LIVE-STOCK LOSSES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 265, 7 October 1940, Page 5

LIVE-STOCK LOSSES

TROUBLE WITH SHEEP. Although tho present season has been mild and favourable for lambing, sheep farmers in* the Feilding district report that losses of ewes this spring have been heavy. Lambs have also been lost, and were it not for the fact that the lambing percentage has been well over 100 per cent, the position would have been serious. The ewes are in better condition this spring than they were last year, and the reason for tho deaths, it is suggested, may lie in food deficiency or disease, for it is certainly not due to adverse weather conditions.

The shortage of dairy cattlo is apparently still acute, according to the prices being paid by farmers lor them. At recent clearing sales values for good quality cows have reached almost £2O. Tho dairy farmer’s business is one particularly susceptible to risk and uncertainty one farmer * said to-day, and while lie receives a guaranteed price for his commodity he is governed by the law of supply and demand in respect of prices paid for herd replacements. He does not enjoy a “twelve months” guarantee on his capital investment and has to face risks of disease and adverse weather conditions. Farmers who have responded to the call for increased production (and most of them have done so) ■ were commended for their spirit, as the drive involves them in additional costs with no certainty that their additional financial' burden, and extra work will bring them ultimately a return commensurate with the outlay.