INFLUX OF SHEEP

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21716, 3 February 1934, Page 13

INFLUX OF SHEEP

GISBORNE TO WAIKATO FEWER EXPORT KILLINGS GROWERS INCREASING ROCKS [bt telegraph—OWN" correspondent] GISBORNE, Friday Gisborno sheep are still moving northward to the Waikato in thousands and so big have been the Waikato consignments this season that few are available for Southern districts. So far as is known at present, no shipments for the South Island have been arranged. It has been estimated that the Waikato will absorb approximately 100,030 Gisborne and coastal sheep this season. The transport of such large numbers over the route of approximately 300 miles has kept drovers and railway officials busy for somo weeks, with the prospect of several weeks' work still ahead. Special trains have been arranged for sheep from Taneatua to the Waikato, most of these trains comprising 50 double-decker trucks 3nd carrying over 3000 sheep. There has been an average of one train a day for a short time. Jn reaching the railhead from'Gisborne, the Motu route has been traversed, in accordance with the recent regulations forbidding the use of the Waioeka Road by through stock. A few motorists who have used the hills road have passed through miles and miles of sheep. Mobs are still leaving the district, and they will continue to set out for a week or two yet, bxit the majority of consignments are already on their way or have arrived at their destination. The sharp rise in the price of breeding ewes reported from Addington this week might have attracted Gisborne sheep had they been available, but the general opinion is that insufficient ewes remain in the district to permit of the consignment of any large number this season. This is a marked contrast from conditions that ruled oniy a few years ago. In one year shipments of sheep from Gisborne to Lyttelton totalled approximately 100,000. Hawke's Bay business, too, has dropped off considerably with the increase in the demand from the North, and comparatively few breeding ewes have b>_en sent from Gisborne to that province this year. Wairoa drafts to the southward also seem to be smaller than usual.

The Gisborne fat sheep and lamb killings for export have been smaller than for the past few years. A tally at the Kaiti freezing works shows a decline of about 50,000 sheep and lambs on last season. This is due in a measure to the poor fattening period and has been accentuated by the remarkable rise in wool values. Farmers are no longer faced with the necessity of turning as many of their ewes and lambs as possible into immediate money, but are now diverting their attention to tlje building up of their flocks in the hope that they will be able to reap a richer reward next season from improved wool values.