Untitled

Otago Witness, Issue 1977, 14 January 1892, Page 7

suffered most, being badly laid, and heavy oats were ladly laid and the straw broken. A quantity of the latter will now bo cut for hay, and as oats are now grown to a great extent for feeding to sheep during the winter and spring, the loss will not bo so deadly. On Saturday night another very heavy raiiibtorm visited a part of the district, and farmers are most apprehensive of a continuance of the stormy weather, as the grain is as green now as it was three weeks ago, and diy, bright weather is wanted for ripening the crops and preventing an outbreak of rust. With fine weather a harvest above the average will yet be had ; with stormy weather quantity and quality will alike suffer. Grass and roots have benefited immensely by the rain. In some places the turnips were coming away very badly, but the rain has not only stimulated the growth but greatly lostened tho fear of fly. Whatever nay go wrong then 1 , is no danger now of any spoilage of autumn feed, wooi,. Shearing has been nearly at a standstill for the last three weeks, as the weather on the ranges has been even more rainy than on the pains, and the sheep had not time to dry between showe rs. The clip is turning out well, but the price is very bad — quite as low as that of six years ago, tho condition of the wool considered. uu; .viock. Sheep are looking up again, the improvement in the Home market having brought the export buyers into the market again. Stores have been very dull, but there is bound to be a move in this class also as soon as the stubbles are cleared. Store cattle are selling well, especially young stock. Beef sells very irregularly. Store pigs are being inquired for. They have been cheap lately, but will be dearer as harvest progresses, particularly if there is a bad harvest. IIOJtoES. There is a good demand for young, sound f.irm woikers, especially those which a trial can be given. Upstanding carriage sorts have had a special inquiry lately for tho Sydney and Melbourne markets. The sale of Lord Onslow's fine teams to-morrow is looked forward to with some inteie^t. CO-OJ'KR VIION'. In a recent note "Agricoln"' referred to farmers' co-operative .societies joining woolbrokers' associations and conforming to their rules and charges as a drawback to farmers joining such associations. A little explanation will sliow tlutt members of co-operative associations are placed in as good a position with regard to their commission business as with ftnv of the-ir other transactions with the association. The Cmttrbury co-operative

the meat through the freezing process. It is quite a fallacy to imagine that tho sheep we send Home presents the same bright colour as it does when freshly killed. When going through Smithfield I was repeatedly struck by the piile, colourless appearance of the majority of tho frozen sheep. In many instances not a vestige of colour or brightness was left, but a tallowy, pale, dull colour presented instead. Now and then you would come across cases where the meat was bright and with the bloom on it, but my opinion is that the majority were the other way. Seeing English meat and our colonial sheep side by side in the same meat shop, and it would not require a man of largo perceptive faculties to s:iy which was English and which colonial. Why .some sheep should be better than others in this respect I cannot offer any theory for, nor could any of the experts I spoke to on the subject. It was, however, generally admitted that the class of sheep less liable to the loss of colour referred to, or to the blntne>s about the leg often observable in frozen sheep, are those whose breeding are nearer to the longwoolled than tho me.'mo sheep, and though the quality of the first cross meat was admitted, the opinion was expressed thai a plump, fairsized three-quarter or seven-eighth bred sheep of from 581b to 631b was the mor-t valuable class of sheep to tho grower.

Then again, as to the taste of our frozen meat ; I do not think that people speaking honestly will say that it is up to the form of the best British meat. That it is excellent oa 4iug, and at the price obtainable much preferable to English meat, there can bo no doubt, but when anyone tolls me that there is no difference between them as legards taste I differ with them. These remarks, however, do not apply nearly so much to lambs ; why I cannot say, but lambs seem to stand the freezing bettor. They thaw out with the bloom on, and they taste not a bit the worse, and I believe the frozen lamb exported from New Zealand to be as sweet and nice in every respect (if not better) than the best lambs over bred in Great Britain.

I took tho opportunity of distributing a fow lambs amongst people I mot, and had many opportunities of testing both colonial and English lambs myself, and I can only say that personally I liked our lamb best. That there is a good deal in what I have said is proved by the fact that many people buy New Zealand lamb for their private übo who do not patronise the mutton to the same extent.

I am aware that what I have said about our meat is different somewhat to the verdict generally expressed, but I am recounting my own c\peiienre'S and am actuated more vith the purpobe ot pointing out bomeieaoonable ground

brightest carcases he can get, and cut them up and sell them as the best English meat. Ido not see myself that that man has done us any harm. The more money he can make the better price he will yive for the option of selecting his meat. What we want to prevent, if possible, is the practice of selling unsaleable, poor stuff from Plate River or elsewhere as New Zealand. Over and over again I saw .shops containing meat that would mak'; a Canterbury farmer shudder for sale with a great big i-rinted card with "Canterbury meat" printed on it. I will, however, deal further with this in my next.

The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company point out that their charge for commission on selling frozen meat in any part of the United Kingdom is only 1 per cent, in addition to the usual brokerage charge of 2 per cent.

Hearing that there were weekly arrivals of live fat sheep from Canada, the United States, and South America, at Liverpool, I went down there to see the Zarata, a very much smaller steamer than those carrying our meat, and saw her arrive at the docks. She had about 280 live sheep on the deck, fitted up in what seemed to me a very insecure manner considering that she had been 42 days coining from Plate River. The sheep, however, looked well and strong, and the man in charge told me that they had gained in condition on the way, and that he had only lost two during the voyage. They were large, coarse crossbred sheep, and as scabby as could be. I saw the same sheep a few days afterwards in the Government stock sheds at Birkenhead. The hheep are taken there from 'the ship, and by statute have to be killed not biter than 10 days from tho day they are landed, and of course are not allowed to leave Birkenhead. Hearing that these sheep were to be killed on a certain morning I went to the yard, accompanied by the party who had the sheep in charge from Argentina. Having arrived there and attired ourselves in a canvas suit (a precaution insisted upon by the Government with a view of preventing infection from the scabby sheep) we proceeded to the slaughtering premises and saw a number of them killed. The sheep were running about in an immense covered shed, and though they seemed in good condition there was scarcely one them free from scab, some more or less infected than others, and many of them a pitiable sight to behold, with their fleeces dragging behind them through the friction caused by the irritation brought on by the disease. In a few instances the result of the scab was shown through the fleece skin, but these traces were subsequently removed in the market at Liverpool. The majority of these sheep killed well, and would weigh