LAMBS IN CANTERBURY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20989, 28 September 1931, Page 8

LAMBS IN CANTERBURY.

RETURNS ABOVE AVERAGE.

OUTLOOK FOR KILLING SEASON

.Reports from various districts in Canterbury indicate that the lambing returns this season will be a good deal better than they were last season, and if feed comes away reasonably well the number that will be ready for the works at the start of the killing season should be substantially greater, says the Christchurch Sun. Lambing is about half-way through now, and in many districts the percentages have been well over 100, a large number of twin births helping to swell the returns.

So fair the spring has not been as favourable as it might have been. It started off promisingly, but the recent cold weather and late frosts have checked feed, which is in need of a warm spell to bring it away. In view of the fact that many farmers have prepared to get their lambs off their mothers earlier than usual, the turn the weather takes during the next few weeks will mean much to them. In spite of the occasional cold snaps, there have been exceptionally few losses among newly-boru lambs.

Conditions around Ashburton and in the Methven and Rakaia districts have been all in favour of a good season. A large area was sown in turnips there this year, and with the good weather in the autumn most farmers entered the winter with ample supplies of this class of feed. The general average has been over 100 per cent., arid cases where as much as 140 per cent, of lambs have been recorded are not uncommon. Round about the Leeston and Southbridge districts the percentages have been good, the general average being from 110 to 150 per cent. In Ainuri a few days of warm weather has brought the feed away well, and prospects up there and in most of the North Canterbury districts are extremely bright.