvesting was in full swing. Should the later date prove satisfactory it will be possible in 1984 to move the stud ram fair into the slot reserved in the roster of sales for the flock ram fair. At present the stud fair date of around January 20 caused problems with the dates for the Southern Provinces stud

romney fair at Gore. The flock fair on February 25 will be divided into three sales. The A sale, which will start at 10 a.m.. will include the mutton breed rams, and the B and C sales for wool breeds will start at 11.15 a.m. and 11.30 a.m. respectively. The Director of the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association, Mr N. M. Woods, said there should be no problem in accommodating all the rams in the pavilion on the one day and the format should be more convenient for those buyers who are interested in both wool and mutton breeds. The Christchurch stud ram fair will continue to be held over a two-day period. The mutton breeds will be sold on Thursday, January 20 and the wool breeds on Friday, January 21.