WELLINGTON AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2630, 10 August 1904, Page 9

WELLINGTON AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

(Fboji Oub Om Cobbsspondent.) I cannot report any improvement since my ■last. Certainly last week The the temperature was conTFeather. siderably milder, and in paddocks where there w«re no stock there i: now a good bite, but where the land is stocked there is no extra feed goin- to waste. StiU, there is really no cause tc grumble at the condition of stock geneirally on the West Coast. The agriculturist is the only on© now in trouble, as the continued rain makes impossible anything in the way of tillage, and it is to be hoped that the weather will now take up, so as to give them a hanoe to get the grain £rops in in something like decent time and order.' I think that more depends on the way seed is got in than almost anything else in - "the %vay of weather conditions, and as it is now the Ist of August, and little or nothing has been done* it follows that it will be a hard . job to get , in all" the grain before the Ist October ; .and as« grass and rape ought also to be .sown in September 'cropping men will have their hands full- as soon as -the rain stops, and the land is allowed to dry up a bit. She&pm«n -are also beginning to be a bit anxious, as on the lo>w country the lambing has started,, and in -some' places you see a fair sprinkling of lambs already. The fat lamb trade is responsible for early lambing,, as until lately you would see very few early lambs, except on a farm where the owner went. in. for ram-breeding. So far as fat lambs are conoe'rned, I doubt whether it pays to have them so early.^ -The idea is that you may get perhagps a shilling a head more if you have, lambs ,fit to kill in December tihan , if they are a month later, but iibis.last year or two such has not been tne case, and even if it were so, the risk of -losses through bad weather is greater; •while in the case of haying a late spring there is little to be gained in a general way, as a late lamb that has plenty of feed •will be as far forward as an older lamb thait has been stunted from its birth. In breeding stock of all descriptions the great thing, is to have plenty of fe«d for the mothers when birth-time comes, as any youngster that has to do a starve when born has a lot of leeway to make -op, ' and one,, a lot younger will beat him~ right through. I, see it reported to-day that the lambing is getting on in Hawke's Bay, and that thousands have been sold, at from 8s to 9s at weaning time. It is a far cry to say what will be the value of sheep six months hence; but buyer^, appeal- to have every confidence in the future, and it is to bevhoped that they are correct as a slump coming- so soon would makie things very uncomfortable for many -who are buying ewes at from 20s to 25s pcx head at present. However, the -stock market is like what I said about the wool trade in my last notes: the longer you have been in the trade the less you know about it. At present we a.re passing through another revolution, both as regards sheep and catfele. To explain : two or three years ago you could not have sold Romney steep at any price. No one would have anything to do with them. Now, to-day they are the most sought after of any breed on the coast. Of course sheep of any breed, or no breed, ore bringing very high prices ; but for a record of high prices "the-^ale conducted by Messrs Gorton and Son last week will be hard to beat. It was a clearing sale, on "ibethalf of the executors of the late Major "Willis, at Wood'Ondean, as they have setd the. property. Tlie sheep — 3200 — all ptireHomneys or Romney grades, brought the enormous average of something over 32s ipea* head, stud ewes selling as high as Bg.«. 3?or the number I doubt whether ever such a high price was realised before_ in New Zealand, and they had no very high standing as a stud — that is, by way -of taking prizes at shows or by selling rams at sales ; but • Romneys are on top at present, and those fortunate breeders who a ve*r or two ago would not give in when they could iiardly give their rams away are now in clover. There are one or two studs which if I were the owner, I should think very seriously of selling— that is, taking Woodeadean sale as a guide to prices. I always deplore- the disposal of a stud cf any kind; still the uncertainty i»f any particular breed of sheep lasting m favour in New Zealand for any length of time is very discouraging, and I could almost forgive a breeder if he were to act on the defensive by taking advantage of ihe market, and selling out when he thought that prices were at their highpst. It is hard to say what breed of sheep is to_ follow the Romney. but I should not be surprised if tihe now despised ' Lincoln should be the fashion, and I would strongly advise owners of puTe Lincoln's to look after them, and not get careless in regard to keeping Ih&m up to the highest standard they can reach, as a very few years ago Romneys ■wero ever lower than the Liueolus are now. I suppose in the sweet by-and-bye the farHi'ers of New Zealand will have come to some conclusion as to what breed of sheep •will suit them, and also whether it is mere profitable to produce mutton or butter. Last year nothing would sell like milch cows ; shee-p were of no use ; to-day sheep are right up on top, dairying stock being of very un-•^>'-tain value. There have been a large

number of sales of dairy stock during the last fortnight, and, from what I hare heard and seen, I consider that dairy cows are from 30 to 40 per cent, cheaper than they were this time last year — that is to say that a herd that averages to-day £6, theowner would have been much disgusted if they had not brought him £9 or £10 per head last year. The very rough weather w& have been having has been much against the attendance at sales on the farm, and, after attending a sale to-day at G-orton and Son's yards, Fedlding, I begin to think that bringing a herd into the yards is a great advantage both to buyer and seller. I do not mean this remark to apply to the' regular sale days, but calling a special =iale. such as Gorton and Son had to-day. The advantage in comfort to everyone was immense, as just as the sale started it cameon to rain, continuing to rain steadily all the afternoon, the day turning very cold with it. They have a large covcred-in ring, which they only use as a rule for home sales, but as it is connected with the yards, they can easily utilise it for the selling of cows, or any other stock to bo disposed of in small numbers. I may say that boi'h the yards in Patlmerston North are built on the ring % system in vogue in the South of Scotland. 40. years ago, as started by old "Roll-about, :3 Border-mea will remember him. Tho lots coming in to Feilding arc, however, too large to shift about to go through a ring, but things are working in such ;a way now by the cutting up. of farms, that very shortly I shall expect to see a lot of stock put through the ring. There are many -advantages in favour of the ring, a great one being that buyers have nothing to distract their attention, as is the "case undei the yard system, when ft probable buyer is shunted away from a pen. by a crowd of onlookers, or "perhaps s.omeone button-holes him about something just when some particulai pen he wants is being sold; so that the seller loses the advantage of a buyer, and the buyer the chance of getting what he really wants. But we are young yet, and very soon things will right themselves. Still, old habits are hard to get rid "of, and We may have to wade about in mud for some time yet, chasing the auctioneer fro.a pen to pen, instead of being comfortably seated in a nice, 'dry, warm rotunda. Inhere are many advantages in favour of ihe ring that would fill a column or such as seeing animals moving about instead of huddled in a pen. Of course I do not advocate bringing lots of hundreds into the, ring, "bat in small lots there are many advantages both to the bayer and the seller.

Since' commencing my' letter we have had something- unusual here in the. way of weather — a. fall of snow more or less all along the Coast, and anywhere above. 1000 ft above sea level it lies to a depth of some 3in to 6in. It is' bitterly cold to-night (Thursday), with cold sleet and rain falling, which, I am afraid, will kill a lot of lambs. On small farms there is no reason why anything perish from want of shelter, cs it entails -very little trouble- to provide shelter; but I hardly think the editor would oare for me to repeat what I wrote last year at about this time on the subject. The Romney breeders had a meeting yesterday at Palmeiston, when it Uomney was decided to start a flock Flock Book, book of their own. I understand that about 60 breeders agreed to support the objee 1 ", su we may take it for granted' that the project is assured, especially as such men as Messrs G. Wheeler, P. D. Buchanan, Jacob,' and E. Short are in the lead. ANTIQUA OVIS.