STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2403, 22 March 1900, Page 6

STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Br Djioyeb.

Weekly Stock Sales: Fortniyhfu : Hurnside, Wednesdays I°vercargill, Tuesdays A'-hburton, Tuesdays Monthly : Addington.Wednesdays Clinton, Pahaerston „ . . , , and Winton. Fcrtniqhtly: Balclntha ridays I : Gore, Tuesdays I Heriot.Kelso, and KycOamaru Tuesdays | burn.

Over 200 head of catde were yarded at Burnside la c t week, and prices were slightly lower than those of the previous week. Owing lo the export trade in beeE being now fairly established, we need not expect aii3' gieat lowering in frices in consequence of large yai'ding<3, which at thij season especially have been of frequent occurrence in the past. Best bullocks -£7 10a lo £8 30--. No \ery heavy bullocks v.ero yarded. Jlcdiumsized bullocks and <-oine nice cows and heifers went to buteheis at from £5 lo £7. Good store cattle of all ages meet vilh ready pale at full rates.

Only about 1500 theep were yarded, all ot very good quality, and butchers had to bid up, as the &upp!y was limited, and export buyers were also active. Prices showed an advance on previous week's rates of Is per head. Best crossbreds, moderate weights, brought 15s lo 16d, a few heavies going up to 17s 6d ; good light-weight wethers brought 13s 6d to Ms 6d, good ewes about the fame, The lowest prlca paid was about 12s, but none 01 the yarding v/ero inferior, the whole being as even a lot of sheep as we have seen in the yard" for rome time. None of the freezing works in Otago and Southland are putting through a great Quantity of mutton or lamb at present. Supplies are evidently not heavy. Our freezing works are all doing a little in beef, and the labbit supplies bid fair to be heavy.

There was a yarding of 1600 lambs of fair quality. Export buyers were active, but prices here are much lower than in Canterbury, where export buyers are giving fully Is 6d per head more. Bent freezers brought 10s 6d to 12s, light 9s to 10s. Cables report a considerable advance in iamb on Iho London market, and prices will continue good till after Easter at any rate, and longer if our supplies for phipiaeni don't exceed those going at present, and this is not improbable.

Whilbt the market for young and store pigs is at the moment quiet, baconers and porkers are in good deiurmd. and supplies coming forward are moderate in the meantime here.

The yardinge; of stock at Addingion continue to be as laige as ever, and auctioneers there have certainly a heavy day's work alwayfc, the daylight being all too short for them. The entries for last Wednesday were 333 pigs, 12,000 fttore sheep, 2000 fat lambs, 5189 fat sheep, and 537 head of cattle. Among the cattle there were only a iew head of prime bullocks, and £9 was refused for them. Moderate weights brought from £7 to £8, good cows and heifers from £5 to £7. Store cattle met with a poor demand generally, as the dry weather prevailing iv far from encouraging to graziers. «I think southern men in want of those cattle might get what they want at reasonable rates in Canterbury. The quality of the fat sheep was exceptionally good, and export buyers were very active — best freezers 15s to over 17s, some extra heavy prime sheep going to 20s, light wethers fit for export 14s to 14s 6d, best ewes 12.^ 6d to 14s- 6d (taken mainly by butchers) ; good merino wethers 10s to 12s 6d, best lambs for export 12s 6d to 14s, butchers taking lighter at 10s 6d to 11s 6d. Good forward store sheep sold at late lates, but anything backward met with a poor falc. Feed is scarce, and dry weather prevalent generally, and buyer.* are inclined to hold off backward sheep. North Island and Blenheim were the largest suppliers, the dry weather generally prevailing there preventing the fattening of stock. Two thousand wethers, however, brought 11s 4d, a fine line of two-tooth halfbred ewes 15s 9d, four-tooth nearly 15?, aged and cull ewe.s 6s to 8s 6d, forward lambs 8s to 10s, backward 7s to 8s 9d.

The grain market is quiet, and until we see better prospects of shipment it will remain so, any buying being generally of a speculative characcer. Some time ago large orders foi the Melbourne market were received, and a oonsiderable amount of business was arranged. These pvirchases, it soon transpired, were really for South Africa, but these are mostly still lying in store awaiting shipment. The plague scare now adds to our difficulty, freights for the Australian colonies having beer raised one third, and space is likely to be short for a time even al the increased rates. It it not yet known to what extent our communications with Australia will be interfered with, and one cannot be F'urprised that buyers hold off. The Vinebranch, and other vessels like the Gymoric and Monowai, can do little more than help to clear stocks now in store purchased md awailjng shipment for some tiuie A and jyiUl stuM-

thing is done to bring steamers to take oats to the Cape we need not expect much life in the grain trade. I hope, however, something will be done soon in this direction. We could wait for the bubonic plaguo to subside in Sydney without much inconvenience for a month or two, but losing our chance of the South African market is quite another thing. Notwithstanding our continued success in the Free Slate, there is, and will be for a long lime to come, a big arm} in South Africa, and oals and fodder will be largely required. I think otir Southland farmers should stir up their good friend the Hon. J. G. Ward on thi.4 subject. It won't do to wait till South Afiica is supplied by others. No country, 1 think, can put oats on board at a lower rate than New Zealand, and at the same time at a very payable rate to growers. It is sumply a question of can we or can we not get sLeamers to take them soon.

Wheat is much in the same position as oats, and in the meantime, till we car* get freight to London and elsewhere, local millers have it all their own way, as supplies are far more than sufficient for their wants, and they can go easy and take things quietly. The outlook for wheat is improving, and generally outside markets are hardening, and it is thought by men who know that there may be a very sharp rise in wheat ere long. My advice to farmers is to etack then- wheat and oats meantime, and be a little patient — " Wait till the clouds roll by." in fact, and I don't think they will regret it.

The potato market is al?o affected by the present and prospective disorganisation of our Australian stoam trade. Ne\," South Wales always takes heavy shipments from Now Zealand, and prie?a l?st and previous year* Mere dccidrdlj 1 " p,'iod. and I f-ee no rea:on why they should not h? <-o thi;- year also under normal condition?. Ai present Canterbury buyers have reduced their offers for the main crop of Derwent potatoes to £1 per ton, April-May delivery. In this cos 3 I think the farmer's intereal \vill be best met by pitting and patience. All our produce is affected by this tsmporarj stoj) lo coittirmnioalien — onions, chaff, cheese, and possibly butter, too.

There have been letters in the press and indignation meetings all over Otago and ! Southland re the action of Government under the Minister for Lands iv> compelling farmers i to poison rabbits now that trapping is pro- i fitable. I consider that keeping up the Kab- \ bit department in OUgo and Southland is j an expensive and u«eless farce, and that so far as this province is concerned it should be abolished. If there are settlers who believe in the policy of the Minister for Lands in this matter we don't hear of them at all. ! We are governed, I understand, by majorities — the greatest happiness for the greatest number is the idea, I believe. Apparently, in Olago and Southland the rabbit export in- j dustry is a favouri'-e with all except the llnbbit department. All ths farmers' little boys and girls dearly love rabbit?, and they have ; good cause, too. as they are worth good j money. Xo rabbit inspector can, under these ' circumstances, do the slightest good or haom - — lining and pro.-eculing is not of the slightest -. use. Nor can. inspectors be of any rc-rvice fo longas laVorU are v. orth good money, and ; the export trade flourishes. Li'i-ge runholders ; 1 now get a fair s.im from rabbit trappers for , the right to trap on their runs, and Iho ' trappers are bound down by strict legal agree- j ments to keep the nmhoider free from rabbit , inspectors' prosecutions and punishments. A'• 'rabbit inspector has not the ghost of a show against Iho multitude arr«yod against him, and can never do any good. Down here in Otago and Southland the rabbit industry flourishes, because farmers and settlers like it, and look upon it as a cheap way of ridding themselves of rabbits, and some look upon rabbits as a really profitable 'branch of farming. In other districts this is not the case. Otago and Southland have this great industry entirely to themselves. In the Upper Waikato Natives seem a little against poisoning; but in Hawke's Bay, Wairarapa, Wellington, Marlborough, Amuri, Kaikoura, and down in Canterbury till just past the borders of Otago are reached no rabbit industry exists, and rabbits are cleared by pollard poisoning, settlers loyally working in this direction. The Secretary of Agriculture reports of the Marlboroiigh district that "the pest is practically a thing of the past. To those conversant with the state of that district some six or seven years back the condition of things to-day is a revelation, and clearly shows what can be done by the systematic use of poisoned pollard and other poisons, and preventing the use of traps." This is quite true, and I believe that where poisoning is unitedly and energetically carried out it will cope with the rabbit as a pest. But when people don't look upon rabbits as a pest, and when, in fact, they are worth heaps of money, to pollard poisoning is not of the "slightest use, nor ever can be, if the clepart- | ment were increased by a hundredfold.