FAT LAMB COMPETITION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23689, 22 December 1938, Page 15

FAT LAMB COMPETITION

SOUTHLAND DISTRICT ENTRY EXCELLENT QUALITY THROUGHOUT (Special to Daily Times) INVERCARGILL, Dec. 21. Lambs considered to be equally as good as those which had won the shield for Southland for the last 10 years in the New Zealand Meat Board's South Island district fat lamb competition were selected to-day to con> orise the Southland exhibit for the latest competition. The lambs were assembled at the Ocean Beach Freezing Works, and the 15, pens of three lambs each finally selected to comprise the district exhibit were of excellent quality. "These lambs are every bit as good as those in the Southland exhibit which won in London last year," said Mr W. Falconer, manager of the Makarewa Freezing Works, who, with Mr N. McGorlick. works manager at Ocean Beach, judged and chose the lambs for the exhibit. " There was only one bad pen in the total entry of 107 pens, and the only fault in some of the pens was that the lambs were bruised, as if they had been hit with a stick. The qualitv throughout was very good." all lambs showing a lot of the. good meaty carcass of the Down cross breeding. All were the produce of the mating of a Southdown ram with, open-woolled ewes. The winning pen on hooks was wonderfully good, although the lambs may be a little over prime for the London market, and may be beaten .at Smithfield by second and third prize pens. If Southland is beaten in this competition, the winners will have to be remarkably good," concluded Mr Falconer. "After we had taken out the best 15 pens we could have gone through and selected another 15 peni almost equally good." The competition did not attract such big entries as last year, when 171 pens were assembled at the Makarewa works for killing, but the reduced number was generally attributed to the wet weather making handling and selection of the lambs less pleasant rather than to any shortage of lambs. The entry totalled 107 pens, most of the competitors entering two. pens and taking advantage of the rules of the competition permitting a damaged or rejected lamb to be replaced from a second pen, or lambs to be more evenly matched by selection from the two pens.

Mr D. Windle, of Gore, who judged the lambs on the hoof, said they made a beautiful collection. The results of the judging on the hoof were as follows:—Sir William Hunt (Broughton Bush) 1, Alan Henderson (Centre Bush) 2, J. E. McKenzie (Otahuti) 3, lan C. Mcllwrick (Otapiri) 4, Lindsay Bros. (Drummond) 5. On the hooks placings, three weight, were:—N. M. Burnett (Scott's Gap), 311 b, 321 b, 331 b, 1; Sir William Hunt (Broughton Bush). 331 b, 341 b, 361 b. 2; H, A. Robertson (Otautau). 321 b, 331 b, 361 b, 3.