FAT LAMB SEASON

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 304, 21 November 1935, Page 2

FAT LAMB SEASON

HEAVY PERCENTAGE OF LOSSES. FAVOURABLE" EXPORT PRICE. That there lias been a drop of from 10 to 20 per cent, in the lambing returns this season over practically the whole of the Feilding district and extending into the lower Manawatu was made plain yesterday when a “Standard” representative interviewed a number of farmers who were present at the district fat lamb competition at the Feilding freezing works. With few exceptions the same reply, that the percentage was under the hundred mark, was made, and of the large concourse of sheep farmers present only two of those approached were able to say that their lamb returns equalled the past season’s figures. The average returns quoted'were from 90 to 108 per cent., and while the district would undoubtedly, in isolated cases, be able to furnish averages of a higher figure than 103, about 90 per cent, would seem to he in the vicinity of the general level of returns.

Over a sheep producing-district such as the one under review this will aggregate a tremendous drop in production, hut as an offset to this, as one farmer stated, the good opening price of Bjd per lb for. lambs largely compensates. Had there been more than the usual percentage of lambs, the conjecture was offered, the opening price would perhaps have been lower, the farmer in question aptly summing the position up with the remark that “they could not have it both ways.” The fact of an average of a 20 per cent, drop having been established, the next step taken was to ascertain the reason or reasons for this, and here again many farmers who were questioned met on common ground. Without exception, lamb producers of up to half a century of experience stated that the constant wet and cold weather during the lambing period was to blame. Throughout all the six weeks to two months when the season was at its height, rainy days and cold winds followed each other with wearying monotony, and, reduced' to a state where no dry shelter was to be found, the young lambs perished throughout the district by hundreds. Not only did the severe climatic conditions prove fatal to a large percentage of lambs, but they exacted a heavy toll on ewes, and many farmers added an undue percentage of ewe losses to that of an already swollen death list of lambs. This, however, did not complete the farmers’ misfortune, for several who were spoken to—-and these were practically confined Charmers on low country properties—reported an excess number of dry ewes among their flocks, another factor which added to the total reduction- in the lambing returns. The reason for this was not hard to find, tho cause being directly attributed to the eczema outbreak of last summer. Ewes which had contracted this complaint were said to have lost theii lambs late in tho autumn and in the early winter, and the harassed farmer was obliged to carry them through on a basis of profit minus the production of a lamb. FARMERS NOT DISMAYED. With a splendid philosophy, however, the farmers who were approached refused to be dismayed and added up their blessings as more than one. The slaughtering season had opened with a payable price, £1 being regarded as a good price for a lamb and anything over as decidedly better. The lambs, although a little backward at present owing again to the weather, were rapidly making up the leeway and several farmers reported that they had had to discard several good lambs from entrance into the competition oir account of being overweight. Although in many cases minus the bloom and finish usually inseparable from the well-done lamb in the Manawatu, they were said to be killing out nicely, notwithstanding the fact that the general run were uot up to last year’s weights at this period. From the fat lamb buyer’s point of view, a feature of the present season was said to be the irregularity of the lambs. A draft, to the expert’ eye of the buyer, could he gone through very quickly, the “steps and stairs” in the flock of lambs being very pronounced owing to the stoppages in the lambing season the inclement weather had brought about. Lambs on hill country were reported to he doing better than those on the lower levels, and a few days’ sunshine, it is expected, will result in the bloom and finish on them quickly appearing. Indications certainly point to buyers being exceedingly busy from this week onward, one buyer having drafted several thousand lambs already this week, and probably before or by the end of this month all the works will be extended to capacity to handle the influx. Already many lorries have been engaged in the Feilding district in the transport of fat lambs to the works and railway, this mode of moving them having almost entirely superseded the old style of droving. So far as the Feilding freezing works are concerned, they have been engaged in the slaughtering of lambs for a month or more, the carcases being for the Christmas trade at Home. For these early lambs the farmer was paid at the rate of 9Jd per lb., or a penny per pound more than the export schedule rate now ruling. At the present rate of Bid per pound with the avor<i§© weight of 3211). to oolb. tne farmer is given a return of from £1 2s 8d to £1 5s 6d per lamb, this being regarded as a good price. I? armors state that they can rear a good iamb for £l, and that an average of that figure over their whole output gives them a handsome return. For the season prospects were considered to indicate a busy period for all concerned with the export trade, from the farmer right through to tlie railway worker.