ROYAL SHOW LAMBS

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 51, 4 March 1929, Page 12

ROYAL SHOW LAMBS

AWARDS AT SMITHFIELD

By the last English mail the New Zealand Meat Producers' Board has received a report from its London manager regarding the display and judging on Smithfleld Market of the lambs, ex the Fifth Royal Show, held at Palmerston North in October last. The board offers annually special prizes ai the Royal Agricultural Show for fat lambs most suitable for our Dominion's export trade, and the type most desired to keep up our reputation on the London market. The lambs are jndged alive on the showground, and prizes are. awarded by the Meat Board for the best pen. All the lambs entered in this class o are then killed and shipped Home to° the board's London manager, who arranges a special display of them on the Smithfield Market. The quality of the carcasses is judged by three judges appointed by the Imported Meat Trade Association Incorporated. Further prizes for the best lot of three carcasses, as judged on Smithfield, are also 'awarded by the board. '. , This year the winning pens were as follow:— Judged Alive on Showground. . First prize (Lot No. 723)' L. B. Wall £15; second prize (Lot No. 728), X.-M. Collis, £10; third prize (Lot No. 731), H. K. Green, £5. . , Result'Of Award On Smithfield Market. First prize (Lot No. 731), H. 11. Green, £15; second prize (Lot No. 722), L. B. Wall, £10; third prize (Lot^No. 723), L. B. Wall, £5. The board's Londqn manager reports that the 72 lambs entered in this class arrived Home in excellent order, and were displayed on the stall of Messrs. Hayes, Paine, and Knowlden, Smithfield Market, on 15th January, and made a very fine show on the market, which attracts an enormous amount of attention from hundreds of retailers and from all the market stallholders..

The whole ' exhibit was purchased by Messrs. Harrods, a large West End store, and a further display was arranged for in their shop. The report of the three judges appointed by the Imported Meat Trade Association Incorporated, Messrs. J. I. Hamilton, D. Messent, and M. Kingswell, is as follows: "One could not wish for a better display of lambs. Every carcass bore evidence of a desire to meet the wants of the Home trade. The condition and symmetry of form called forth unstinted praise from the large number of traders, wholesale and retail, who viewed the exhibit.

"Our awards are as follow:—Firstprize (Lot No. 731): For balance,; conformation, and flesh carrying, this pen was undoubtedly the premier lot. The three carcasses were equal in quality. The legs plump and short, with a good twist of meat, back broad and level, fitting evenly into a pair of broad level shoulders. The disposition of external fat was uniform, and the internal fat not excessive. Second prize (Lot No. 722): A pen of very choice ewe lambs, excellent in quality, balance, and conformation. The lack of that essential connective tissue on the legs of one carcass robbed the pen of premier position. Third prize (Lot No. 723): For symmetry of form and balance, excellent. One carcass inclined to be fat."