SHEEP AND LAMBS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20241, 8 May 1940, Page 6

SHEEP AND LAMBS

KILLINGS AT KAITI 20 PER CENT INCREASE CATTLE AND PIGS DOWN AMPLE STORAGE SPACE The Gisborne district is experiencing a better season for fat stock than last year, and up to the end of April killings for sheep and lambs show an increase of 20 per cent-on the corresponding period of the previous season. Cattle and pigs,« however, show a decline. Cattle are down by only a little more than 100 head, and in view of the serious cutting down of the station herds during the autumn and winter of last year this decrease is not very great. The pigs dealt with have declined by more than 20 per cent. Much of this falling off was due to the stipulation that all except 25 per cent of the pigs for export must be brought to the baconer stage. This delayed dispatch to the freezing works in many cases, while some farmers, believing that they would not be able to find sufficient feed for the purpose, disposed of their sows. Killings at the Kaiti freezing works up to April 30 are given below, together with the figures for the corresponding period of last season:—

There is no sign yet of the killings tapering off, and from 4000 to 5000 sheep and lambs are still being killed each day. Sufficient shipping has been available to keep the refrigerating chambers from being overloaded, and on present indications no difficulty is expected in this respect.

1938-39 1939-40 Sheep . 146,632 173,501 Lambs 181,980 218,988 Cattle 5,383 5,258 Pigs 8,710 6,332