TAKAKA SHOW

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 10 February 1938, Page 13

TAKAKA SHOW

JUDGES’ REMARKS INTERESTING COMMENT I LIGHT HORSES Judges at the recent Takaka Show make the appended interesting comments on the exhibits: — Mr E. F. Healy (Blenheim) said:— This section has greatly improved since I last judged at this Show and some first-class saddle horses were shown in the various sections. The maiden hack class was only fair, but two young horses shown should grow into decent hacks. The 11-stone hacks were very good and 4 the winner, who hails from Motueka. is i very nice young horse and should develop next year into a champion. As it was. he ran the champion ribbon winner very close. The 13stone hacks were a fine lot. and the winner also became champion hack of the Show, a fine even and balanced chestnut with perfect action, great manners and well handled, and a splendid set of legs which left him hard to beat in any shown ring. The 15-stone hack winner was a big. fine roan with a great middlepiece. This horse if placed in a dog-cart class in any show may take some beating. The harness class, like the ponies, had light entries and the class was not good. The jumping, except the maiden, was high class and in the hunters’ class the spectators had a thrill and received their money's worth. The winner and the second horse were separated by one point and gave a great display. The j old show champion. Spats, did not show | himself as in former years in various i shows in the northern parts of the! South Island. He was lifeless and his ! condition was not that of a show horse, j He has in the past been a great winner, j The association is to be congratulated on their show generally, which has made great strides. DRAUGHT HORSE SECTION Mr V. H. Moore (Spring Grove) said: | The entries in this section were rather [ small for a district like Takaka. How-, ever, there was fair competition in j some classes. The winning entire was

! the only entry, but was a good, useful ' ! type of horse. He is a good coloured j and nicely marked horse. The winning brood mare, though small, was shown : ! in great bloom with sound feet and i legs and carried herself to advantage. The second prize mare was not in the j same bloom and did not move so freely. The next two classes were won by T. Harford's foal, the progeny of “Grove- j ■ town Premier Prince.” with B. Hill’s I entry second. The pair of plough horses, first and second, was given to: heavy Draughts. The winning pairj were nicely brought out and fairly I evenly matched. Draught mare, three years or over: j The first prize mare was a four-year- , old with a good, strong body, good ! quality concaved feet, and shown in the ; best of condition. She moved with her feet nicely under her. The second- j prize mare was superior to the winner ! in pasterns and length of step, but was { outweighed in neck, shoulders and hindquarters. She also moved a bit faultily in front. In the Draught geldings first prize winner was a real , Draught, but not shown in show condition. The second horse was also up | to good size, but did not move so well as the winner. Gelding or filly two years old: The winner was a very smart moving gelding with superior action—the type of action that is wanted. He “goes” nice- j lv at all paces. He is small for his j age. but if he does not develop a Draught he would show well as a gen- j eral-purpose horse. General purpose ; horse was won by a very active horse, I ; having the best of feet and pastern j ! settings. He is a bit faulty in front, j ! The second-prize winner had the ap-! pearances of not being so strong, but! i ran the winner fairly close. I think ! a heavier type of horse should com- • pete in this a«**s. a horse capable of ; j trotting with 15 to 20 cwt. . As all classes from 2 to 10 are ; ! eligible for the ribbon (irrespective of . j Draught) the liberty was taken to give the championship to the winning two- [! year-old. Had he been a yearling he ; 1 would have held* his own in most shows.” SHEEP Mr Laidlaw (Omaka) and Mr J. T. ■ Lovell (Pine Valley. Marlborough) said: Romney classes: There were real good > entries in most of the classes. Some of

the exhibits were showing rather much hair, also some of the mouths, of the rams especially, were not what they should be. and breeders could pay more attention to this. Shropshire classes were very few in number, but most of these sheep were of a good class. Southdown: This class was quite a good one, the winning sheep being brought out in very good show order, but some of them were showing rather too much black both on legs and face, j also the skin. This class was a very | good one. t Merinos: This class of sheep appari ently is not a popular breed in this dis- ! trict and was not very strongly re- ' presented. Corriedales: This class, by interest ; taken by the breeders, is going to be | one of the strong classes in future. The 1 sheep were quite good, although not : brought in good show order. The rams | of this class were quite good specimens i of the breed: but the ewes were very few. They were quite nice sheep. Halfbreds: There were not many in each class, but the lambs were quite j good: but instead of the class being for lambs, we think it would be better to have it for ewes or wethers FAT SHEEP | Mr Smith (Picton* said:—The fat | sheep were of average quality. but j showed what the district is capable of doing ■ The fat lamb section over all was j very good in the Down section. In other j than Down, the quality was fair, size i without being prime. Not enough at- ! tention had been given to forequarters ! when picking stock. MILKING SHORTHORNS j Mr F. Page (Takaka) said the Milking Shorthorn class was well up to the usual high standard both as regards the number of exhibits and quality of the animals which were shown in fine condition and with very few exceptions were true to type. In the middle class, three years and over, there were only two entries, but both very fine animals. The first prize two-year-old bull , shown by Mr H. Scbrouder, of Rich-! mond, shows great promise, has indication of strong constitution, and should develop into a very fine animal.

The class for bull calves brought a | fair number of entries of fine quality, i and gave some difficulty in placing, as | they were a fairly even lot. In the female class the champion cow j shown by Mr C. Windle is a fine speci- i men of the breed, as is also the reserve ; champion exhibited by Mr Schrouder. | The yearling heifers were perhaps ■ the strongest in the female class, and j the first prize animal shown by Mr C. j Windle would do credit to any show “In passing. I would like to urge j upon the committee the necessity of . having the cattle led out for judging, as where there are a number of entries ; of even quality a judge naturally wishes • to view the animals from all angles, j ' which is quite impossible when tethered to a fence with scarcely room to ; move between, as is the custom at tlvs ' show.” FRIESIAN SECTION Mr H. T Cook 'Appleby) says the: Friesian section was a very weak one. j | The aged bull was a fine animal, that j would not be a disgrace in any com- , pany. The aged cow was a nice beast, but on the small side The young cattle were not of a high j ! class, and none of them was in show t condition. The first prize crossbred [ cow was a high class animal that anybody would be proud to own—a per- ; feet type cf producer. PIG SECTION Mr Eric H Harkness (Richmond) said | it was pleasing to see an increased j entry in this section. Some really good animals were penned, many being -1 brought, long distances. Some of the jj exhibits were of excellent type, especi- ; j ally the Tam worths and Berkshires. Mr ?' L. Newport s champion Berkshire boar - i was an outstanding animal, and the 3 1 champion sow owned by Mr Keith ; Page was very creditable. The same j 11 owner also exhibited the winning sow! t; under six months, of nice type. In the Tamworths A. F. Berry and ; I i Son's champion boar was “a good! I one.” the same owner's winning the • boar under six months with the second I; prize winner running very close. In jsow under six months. Mr W. Petterson

was the winner with a very nice animal likely to be heard of again Mr C. Windle's champion Tam worth sow was shown in splendid condition. In the class for two porkers, competition was keen. Of the eleven entries K. Baigent's (winner) and A. F. Berry and Son's (second prize) were hard to separate, these two entries being more even and of better export type.

| Baconers showed excellent quality, j the class of six being “a tip-top lot." j On the whole the entries were penned jin good show condition, and showed n•:» i j improvement on the previous year. j FRUIT AND VEGETABLES ; Mr L G. Duncan (Umukuri) said: -i : Fruit.—This class was of small en- ' , tries, but the exhibits were of good quality, especially the tomatoes and ! gooseberries apples were good and free j from blight and blemish. Vegetables.—This was a class of large i entries, and good quality throughout the different classes, the first and sej cond places in order of merit being | very hard to separate. Special mention I should be made of the jam melons and pumpkins for size and quality. | The head of silver beet grown by i Mr Warner was an outstanding exhibit The stewards had staged all classes well, much to the advantage of exhi bits and show. DOMESTIC SECTION Mrs W. Max (Brightwater) said: The domestic section was a credit to toe ladies of the Takaka district. The lruit cakes. fourteen in number, were outstanding exhibits. and worthy of high praise. The first prize currant cake, plum pudding cooked in a cloth, and the fancy biscuits were excellent. It is a pity the Takaka ladies are prevented, perhaps by distance from competing at other Shows held in the district.

i INDUSTRIAL AND DOMESTIC PRODUCE ; Mrs ,1. S Hildyard (Bright water), I said I —The domestic section was disappointing in that the entries had shrunk ( considerably. Most of them were of! quite a good standard, but for the first ! time in many years of judging I found 1 mould on some of the entries, showing i a lack of care iri preparing exhibits I I Two entrie-. of pickles were outstand- | ing, as were two pots of jam in the j children's class. This I judged while | the steward was away, and was amazed to find that it had been made by children. The prize winners were both from the same family, and the jam was a credit to the young exhibitors. May I appeal to the housewives to take more interest in this section. It only means putting one jar aside from each boiling of jam or jelly and well worth the trouble. This is really a most important branch of the housewife's duties, being part of the winter food supply The industrial section was, I understand, a new departure for Takaka, and was well patronised. Nearly all exhibits, however, lacked finish and were below show standard. Exhibitors ought to pay more attention to stitchery and finish so as to raise the general tone. The winners in the knitting and crochet classes are to be congratulated on their very fine tries, and the prize winner for children’s knitting was again outstanding. One mat made from rags was really beautiful, and could not be detected except from behind, making judging in this class very easy. After judging the steward said that this exhibit had won a championship in Australia. POULTRY Mr T. Hickmott (Motueka) said:—As! most people know it is the wrong time j of the year to see the birds at their best, j being the moulting season, which some of the birds were showing the effects j of. and as there was only one pen each i of.the White and Brown Leghorns, also one peri of Barred Rocks, there were few competitions, and the birds shown were not looking their best. Of five pens of Black Orpingtons., two pens shown by I-l Windle were good birds and outstanaing from the other three pens. Tnree pen? of table fowls wanted a bit more condition. Two pens of English Game bantams were really good birds, and four pens of ButT bantams. One cf these pens was of very good birds, only ! wanting a little more attention. |