STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES

Otago Witness, Issue 2691, 11 October 1905, Page 8

STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES

j ' Bt BfIOYEB.

Weekly Stock Sales : f Fortn>ght'U •" Barnaide, Wednesdays Invercwgi-1, Tuesd <ys . Ashburton, Tuesday* } Monthly: AddiDgton-.Wednesdayg cs^vtov. Palmers*™Fortnightly: Winton, atid WaiBalclutha, Fridays kouaiti. U,re, Tuesdays Periodically Uamaru, Tuesday* j Heriot, Kelso, and KyeI burn. Some 190 head of cattle were yarded, about 80 of which were good to prime beef, and prices for this sort wei'o firm at previous week's rates. Best bullocks brought £10 to £11; medium, £7 to £3; light, about £6 10s ; good heifers, £7 ; medium, £5. Reports from London under date August j 25 indicate a low 'frozen beef market, the ! main supply being from Argentine, which comes to hand of good quality and in excellent condition, but sells only at 2^d for fcrequarters, and tyd for hindquarters. Now Zealand was in small supply, and selling at 'id .inora. It appears from the following extract tha*feseveral cargoes of chilled beef have landed' in bad order, and tnis points to the fact, I think, that cargoes landing as our experimental shipment did have to cope with , dangerous conditions during the hot months in England, for up till now the chilled meat shipments from Argentine have landed in good order I sincerely hope something in the way of further trial of chilled beef shipments will be made from Oto?o and Southland Jft really won't pay iis to go on without making an effort — that is to say, if it is desirable to make cattle-rearing a success, and I should think it must. be. Unless an export trade is devedoped in some way, I don't e-ee any bright jirospect ahead for those who roar fat cattle. When mutton prices come down, as" they must ere long, we shall realise this. Chilled Becf._— Receipts from the River Plate have been t 25,752 quarters. It has bsen unfortunate .that while arrivals have' been so heavy the great proportion of the beef has come to hand in a bad condition. This necessitated mo-re or' less the .immediate marketing of a lot -o-fbeef, and prices consequently dropped to a .very low level. .During the fortnight as low a price at 2|d has been taken for" hindquarters ; but, generally, last week there was considerable recovery, and with North American chilled in exceptionally short supply very much . better prices have been obtained. The quality of one or two of the marketings has been very good indeed, considering the time of the year and the absence of any really firsi-class heavy-weight beef. Closing quotations for River Plate ohilled beef are 2£d to 3d per lb fores, and 3^d"to 4§d pec lb hinds, and for North American b-jcf, 3id to 3ld per lb fores, and sid to 6d pea- lb hinds. About 1800 sheep were yard-ed, and prices were fully equal to those of the previous week's yarding. The large yardingg. anticipated have not com© to hand, which is a good thing, as prices would have fallen considerably with larger yarding 3. Prime heavy wethers, 27s to 295; others, 24s to 265; good, 22s to 235. At Addington the yarding of fat sheep was small, but prices were no higher than those ruling at Burnside. A large portion, were in an unfinished condition, and were sold as stores. Early lambs sold at from 15s to 245. The demand for store sheep was brisk, and the following were the principal sales: — Two hundred and fiftyfive wethers at 20s lOd, 264 at 21s 2d, 79 ,at 20s 9d, 55. at 20s 2d; 31 hoggets, 15s 8d ; ewes, in lamb, 235. 3d ; eyres and lambs, lls 9d to 12s 9d,~ all counted; 80 merino wethers, 13s 2d. Bacon pigs sold at equal to £fd per lb; porkers up to 4-^d. The demand for store pigs was rather slack. Large- stores sold at 18s to 21s; medium size,_lss to 17s; weaners, 8s 6d to 12s. Soms Australian shipments of frozen pork have been landed in London, and sold at 4d to^-4£d for pigs averaging 1001b, and it is said these were rather too large, a carcase weighing 801b being preferred. It seems to me that if one could be sure of 3d to fid per lb for 80!b piss, delivered at our freezing works, there is" money in pigrearing, and I think this would probably pay better than rearing and fattening bacon pigs, for with the Australian market now closed against us by good seasons there, and by their protective tariff, the^e is not much scope for increase in the bacon trade in New Zealand, ' which bids' fair to be oversupplied soon— if it is not so oven now. ' London reports under date August 25 indicate weakness in tho New Zealand mutton market, caused' mainly by the competition of heavy lambs, which being discarded as lamb are sold as mutton. Lambs, too, are weaker owing to the large proportion of heavy coarse carcases. The following extracts from Weddel's circular will show that this is the case : — Mutton. — New Zealand.—Arrivals during the fortnight amount to 104,807 carcases, as against 20,772 carcases in the previous two weeks. The demand is just about maintained a,t the lovel ruling for the last two or three months, the only noticeable feature being the fact that small-weight sheep continue to sell more freely than the heavier giades. At Ihe same time, owing to ths low prices which the heavy-weight lambs lme dropped to, small-weight sheep of best brands do not realise the premium over the larger carcases they have hitherto done. Small-weight carcases of t-econdary brands are in greater demand than Cantecrburys, owing to the higher price wanted for the latter, and are firm at last quotations. Some of tlie heavier

grade sheep from the Canterbury district have been arriving in a fat condition, and low prices have had to be taken for these. Canterbury sheep under 561b may be quoted at 4|d, and occasionally 4gd per ib. Larger weigh 3 range in price from 3id to 4Jd per lb. Best brands of North Island mutton sell at from 3£d to 4£d, according to size; ordinary North Island sheep are quoted 3£d to 4d, and occasonally 4Jd per lb.

Australian. — There is nothing fresh to report with rega.rd to Australian mutton. There have been no fresh arrivals, and the major portion of the small stocks still in the stores is of more or less unsaleable weights. As a matter of fact all quotations now are almost nominal . these may be given as 3d to 3£d for heavy, and 3gd for small weights.

River Plate.— Arrivals during the fortnight arnounl to 197,115 carcases, about 20,000 more than during the previous two weeks. The larger arrivals, however, have had no adverse offer t upon the prices, in fact, owing to the shortage of sheep generally all over the country, and more especially of light weights, prices have advanced generally. Light-weight sheep can bo quoted now from 3id to 3Jd, and occasionally 3|d per lb, this latter price being very general throughout the country. Heavy carcases sell at from 3|d to 3|d per lb.

Lambs. — Arrivals dviring the past fortnight total 138,078 from New Zealand and 7419 from the Kiver Piate. The downward tendency m" prices to which we referred in our last report has become more pronounced. The great bulk o-f the arrivals from New Zealand are heavy weights, and in their efforts to find a market lor these m the present adverse circumstances, consignees have had to give way considerably in price. The curtailment in the demand for heavy-weight lambs, as a result of the finish of the London season, is aggravated by the long spsJ of dry weather having forcea farmers to se'il forward thair lambs to the market much sooner and in larger quantities this season than usual, and these home supplies are selling at comparatively low rates. There i 3 no doubt, too, that the demand for lambs has suffered to a considerab.e extent from, ths fact that retailers have found it to their advantage to devote their energies more to increasing the sale of frozen beef, which is at present comparatively cheap. Canterbury lambs 36-421b have declined §d to £d per lb, to-day's values being not more than 4gd to 5d per Ib. The small weights, under 361b, being more in demand, have not declined to the same extent as heavies, but they have nevertheless weakened, and are now only 6Jd 2>er lb. Tegs, are specially difficult to quit at 4id per lb, and some sa.es are reported at as low as 4£d. Southlands and Dunedins under 361b have dropped to s!d, while the 36-421b grade, which comprises the great bulk of the offerings, is difficult to sail at iji per lb. North Island iambs, owing to tho fact that they are coming to hand, on an average, of a much lower range of weight than South Island lambs, command comparatively high rates. Light and medium weights are selling at s£d per lb, and: as a ru^ the tew heavies showing can be disposed of aloug wuh and at the same prioa as the lighter lambs; any sold alone would probably realise 4|d per lb. Stocks of Australian iambs being exnaxisted, quotations axe nominal Plate lambs are soiling at 4d to 4id per lb, according to size, heavies, of which the bu k consists, making the former price.

wi haTe fo I- a long tim * pasfc w " Gd tllat both our mutton and our lamb have reached a point in heaviness and coaiseness which will tell markedly against us. We cannot auord to despise the efforts now beinc pu t rorth by Australia to develop© the Jamb as well as the mutton trade. 1 am inclined to think they will profit by what they have seen in IVew Zealand,- and they have studied our methods thoroughly, and now are rapidly getting into a position to put in practice what they have learnt. The socn-u-we get rid of the idea that we can profitably go on in tho happy-go-lucky way we have in the past few years the better. Ihe Australian frozen meat trade developed is a thing we have not yet seen, but we are going' to see this very shortly, and its influence on stock values and land values m New Zealand will be felt— the more so it we neglect breeding and exporting the primest meat. Quality, it seems to me, is the only thing we have a chance of excelling in, and we have not attended to that lately as we ought to have done. In point of quantity Australia, barring a drought, must, I think, beat us ere long.

The Turakina sailed on October 1 with 4136 boxes of new season's butter. The corresponding steamer last s&ason had 11,023 boxes. The Corinthic sails this week with probably 10,000 boxes, or about 5000 boxes less than Tast season. The reason of the small export this season is that local demand has absorbed- oin- early butter, and probably among the last year's early shipments there was a large proportion of previous season's stored butter. It is satisfactory to know that this is not the case this season, and our reputation on the London market will not suffer, as to some extent it did last year, by iho marketing of old stored butter along with the new season's make. The- London market remains firm for both butter and cheese at high prices. The critical time of the market for butter will not arrive till January. when heavy supplies from Australia and New Zealand pour in. Judging, however, by the present keen demand to buy, even when all is sold in New Zealand, London man must be expecting high prices to rule longer than January. Personally, I doubt if consignors will realise the prices paid f.o.b.— viz., lOjjd to 10^d for September to March outputs. The London cheese market is firm at 56s for Canadian, being 9s per cwt higher than at the same time last year. Much depends in the cheese market on the way the Canadian market shapes, and as vet operations there are not completed. In Southland not much has been done as yet. Some three factories have sold at from s£d to sid, on trucks. Factories, however, hold out for 51d to sid, on trucks, which buyers at time of writing don't feel inclined to face, and I hardly think they will do so. As yet no factories have decided to con'?i°n, for nric-es going are tempting, and there is risk involved in struggling on tho oven market for more. Hut we have known 6d f.o.b. netted by consignments. As to the prospects of both butter and cheese on the London market, high prices as prevailing- at present' on the London market tend to two tbines — first, eonsumntion is restricted and considerably lessened, and stocks accumulate ; second, when prices are high in London it draws supplies from many sources that under normal conditions would not come, and further increases supplies to a market thus restricted by lessened demand. This, also, has to be rprkoned with. As to cheese, I hav-e not muoh fear of any decliue in prices, a<? the main a.nd controlling supply is from Canada, whose- 98.000 tons avcort auite outweighg anything New Zea-

land can do to influence the market with her 4000 tons export. With butter it is different: the New Zealand and Australian supplies during the five months January to May are heavy, and have a considerable influence on the market, being, together, probably not less than 10,000 tons per month this season, and there is, in my opin:on, danger of a fall in price after the New Year.