NEW ZEALAND LAMB

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 71, 17 December 1935, Page 8

NEW ZEALAND LAMB

Export Challenge Shields

855 CARCASES ENTERED Meat producers of the Dominion are vying with each other this season to produce the highest quality lambs for export in connection with the New Zealand Meat Board’s annual competition for the challenge shields aud prizes. The competition is in two sections, one for the North Island, for which nine districts have entered, and another- for the South Island, in which ten districts are competing. The result will be that the judges appointed by. the Imported Meat Trade Association will have to examine no fewer than 855 carcases to decide this season’s winners. North Island districts submitting entries arc: Waikato, Taranaki, Wanganui (the present holders of the North Island Shield), Feilcling, Manawatu. Wairarapa, Hawke’s Bay, Wairoa and Poverty Bay. Successful “field days” have been held to give all farmers an opportunity of inspecting at the freezing works the carcases which will go forward to Smithfield in time for the judging early in February. South Island districts competing are: Nelson, Marlborough, North Canterbury, Mid-Canterbury, South Canterbury, North Otago, South Otago, Central" Otago, Southland (present holders of the South Island Shield), and East Southland. ' The shipment of South Island entries is made a little later than those from the North Island. Taking each island separately, the judges will award the Meat Boards challenge shield to the best district display, and they will also pick out the three best pens from the whole island, which will be awarded the board’s cash prizes of £l5. £lO and £5 respectively. In addition, the three best pens from each district will lie selected, and the judges will also provide a valuable and comprehensive comment on each district’s exhibit, having regard to the requirements of the English market. In this way the producers in New Zealand are not only stimulated by competition among themselves to maintain high quality, but they are annually advised from authoritative quarters of the results of their efforts.