DOMINION'S FLOCKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18577, 8 December 1923, Page 13

DOMINION'S FLOCKS.

AN INCREASE IN EWES.

ESTIMATE OF THE LAMBING.

[by TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION.] WELLINGTON. Friday. The official sheep returns issued by the Department of Agriculture in respect of the 1923 season show an increase of ewes in New Zealand this year as compared with last vear of 566,949. The official lambing estimate for this season reveals an estimated increase over the whole Dominion of 655,541 lambs. The flocks of sheep in the Dominion have considerably decreased in the last few years. With the improved financial position and the improved price of wool more ewe lambs will probably be kept this year, so that although there is'an estimated iucrease of 655,541 lambs it is doubtful whether the shipments for the ensuing year will be much, if any, in advance of the previous year. The Australian position, as shown by a cablegram just received by the New Zealand Meat Producers' Board from its Australian representative, is as follows: Shipments for - October, 1923, • 42,600 carcases of lamb; shipments for November, 1925, 294,000 carcases of lamb; while it is estimated that f->r December the shipments will be about 300,000 carcases of lamb, and that this will practically finish the season. Comparative lamb shipments from Australia last year for the same months were as follow : October, 1922, 412,890 carcases; November, 1922, 950,540; December, 1922, 500,000; Janu1923, 240,000; February, 1923, 205,000; March to end of season, 306,103 j total, 2,614,533 carcases. Shipments from the Argentine for this year and last yeir to date are as follow — 1922. 1923. Lamb—October » 71,381 63,700 November .» 268,395 154,800 Mutton October .. 51,082 79,550 November . . 119,718 126,100