NEW ZEALAND FARMERS IN SIDNEY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2059, 10 August 1893, Page 11

NEW ZEALAND FARMERS IN SIDNEY.

(Continued from page 8.) Chairman: I will now introduce a gentleman whose name is familiar to every shearing man in New Zealand, or who has visited it. His magniflcent freehold estate and his grand flocks are amongst the thing? of which every Ntw Zealander is proud. Mr Menlove in his remarks will say something to us in reference to the alleged difficulty of keeping these longwool sheep within fences, and refer to other matters with which he is bo conversant. Mr Menlove: I believe the longwool sheep can be kept within fences. My experience is this : I put a post or standard every Btt, with six rows of wire. Six wireß and a barb at the top for both cattle and sheep-six lower wires. I very seldom find sheep out of the paddocks. To put it plainer, perhaps : This shearing time I had only 12 sheep away, or 12 strangers on my place put of nearly 20,000 Ilongwool Bheep. I think that ought to satisfy everyone that the half bred sheep can be kept within fences. A great many of my fences are six wires, with a barb wire at the top both for sheep and cattle. With regard to the longwool sheep, about which so much has been said tonight, I do not think I need speak about them, other gentlemen having spoken so much on the subject. If, however, you would like to know which are the best.croßseß, I will Bay a few words If you have good country, I suppose the Lincoln sheep are the best. If you have a country slightly inferior you can either use the English Leicester, the Border Leicester, or the Shropshire. If the land is very poor keep the merinos. At 15 or 18 monthi my sheep generally come to from 601b to 70b. I use good rams, and generally breed from halfbred ewes or sometimes three-quarter parts. I generally put Shropshires to the old ewes, and at three months and a-half this year my lambs by Shropshire rams weighed 381b to 401b, and some' even up to 501b. I have experienced trouble through ewes beingtoo fat to breed lambs, especially with Leicesters. I have been accustomed to run off the fattest ewes after weaning, and keep them in a bare paddock with plenty of water, until the rams are put in, and by thus doing I have realised up to 135 per cent, of lambs. I generally put one Leicester ram to 50 ewes. If lam short of rams I put one to 60 or 65 ewes. As regards keeping longwool or crossbred sheep within fences, if you once keep them in with a good fence they settle down and are no trouble, but if once they get out they are most difficult to keep. Again, as regards ewes getting too fat to breed, it has occurred to me that I now run off the fattest ones at weaning time, say, 10 per cent., and pat them in a bare paddock with plenty of water, and I have always had good lanbings. Mr Wilson : I would like to ask some of the gentlemen present if Mr Murphy, of Teridgene, continued to breed those wonderful paying crosabreds of his, or, if he sold the station, whether his successors continued to breed them, and if so what was the result ? Mr Grave 3: He gave up breeding the crossbred sheep before he sold to Messrs Ryder Bros., and for this reason, that he could not get anybody to buy the surplus stock. He had about 60,000 crossbred sheep there, and as he could not sell them for breeding, and there was no meat export trade then, he had but one resource left, and that was to fatten them for market, which he could very easily do upon such magnificent country. Mr Wilson : If that is the experience of Mr Whits on that very country, what is to prove we may not have the same experience at the present time. , We have had no experience of a continuous nature of breeding crossbred sheep on land like that— a sheep to two acres, with a dry summer. A great deal of the country that our fat stock comes from is like that. If any gentleman has a definite and continuous experience of crossbreds on a country like that, he might give us the beneMr Graveß : Mr Tanner spoke of country that required three acres to a sheep, and pointed out that by sowing this country, so much similar to ours, he was very successful upon it. Mr Wilson : One had water on it, and the other Chairman: Mr Tanner alluded to country where he has been running sheep of a very lowcarrying capacity, and I now, with your permission, call upon Mr Studholme,' who also has a very large run in Hawke's Bay, the district from which Mr Tanner comes, where the country is P °Mr Studholme : Like Mr Tanner I come from Hawke's Bay, where the rams used ate almost entirely Lincoln and Romney. The country occupied by us U what is called the back country, being from 2500 ft to 6000 ft high, and of very poor quality, as you can imagine, when ™nmng over about 350,000 acres we only carry about 120,000 sheep, the feed being almost entirely native grasseß ; sol think-that our experiences are more akin to what you will undergo in New South Wales. For many years this country was entirely given up to merinos, the opinion being that halfbred sheep would not do on auch poor country, and merino wool fetching such a good price in the carcase was not considered of so much importance ; but latterly, since merino wool ha 3 fallen in value, and there being no pale for surplus merino stock, all breeders of merinos in Hawke s Bayhaveturnedtheirattentiontotrymgtoproduce a more profitable sheep in place of their merino 3, and almost wjthout an exception they put longwool rams to their merino ewes, and the resujt has been so satisfactory and profitable thajpney are now stocked with one-hatf and three-fourth bred sheep, where at one tjm.e the country was thought only suitable for merinos. One of our neighbours, who has country sjmilar to ours, has completely gone out of merinos, and now breeds nothing but halfbreds and three-quarter breds, and he tells me that they are a great success and most profitable, giving him a larger return for wool, and he always has a ready sale for his surplus stock at good prices; his sheep are the Romney-merino cross. On a smaller run of ours, situated near our larger run, being over 2000 ft up, but of rich soil and English grass, where we carry two and a-quarter sheep per acre, we started with a flock of merino ewea, putting to them Romney rams, and breeding up from their progeny from Romney rams. We found that the merino ewes were greatly affected with footrpt, so much so that we had to 'clear them all out; but the Romney cross are hardly affected in their feet, and the closer one gets to the Romney the more free they are from footrot. On our larger run we have always had a few halfbred and tbreequarterbred sheep running with the merinos. They have exactly the same treatment as the merinos, and when they come in at shearing time they are always in good condition and shear well. Last year we put a considerable number of merino ewes to Romney rams, and their progeny have turned out exceedingly well, so much so that we have put three times as many ewes tothe Rouiney this year as last, and hopa to increase the number until we have our stock principally halfbreds. One gentleman was asking how they would manage to tup with longwool rams when they had large paddocks. Well, our paddocks run from 20,000 upwards where we tup. We simply get all the ewes together, bold them in ons end of the block, and put the ram in probably 20 000 ewe 3in a mob, and then have them kept together as much as possible by shepherds fora few weeks, and we generally find the result is a good lambing. Longwool rams do not go about so much as merino, so the oloser one is able to keep the rams and ewe 3 together the better. Several eentlemen have sunken to me on the subject of lambing, and the likely large loss from using the longwool or the merino ewe. Ido not think they need have much apprehension on that score if care is taken in selecting suitable ewes. I should suggest that ewes should be chosen with regard to the size of their frame, and only ewes that have previously had one or two lambs by a merino ram. A full-mouthed ewe in preference to a younger one • in other words, care should be taken not to put maiden ewes to a longwoolled ram, and then one should lose very few owes during lambing, and agoodpercentageßhouldbethe result. I have spoken entirely about the Romney Marsh bross. because none of the other speakers have alluded to it, and I think, as a whole, that they are the most suitable sheep one can cross with for poor or high and wet country, being very heavy, round in the feet, and of good constitutions, and can do well on very indifferent feed j and under the above conditions I do not think a more suitable breed of sheep exists. No doubt the Lincoln, on low country and good feed, is the most profitable sheep one can grow, and many of the other long* wool breeds are first-rate sheep for their purposes.,

Chairman : Gentlemen, another of our New Zealand visitors who is here this evening is Mr Gray. I feel sure you will be glad to hear what Mr Gray has to tell us in regard to the Border Leiceaters being suitable to the climate and conditions of Otago. Obago is further south in the South Island than Canterbury. Mr Gray : Mr Chairman and Gentlemen,— l am a breeder of Border Leicestera. My friend Mr Overtoil has been rather rough on Border Leicestera to-night. Down in Otago, Border Leicesters are tho sheep that take the lead now. At the Duuedin fair this year the demand was for Border Leicestera and for Romneys ; Southdowns and the others were not in much demand. I think, also, Mr Overton was a little rough on the report which Mr Bruce gave upon the different classes of sheep. I think Mr Bruce was not far astray. I may say that in the part of Otago from which I come the Border Leicester sheep is the principal sheep usod for crossing with merinos. For fat lambs and for freezing purposes, the cross between the Border Leicesters and the merinojon rough hilly country is a far better sheep. *In Otago, it is a far better sheep than the merino for rough country. The Border Leicester ram and the first-crossed ewe, for freezing purposes, are the best sheep we have for both mutton and wool. Our hoggets at about 15 to 16 months old— that is, about a month or two months after shearing — sell for frozen meat purposes, weighing from 601b to 701b. For fat lambs, the first-crossed ewe and the Border Leicester ram is the principal sheep. Thosearewhatweuse in Otago for breeding fat lambs for breeding purposes. One gentleman says what about the heads of the Lincolns and the Leicesters ? I may tell you that in the part of the country I come from the objection to putting the Lincoln to the merino ewe is the head. As Mr Overton says, the Lincolns may not have bigger heads than other sheep, but the Border Leicesters have smaller ones.— (Laughter and applause.) Chairman : Reference has been made during the course of the evening to the success of the frozen meat trade in New Zealand, and I will now ask Mr A. S. Pa'terson, who is here on a visit from that colony, and who has been as closely associated with the frozen meat trade there, as, perhaps, any man in the colony. Mr A. S. Jfaterson : In the capacity of a commercial man, familiar with the frozen meat trade, I will endeavour to speak to you for 10 minutes upon what the frozen me.at trade has done for New Zealand, and how it has done it. Of course this is a very large question, and, perhaps, it is a very over- discussed one, but I would like, as it were, just to put up one or two pegs in your mind upon which you can hang your thoughts upon this question. In the first place, I would say that the frozen meat trade has put into the pockets of the pastoralists in New Zealand since its initiation about seven millions of money, tab ing into account all the subsidiary products connected with, the frozen meat trade. At the present time it brings into the pockets or the pastoralists about £1,250,000 per annum. If we capitalise that on a basis of 5 per cent, interest it means that the trade hasaddedabout £25, 000, 000 to the value of New Zealand land on the basis of producing power.— (Hear, hear.) That is, after all, a very naked way of stating the matter ; let me, therefore, clothe it with a little more detail. First, let me say the frozen meat trade has lifted the sheepfarmers of New Zealand out of debt.— (Hear, hear.) Before this trade started they were very heavily involved. By the help of thiß trade they have been gradually emerging from this position, and are now very far from being heavily burdened, proportionately to the resources which this industry gives them. In the next place, this frozen meat trade has given an assured value to the lands of the colony. It has gradually brought up the earning power of the lands to such an extent that it is no longer a matter of discussion what land in New Zealand may be worth. It is a matter of practicable result, and a sure and stead, fast basis has been given to all landed operations in New Zealand through that industry. In the next place it has raised the value of our exports to such an extent as to have thoroughly gamed us the respect of the English moneylender, to whom we are indebted as individuals, and of the bondholder, to whom we are indebted as a community. Again, it has very largely forwarded the settlement of the lands by showing'a constantly-increas-ing number of people in the colony itself that they can tackle the question of settling upon the lands with Borne assurance as to what the outcome is going to be. Indeed, there are signs that we are going to attract English and Scotch farmers to settle upon our lands. In the next place the revenue from it, which has to come into the hands of the flookowners, and the prosperity which they have attained, have filtered gradually downwards through every class of the community, until at the present time New Zealand may be described as a prosperous community generally. Further, it has imparted elasticity to the public revenue, and placed NewZealandin the positionof being theonlycolony whose revenues are showing any expansion at the present time. In the last place, I would say the frozen meat trade has given to New Zealand the reputation of being the most prosperous colony of the group. Ami saying too mtfch when I state that the frozen meat trade has done all this? 1 don't think I am. I don't think any sober-minded man in New Zealand would say I am. I quite acknowledge that our tempsrate climate and productive soil have done much to pull us out of our difficulties. I also acknowledge that our politicians have done something to help us out of our difficulties. I would be very sorry to say that a great deal of credit should not be given to that grand old warrior Sir Harry Atkinson, who, so far as I know, was the first politician in the colonies to tackle a deficit fairly and squarely, and balance the finances of a colony from year to year, making the revenue and expenditure meet. Even the present Government, although not popular among the land-owning class, is, I believe, very earnest on the question of settlement, and 13 producing much earnestness in the minds of the people in New Zealand on the question of agricultural development. They are entitled to their share of gratitude for the improved position of matters. But behind, and above all, the frozen meat trade ia the thing which has done it.-(Applause.) Let me say a word or two as to how. It has done it by the self-reliant enterprise of the sheepfarmers themselves. Broadly speaking, it was the sheepfarmers who initiated the fir*t freezing companies in New Zealand. It was the farmers who supported these companies and found work for them. It was in the interests and by the guidance of tho Bheepfarmers that these companies were managed •nd controlled. The force of that you will see from the next point which I intend to make. Let me ask, however, in the meantime, was it all a process of plain sailing and easy success by which the New Zealand sheepfarmers have beon enabled to do all 1 his 1 It was very far, indeed, from being that. There is no word that figures so prominently in the history of the New Zealand frozsn meat trade as the word " difficulty." It has been a struggle with difficulties from beginning to end. To run rapidly over some of these difficulties. I may say there was first the difficulty of getting the capital subscribed necessary to erect freezing works and carry them on. Then there was the difficulty of getting guarantees of the sheep necesBary to give constant employment to tho works, and to make charters and obtain tonnage to carry the sheep away. Then there came the difficulty of finding proper channels and efficient agencies for the placing of the meat upon tho Ljndon market. Then thero came the most crushing difficulty of ail-that of receiving very wretched returns in many instances for the shipments which were sent away. I believe my friend, Mr Menlove, here, who has been speaking to you, can probably call to mind shipments of frozan mutton which he made to London for which he got no returns at all, and other shipments which Ec made for which hid returns were only reckoned in pence per carcase. All those who were connected with him in the early prosecution of this businesshad similar experience. Did they give it up? No -they went on with it until they conquered all the difficulties! have named, and other USflfipiilMeß as well and brought the whole of are things to be overcome. The spirit I have described is the one in which the sheepfarmers of New Zealand tackled this business, with the result mentioned, and the difficulties which were all before them atone time, are now all behind them -(Hear, hear.) Having spoken of these difficulties being overcome, and the trade placed by the sheepfarmers themselves upon a fair y sound basis, what took place then? Broadly speaking, another class of freezing companies sprang up in New Zealand, not owned by the sheepfarmers Tnor run in thew interests, but SJw»te4by the mercantile men of the polony,

chiefly by individuals and companies formed for the prosecution of thiß business on a mercantile basis. They said to the sheepfarmer, " You don't require to send all your sheep home to London and wait for returns ; we will buy your sheep and give you cash for them. It will suit you very much better," and the sheepfarmers said, at least most of them, "Yeß,it will suites very much better." So they began to sell their sheep to that class of company, and to get cash for them. The blessing of this you can seeiis all summed up in one word " competition." Instead of the farmers having to send their sheep Home and wait for a long time for the result, they had the mercantile freezing companies running after them to buy their sheep. Some of the buyers said, 'We will buy your sheep for five years or three years, and the farmers, for the most part, said (men like Mr Menlove), " Well, if it is good enough for you to buy the sheep for five years ahead, we think we had better keep them/ 1 The Bheepfarmers then gradually foundfreezingcompanies who were willing to say, " We will put up works and occupy this district and .buy your sheep from week to week, from month to month, and from year to year, on the basis of such price as we can get for them in London, and make a freezing hire. for ourselves and a dividend for the capital we invest in that freezing business." I hope I have made it clear to you and that you will see the point to be this, that the sheepfarmer was gradually able to lever up the price he was getting for hia sheep by his having a company of his own, whereby he could freeze his carcase and send it to London and get full value for it, and alongside of that a purchasing company who would compete and oner mm the beßt price it could, his own company acting as a check that he got a sufficient price for his sheep from the men who wanted to buy them for cash. Thereyou have the most excellent element of competition that came into tho New Zealand frozen meat trade, and gradually, as I say, levered up the price to the profitable figures which have been mentioned to you by some of the sheepfarmers to-night.— (Hearrhear.) The end of all was this grand result, that every farmer 19 New Zealand just now who has a fat sheep or a fat lamb, has got two or three buyers chasing him for them, and if the buyers won't give the price he wants he has got his own freezing works. I want to know if we could be in a better position than that ? This grand result which has been brought about in New Zealand is exactly the result which awaits the development of this business in Australia. lam told the circumstances are very different here. They are different no doubt, but the' difficulties are very much the same after all is Baid and done. A great many of the difficulties we have already solved for you in New Zealand, and you have the full benefit of our experience, and I believe everybody in New Zealand connected with this business is exceedingly willing to impart the knowledge and experience gained to the other colonies. Many of the other difficulties you will have to solve for youraelves, but the solution is in your own hands, and I am very much mistaken if you are not about to tackle this business in very much the same way it has been tackled in New Zealand, with the result that it has become the salvation of the sheepfarming industry. There is only one thing more that I have to say in closing, and it is this, that I feel that the crucial question in connection with the freezing business in Australia ia whether it is going to be kept in the hands of the sheepfarmers themselves and run in their interests or not. I would very strongly urge that to begin with it should certainly be bo. Arm yourselves fully with your own equipments of freezing appliances to be used entirely in tKe interests of the sheepfarmera. Develop the business on' that basis as was done inNew Zealand, and the mercantile men and the capitalists abroad will very soon see when this ■ business has reached a point when they can come in. Let them come in by all means and give you competition for your sheep. Welcome them ; the more the merrier. But in the present stage of things I would Bay as the result of the New Zealand sheep business that you will do well to use your best endeavours to keep the interests entirely in the Bheepfarmers' own hands.— (Sear, ! hear.)