STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2398, 15 February 1900, Page 7

STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Bx Djroveb. Weekly Stock Sales : Fortnv,Mbj: Eurnside, Wednesdays I»vercargill, Tuesdays. Ashburton, Tuesdp.ys Monthly • Addi_gton,Wedneadays Clinton, Palmerston, Fcrtniohtly: and Winfcm. Balclutha ridays Periodically: Gore, Tuesdays ' j Heriot.Kolso, and KyeOamaru, Tuesdays burn. [Commuaications of interest to stocklneedera and <leaier< a cordially invited. All jommunisationt to reach M iti.ess ctt. sot iater than Monday nisht.l One hundred and forty-lwo head oi cattle were yarded at Burnside last week, and the small j-arding (quite sufficient) was productive of a rise in price of ab.out 10s per .head for best cattle, and of about 5s on mediusn. Best bullocks sold at from £9 to nearly £9 10=, smaller £7 10s io over £8, good heifers £5 10s to £7. Tne demand for store cattle is as brisk as ever, and prices are high, but reasonable as compared with the present and prospective prices of prime beef, leaving a -fair margin for graziers' profit. I cannot see that this is the case with store sheep and lambs. The margin allowed in these lines both at present and in the past always seem to me too narrow. C4ood store three to four-year-old forward bullocks sell readily at from £5 10s up to £6 10s accordingto condition, backward £4 10s to £5. Crood two-year-old steers are worth £3 10s to £4, and I have seen some very good value at these figures. I am glad to see that the subject of our cattle-breeding is beir.g discussed in country papers, and I agree with the remarks made on the subject by a writer in the Wyndham Farmer, which appeared in the Witness last week, as they bear out, it will be seen, Die views frequently expressed by me on this subject. I have no wish to belittle the Ayrshircs as a breed of useful dairy cattle, but what we want is a large importation of Shorthorns of the milking strain. This breed is given very little attention to in this colony, and yet it should, in my opinion, have pre-eminence in our importations. Hoisteins also merit attention. All returns show how little in the way of importation of good cattle has been done in New Zealand. The dairy industry has in all other departments advanced and got well into front rank, but since the industry started little or nothing has 'been clone in the way of importations to maintain. ,the breed of cattle. The day must come .whan cteiry farmers will have to take into- account lite question cf keeping up the size 'and quality'of the cattle they are rearing. Up to the present I believe all over New Zealand deleiioration, instead of improve ment, has gone on steadily. It is time we woke up. The 100 head of frrst-class stud cattle imported into Kew South Wales lateiy will give our neighbours there an advantage ere long. About 1900 sheep were yarded, a fair proportion being goad wethers, although on the heavy side to make first-class freezers. I suppose the first-class freezer of about 601b weight will be in ver3- small supply in New Zealand now. The best of the wethers brought 15s to to 16s, L si ewes 13s 6d to 14s 6d, inferior 10s to 12s. The best mutton coming to the yards now comprises maiden ewes, the bulk of the wethers being coarse and heavy. There was a yarding of nearly 1200 lambs, and export buyers were operating, so that the bidding was brisk. Fat lambs brought 10s 6d to lls 6d .and store lambs within Is of these rates. Graziers and dealers were very active. So far as "I can judge the export of lambs from Otago" arid Southland will again be small, the bulk of o.ur lambs exported crossing the Waitaki, and getting 9 little finishing, possibly on rape, will be transformed into prime Canterbury. Buyers from the north aie pctivc in securing all they can of our store lamb*, which are going over the border rapidly. Tnis season- Burnside has been buying direct from farmers, and this, I hear, has not pleased some agents, who are now employed buying for Canterbury dealers. They operate mostly in stores. The grain market is dull as regards wheat, but the opinion of experts is that a ri^e n the price must shortly take place. I should therefore' advise farmers to be in no hurry selling. .Prices ot present are low, and there can .be no danger in. holding. We have heard rumours of a trust being formed among the New Zealand millers to regulate the prices. I presume this means the selling price of flour. If it means that they ore to dictate prices of grain to farmers, then the trust has a big job before it, and simply o little firmness and delay in selling by farmers would easily dcfe.it any such object. In the early part of the season freight may be scarce, ■which would tend to keep export prices down, but such scarcity cannot last for long. In oa'/ the mirket is firm and lively. There is a scarcity of prime bright feed, but inferior prs more plentiful. fe&d are worth 2s Id, inferior about I^, lOd. ProspecLs for the coming crop are &ncl one mtut hope now for a cessation of the rain, and I also hope that farmers will lake full advantage of all fine ■<vea.th.2r and make every effort to save grain in r ,ood order. The rabbits will keep till the "harvest is secured, and the races could ilso •be defence! till afterwards. Grain saved in good oider this year will duly reward anyene who gives ihe matter full attention. At Addington the yarding of fat slieej) v/as gmall, but prices of ircssina. sh^e;:! show a da-

ii cline on last week' 3 rates. Best wethers made ■" 14s 2d to 15s &d, ewes 12s to 14s 6d. The market for freezing lambs was also easier, freezer; j selling at from 10» 6cl to 12s 6cl, while some extra heavy brought up to 13s. The quantity yarded was small, but export buyers did not seem anxious to secure many. < The feature of the Canterbury markets is the continued demand for and high £>rices oi stores, whilst feed is said to be drying up considerably in many parts. There have al?o been heavy deliveries of stores from up-country stations, which had previously been purchased off the shears. Whilst large lines of stoics are coming from Otago and Southland, the North Island is also sending largely to this all-absorbing Canterbury market. Still the . demand for stores is as keen as ever, and prices seem to be advancing. Blenheim, Jlaikoura, and Ohplhom Islands also send in ) their quota. Syle^ are reported as follows: — 1375 four and pix-tooth wethers 13s 3d, 100 same 13s and smaller lots clown to 12s, 600 f four and six-tooth ewes 14s Bd, 200 four, six, ; and e'ght-tooth ewes 13s 6d, other lots mixed i and sound-mouthed 12s to 13s, 294 stcie lambs i 11s 4d. other lots at from 10s 5d to 11s Id. [ I These prices are good, and I ran not surprised , at our Olrgo and Southland stores going over i | the border j»t any such rates. It seems to me ■ that farmers maj as well sell while such rates '. are going as fatten. The price of fat sheep '. and lambs, as indicated by the present London ' market, is not such as to wan ant big prices, and as a matter of lact. fat stock are loner thpn thoy were, whilst stores continue to advance. The large number of formers with plentiful feed caups a multiplicity of buyers I ot store sheep, and all have their own idea of j value, the rote boing ruled possibly by the opinion of the most sanguine. When, how- ; ever, it comes to celling fat sheep for export i there is no multiplicity of buyers. There J m?y be, as is usual, a sanguine speculator or two, but generally the buying limit is l tiled by London rates and on business lines. Sg I am of opinion that thei-o is need of more caution in buying store sheep. The following extracts from the Meat Trade Journal will be of interest : — Experiments continae to be made with a, number of breeds of sheep for the purpose of providing a profitable butcher's carcase. A v/riter in an English agricultural paper i siates that in the South of Englrnd the Rom I noy-Sout'idown cross luis been steadily gahiing ' favour with bodi farmers and butcher.^ "Widely ' different as these two breeds ore in their uisi tinccive characzeristicd, it has been found that I this cross has become a rent-paying one m the localities natural io the two braocls. It Las passed the expeiimc-ntal stage, and \u\j | proved itself to be a good example ci one well-known i?ec amongst breeder^— iuat the first cross between two essentially different types, although ofte.i proving a disappointment, sometimes combines not only many of the good points of both typ23. but has the addition oi valuable ones peculiar to ib;elf. The Romney sheep have size and weight, but j are often a little ra'.ron- and high abo-'e the | shoulder. The fcouthdown corrects this and i similar faults, and imparts a plumpness and ! roundness to the shoulders. When, therefore. 1 a Southdown ram is put to a Romney ewe, the crossbred has thf full size of the Romney and the round shoi'iders of ? v.-fll-bred Down, i while the coarrerses; of ihe,f: rnier is al-o tcned i down and impr.^ed by the softer and plumper natvre of the Southdown. Tt is held t.^rt tho wool oh this cvos-j should not be considered where the aim is to breed a good mutton sheep. In this case the incicrse in the weight of the fleece makes vo for the lack in quality. Beyond the first cross it h doubtful if any success can be obtained, but. so long Ob tLe farmerdoes not 0,0 beyond it and fattens off the I progeny, the result may be satisfactory to the j English farmer. This cross has been bred in the United States of America, but wi'h only moderate success, and it is not likely that it would prove satisfactory under Australian conditions. The pro«s mentioned, though not =uiiablo for Australia, might be suitable for New Zealand. We are rapidly losing our name for piime mutton, and the question of how to breed on lines that will bring us back to the position we once held is very important. The export lamb trado being the main factor that j has worked against our mutton trade. Prime I quality mutton 601b weight is what we want j and wo seem lo be getting always further away I from any pro.-pect of it. I ' _____ The following note gives some idea, of one of the cause*- of the improved prospects in tho beef trade. Tha foct is, American popula lion, and consequent consumption, is increasing more rapidly than production, and what ho.s occurred to help New Zealoncl in dairy produce will probably follow in beef. For years America exported cheese very heavily, and butter also to some extent; but home consumption, has so lessened the export, that the New Zealand importations as yet by no means make up for the falling-off in America a exportation to Britain. Indeed, as will be seen from the figures I gave last week, New Zealand imports are as yet but a " drop in the bucket" compared with those of Denmark and Canada. There is room for a great, expansion 'in this business, and the present season's good rates. will, I am sure, stimulato productions — . Secretary Wilson, of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has recently made a tour of the wen., and is quoted as saying: "It seem 3 lo be that the chief iea,on for advances in beef prices is the general prosperity and increased wage earning capacity of the people this year. Students of the economic =of na lions arc av,a,re that a high state of prosperity is accompanied by a larger consumption of meat, and naturally accompanying a rise in prices. Tho returns to the deportment as to the actual number -of cattk in the country other than milch coivs at the clo^c of 1898 fhowed p, decline of nearly 3,000,000 in tho , a 7 .> re j; ate number of such cattle, compared with the preceding year. The decline in Ihe tolrl number of brei cattle was accompanied by a ri&o in returned values, aopi-egating more than 20,000,000d01. In addition to these facts, my observations through the West impressed me that the lalling-off in number of catcle is in a large part duo Lo the deplorable conclt- | tion of the ranges in many ] arts ot tho cour-lry. Some ranges have been cloj stroyed by ovor- grazing, and by the improvident use of the -vvatai: supply in. sonic of the

3 Statos, where the laws regulating the uses oi . M - ater are ineffective. Great waste of water , has been caused by these unpractical opera- ° tions, and many of the formerly excellent 3 ranges have been robbed ol their water supply. r with the result that alkali h forced lo the surj iv.cc, and where once luxuriant grass grew ; now the sage bush can hardly find ea^y ) growth."