BURNSIDE SALE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 256, 26 September 1935, Page 12

BURNSIDE SALE.

BIG PRICES FOR FAT SHEEP. Per Press Association, DUNEDIN, Sept. 25. There wero smaller entries in the major sections at the Burnsido sale* to-day. J. ire fat cattle entry numbered 204, and included several trucks of prime quality bullocks from Southland and South Otago. The market opened with prices firm at last week’s rates, but with outside competition tho market quickly unproved, ail medium quality bullocks, cows and heifers soiling from 10s to 15s per head in excess of previous sale rates. Extra prime cattle did not show any alteration on current values. In the store cattle section there was an entry ot 04. A pen of threo and four-year-old _ stoors realisod £5 17s. Vealers were in good demand, and good-conditioned cows met an improved market. I 1 orty-onc dairy cows were offered, and for tho most part the entry was of inferior quality, and only young cows close Jo profit wore sought after. , ~ The feature of the sale was the prices obtained in tho iat sheep section. Ihc entry numbered 890, which included a representative penning of hoggets Outside buyers were in evidence, and on account of the short supply extreme values wore obtained, prices in fact being tlie highest obtained at Burnside for a number of years. Heavy wethers sold to 465, and best quality ewes made to 42s sd. Wethers ' appreciated in value fully as per head, while ewes sold from 6s to is in excess of late rates, and in some cases the rise was even more pronounced Binding was animated from tho start to trie conclusion of the sale. Hoggets sold firm at late rates. Nine spring lambs wore forward, and the best of these sold to 295.

HEAVY STOCK LOSSES. CONDITIONS IN THE SOUTH. RESULT OF FEED SHORTAGE. A Wairarapa correspondent writing of conditions in the dairying and pastoral industries in the South Gatlins, W yndham, and neighbouring districts, says that the feed shortage has been so acute that heavy stock losses have resulted in both dairy herds and ewe flocks. The stock, he say 3, have not actually died of starvation, but have been kept on such “lean commons” that they have been unable to survive tho winter. My informant declares that as many as 500 dairy cows have been lost during tho past live months, and tnat some of the individual losses have been very severe. . , „ ~, , On tho same subject tho Southland Timea makes some very gloomy and disquieting comments. “Dairy farmers in Southland, the paper says, “particularly, it seems, those in the Edcndale-Wyndham-Scaward Busxi districts, arc experiencing tragic times. The oxtremo shortage ol food appears to bo the sole cause of tho trouble, but whether or not there are contributory reasons, their herds are being depleted to an alarming extent. Varying opinions can be obtianed of the number of cows that have died, ranging from 300 to 1100, and it is safo to name 600 as a minimum estimate. And it lias come just when values on the London market have given cause for renewed hope. The effect is unavoidable. So many animals have been lost—and the total js by no means complete yet—and the survivors must suffer so heavily from tho effects of under-nour-ishment that tho outcome will be the equivalent of a quota on the province s output. “It has been an extraordinary year lor Southland. Probably there has not been another such summer in tho past 40 years. Pastures wero burnt up, tho turnip crops wore tho poorest for a very long time, and there was very little hay saved for winter fodder. The result, as every dairyman knows, was that cows wore in low condition at the beginning of the winter. All tho rough herbage was soon eaten out, and the winter, although not bad for sliqep, proved to bo very severe for cattle There wore hard frosts in July, a rough spoil in August and early September, followed again by the frosts of tho last week or two which have kept back the spring growth. Low prices for their produce and the hard times gcnorally made it impossible for many farmers to augment feed to the extent that would have been desirable, and this heavy rate of mortality has come two or three weeks before calving. Therefore many more deaths can bo expected during the next fortnight or three weeks. “The rains of the last few days should have good results, hut they came too laito to help cattle. The young grass should come away quickly now, and there is tho clanger of scouring. So far there has been no disease of any seriousness. In fact, all stock have been very healthy, and this extraordinary mortality can bo accounted for only by tho abnormaL season. In one word—starvation. It has been impossible to get feed except at very high prices. In the usual course supplies go north from Southland, and a number of inquiries wore received again this year. Instead of meeting ithern, SouthlanU fanners had to scratch everywhere to get what they could —arid they have had to pay up to £6 a ton for it.

“Ono certain effect- of this rate of mortality, together with the improved outlook on the London market, will bo a substantial rise in dairy stock values as soon as tbo feed position rights ilself. There will be much building up to be done; but nothing now can bring the season’s output up to normal. It will bo a while vet before dairy cows have a sufficient ‘bite’ of grass, and probably three months before their yield is up to standard.”

FACIAL ECZEMA. OCCURRENCE IN SHEEP. : DEPARTMENT’S COMMENTS. , T—' ; Rojcrcnco is made in tlio annual report , of the Department of Agriculture to the , serious outbreak of facial eczema in many districts of the North Island in tho i autumn period of last season. The roport -proceeds: “As in previous outbreaks of , this trouble, its occurrence in the autumn i was preceded by an exceptionally dry ; summer period. In tho Gisborne district , tbo long dry spell broko on February 7, , and frequent rain thereafter brought on a , very rapid and luxuriant growth of feed, • botfi on the flats and on tho lower hills. • By tho end of tho month serious reports . woro rcceivod of widespread trouble ■ amongst sheop in the district. The 1 disease was investigated on the spot by tho • officer in charge of the \Vallaceville 1 laboratory and the district superintendent of tho Wellington district, who both spent [ some time going very fully into every 1 aspect of flic outbreak. The precipitating • factor in the condition appears to be tho ; sudden change from hard, dry feed condi- ! tipns to luxurious, lush pasture. The ; disease was not confined to tho Poverty • Bay district, but was also much in evidence 1 in tho Manawatu, also the Marton aw. , Wanganui areas, and Taranaki. It was i also prevalent to sorao extent in Hawke’s I * Bay and the Waikato. ; “Tho diseaso is ono of those seasonal ■ sheep troLib.ea which are precipitated to a great extent by elimatio conditions affoct- , ing pasture growth. Much investigational work has been conducted at the Wallaoe- ; villo laboratory into the various aspects of i the disease, and this inquiry is being j maintained more particularly to observe t the possible after-effects in sheep which I I have suffered from the condition. -1 “A serious outbreak of facial dormatitis 1 occurred in the Mackenzie County during I ' tho month of January. In this instance a j ] botiinicul survey of tho tussock country ; was carried out by an officer of the Plant t I Research Station, Palmerston North, and • | although this did not load to any definite , 1 conclusion regarding .any contributory i factor in the herbage it was nevertheless i valuable in other respects. In outbreaks in , sheep on tussock country the good effects, • from a preventive point of view, of burn- 1 ing off the tussock in the spring have is beon eommonted upon by the district sup- ' crintendent at Dunedin.”