STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Volume 06, Issue 2899, 6 October 1909, Page 7

STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Br Dxotbb. , ' .-

Weekly Stock Sales: | Eurnsido, "Wednesdays Ashbuz'ion, Tuesdays "< Addingtoii, Wednesdays Waitreka Railway Junction, Tuesdays Fortnightly : Bulclutha, Fridays Gore, Tuesdays Oaruaiu, Tuesdays" Lavercurgil., Tuesdays j

[ Monthly: j iXgapsyra, -first. Thut»^ i dsy "in each nitmth Glenavy, sscond tTed- j nesaay in each month , , Duriroon. second Frij day in each .month Clinton. Palm-erston, Winton, and Waikcuaiti'. ' j •Periodically: ! Heriot. l£elso, Kyeburn

At Arlington and Burnsida the stock markets were stea<lj at about the previous ( wec'-k's prices. Storfe sheep, owing to tlhegood rise in th-e of woo!, were in J better -demand. Farmers are inclined to J stick 'to all they hdve till after shearing, j and the good spring and plentiful fec-d ■ makes this easy to accomplish. j As the season in Australia is about, a month, or more earlier than in New Z-e-a-land, ix is interesting to sec how the agri- j cultural and pastoral industry is looking there. All reports indicate a very good i saiison, and only a few parts report not j having sufficient rain, mostly towairds the \ '"Never Never" countrj'. ik-eports from ' numerous other districts cay t.^at this season witl ba a record or.'? icr both farmer and run.hold-er. Tha whcot harvest bids fair to beat all previous by a long way, and some doubts "a-re expressed as to whether the railways will fes ab^e to cope with the giain traffic ar.d carry it cxpqditiously to thfc ship])ing poi-ts. The dairy- ! injj <lii>ivlc\£, with the exc3pt:on of V ictoria and South Australia, have marie a goad etait, and the two State* named are now co.'fijng along rapidly. During August four tini.es as much buti<sr was exported a« during the same month last y-ea-r, antl i ticptbinbei shipments a-ra very ■ la.rge. Unka a drought is experienced ater on the Australian output of brvtter thif 6sason ' frhoukl ba at least -equal their «-eeord s^a- , sons eoqkj yaars ago, from which they fell { a-.vay coneitlcrably during the past tvvo £-:a&ona. B-egarding the position and proj-peele of , the meat trado "ihe Pastoral [sis' Review 1 of Sept-c:nber 15 says: — j ■Jud^in^ b7 the cabled quotations >i Lon- ! doa l\-o/en Msat Trade Association, bottom j h?.s nt lost bsen reached, and prices are J on th« mend. For the week ending 4Ln , Septsaiber mutton advanced id per lb all j round, and although lamb values showed . but a s.ight rise in only three lines, in »•* j case did rates drop. At. the time of writn«| Australian slieep are quoted at 2gd to 2td • X^er ib, low enough in all conscience, bu 5-16 th more than a month ago. Lamb is Eclll'ig at from 2Jd tr 2id, which is probub! j° the lowest foint touched since the inception of tie trade. Beef ha 3 kept fairly firm" during the month, xlinds arc weakest. Au:-tia:ians are quoted ct 3 7-16 d, ocd fores at 2?d, and these prices are just l-16d bslow tho\.e ruling for New Zealand and South American beef. Of course, the above improvement or chec^ iray be only temporary aifair, but ths <=ta:istical position at all, events points to a permanent advance in mutton, and to a lesoer extent iD lamb. Indeed, the oiitlcok tor mv.ttcn is almost hopeful. At the beginning cf August it was estimated that"there were 800,000 carcases in stare in th© United Kingdom, and jw the shipments from oversea ports during -4he • last thr^e moh^ts v/ere coniparfttively light (about 30 per cent, lets than for the corresponding „ period of 190S), and the demand 'is good, prices -%hou Id : improve. "When .tke-. laet rßi*U-rlett~JU>Bdoß - there v/ere still tremendous quantities of lamb in store, but the consumption, £ad b,een increased by nboult 20' per 'cent. The exports from Australia, New Zealand, md South America for June, July, and August were fully 10 per cent, less than for the same { three months of last year, so there is a | chance of stocks coining down into ft more ( manageable compass soon. However, tt£ » j set-off against this 'is the report of 250 v OOC j carcases held at tbs various works in New Zealand, which will probably be«hipp«d a« soon as- the market shows any tmt>rovem«3lt. It. is rather, striking -that .while mutton and lamb shipments .id. the United. Kingdom.! have, comparatively speaking, recently jbeen ■ getting smaller -aj>d< am.*}ler, the- pv£pv% -of--. . beef, b^s increased tr^maXdonsly.' rr£h%&&9*+-'r r £h%&&9*+-' : gate exports ;fr^.Aiwt«di», iWV^e^Mßi, -■ > and Sontii America. £pr.4he »»t toree monthji, w«6 9*T,6dF tyu&m.:M »feiW> tftm. ■ ojArtew i&tM&fum***^' tfSJWk < T>iestf figures' sttdw to increase of. over. 'so psr cent. Thfr" '^oihi iff, 'will tfiV laobdon • ' mark*t b* &bU to absorb all this without

materially lowering price?. If wh?t happened to' mutton and lamb c?n be t^s-n as a suide there may b? a gittl, and will fall. •' ' • r . , - . . 1 J The<" Lamb Season.— There is htt a ." movement as yet. Some of the New ( ' --.I*^ . "Wales export firms have their buy-: o ! in the country, and we hear of a fc\ small lots having been purchased. The price offered is somewhere beiween 7a a.nd 7s 6d on the .station, >and things being a * they [ are shippers are not over ar.xio-us to get '. Btuff,_ unless- it is particularly piim?.. even at , these ratef. Growers, on th°ir pn:t. ar ' not in "any hurry to accept tr-ft p""- pr business done is EBiall. Evi - 1 ••. - '• ■Ji ; Some 3dO lunibs in the Ada") rle r...,r « • 7th September at an averag* <>." a v twut is Od, which, from their point of '-view., was nioro reaeonable. As_. far as' Victoiia is i6n"cerned. nothing has bean dor.*, and it will be probcbly quite a foTtniglit-bcfore a star is made. This week 28lb to 3C- h laiu'^.s \t«v--fetening from- 8s to Ssr-'Bd i» the mcr.s^t, and shippers say they will havo to drop iuilr another Is before they can opcrr.te. As n ' ruatter _of fact,. 7s for a prime "JOlb lanil m^tns .thst "values will have to me/ease in 1 Lofrdon by another Jd per lb to pay. I . Mutton-r^ln spite of a groat deal of t»]k •in Queensland about the tremendciu m«rbar of surplus sheep in that State, nor.; of the freezing 'companies are ablo to' buy tat stoci. ■JVhen the proposal w»s fir^t ;n>- tet by some" of the central and northern j to start -co-operative works, the companies r ' sant ont thouaands of circulars offering to freeze on owners' account, but as far as w ; bs ascertained no response was received. The committee appointed by the nbov-e-mentianed graziers "has drown up its rci ix>rt. which recommends raising £225 000 in I be utilisad ki erecting works and id opt-rut.ir» 1 in the purchase of stock for treatment J Meetings will be held during the mon'tb j to consider this proposal. The whole qucf- ■ tion wants to bs considered very thoroughly, j It ir a well-known fpet that, except for one or two work* in Brisbane, none of tl;« freezing and canning establishments in Queensland have for the J&f-t - 'c* yeari been able to ruu for more than^jtboiil^iaiit — ! ino:xtha in th« twelve, l'hit being the csieo, 1 it is hard t< see hew anothei new company is going to make the business pny unless pureJy lor bailing down. 1 The shipments of frozen meat to Gr*>a* Britain from New Zaaland, A«tralia, «nd Argentine ■ f or Angnsfc \vcrr»: — Au6t).i)i;i. 50.000 carcases mutton, 4000 lamb, 40,6?0 quarters b?ef : New Zealand. 65,000 ca-rca- '.f mwtton. 117,000 lamb, 41,000 quarret-s h-vf. Argentina. 225.000 carcases mutton, ?3,C"'U lamb, 250.000 quarters bfef. Be?f osdo;I« ! wero 98,000 Quarters above last Ar.yiy-t. Lamb were about the same, and mulitf.a 146,000 carcases less.

Our old friend. Mr Twopenny, has been visiting Argentina. What he has to say in | re the development of tha Jamb trade m>i I perhaps {rive U3 a -litrj.a comfort Mr Tv peny writes: — "I mads a jrco<i many i:iauiriesTipon this point, and th • co:«-Iusio-i! , I arrived at we're— (l) Last yc.n.r's mci cvj.-i I was largely due to spscia) ciicu?!u ; "Hn:.T.-, c'-iiefly lib"- !o»v prios of wcol t;;rnii ..» esvtr:-cic-ros' attention to the desirability of fii-jl-I irisr soru* other moans of gaining -wih'e to their shc-ep, an>d partly to seasonal co-J - tion=; (2) the difficulty of gro^ir.? a'f«!f» in winter, and the extent to which alfalr is spoiled if cheep are allawcyi to tremp'* it, makr it improbable that th-jre will Ij« any such great d2velopm<?!it in the lamb export as we have seen' ir b?ef and mu--ton; (3) nevertheless, it is rouietim-'S corvenient to esfcancieros to pet a crop of lambs off the alfalfa, in early spring, and now that s*et year's necessities hive tiirn?d their attention that way, they will rr-ostly continue to do a little lanib-rjising. and th« export may bs .expected to increase gradually, but not to any alarming extent." ~" The butter xampaign goes on in th« north. Meet of t'pe business clone has bsen. or .consignment without recourse on an advance of-iOid to lOid, birt at .tiie- moment the odvancs-without-reeourse men are quiet. Buyere went as high, as 10? i» but tney also are qireter. The London market just now is demoralised, and prices have come down for "forward sales. -There haa been a lot of forward selling in London by people who at preset: have no stocks bought. It is generally believed that the Australian output, of butter will be very large, ' bui if a drought took place in Australia some of those forward buyers wou'd: „ be in troublo. lam not hopeful about 'the future of the butter market — that w. I <k> bhi&k -high price©- wiU .heM -for, long. * Not long ago we were eont?r?""witii Sd f.0.b. ; «owvwe 'think lOd a poor price; But I think lOd is niuch nearer the value of outputs of September to March than 10£ d. It is remarkable- that none of tha large buyers have operared at all Theysolicit consignments. The sales made ar» widely distributed among buyers, w.hp only seem anxious to have .a little. These- is *t present a - good deal of uncerta Inty as to what wfll ' happen, arid v a good deal de- ' panda on what Australia exports. The coh-* «ignmente are' Widely apreed. My experience * goes to. jAtfftri that many- con&ignmwvte *i* 'i used }&<&&% consignees to .beat their oppo- 1 - nerite. .- irhoa h*ve x bcßagfetv- The worst -nl-MW lit ti&b -Eitotpci^i « ac« cope jgaiag -to * bavmt ■> V'.Jlfl „v . Ji .Ul.J.'^. ! _.* | l '.^l irr>*. lor^ckinsr *dKIU Wfie^fche- teS uTdgft—^ Nlmmo and Blftlc,

nfco are f peculators, vand^dp solicit consignhi«ji(t^odsLnSs4.'i -If leonsign-aie-nt is to bo the pule some combined action, sat through the Dair^Association, as to the firms to hajicße. "■ 'consignments is very "desirable. The firms selected, should act in concert. The- dairy produce export business from' New Zealand weeds -organisation, and it should be the endteavouT of the National Dairy Association, after careftd consideration, to bring this foout

Messrs Wedde, w»d Co., under date 13th August, in their annual review of the eoloniel dairy produce trade for the year end-ing-June 50, 1909, writes >f the prospects as follows : — Butter. — The abnormally cold and wet summer experienced in Europe and the "United Kingdom makes, it most difficult to estimate, even roughly, the quantity of butter that will be produced next winter in *!•<» &bove area. The hay crops are below the average both in quantity and quality, and there seems likely to be some shortage in the European production. According •*> present indications the supply oi outter from Australia is expected to be nearly double that of last year, but owing to the widely-extended area, and the consequent varied climate where butter is produced, great uncertainty always exists in estimating the Australian output. Aew Zealand, it is believed will send a small increase on lost year. Canada will most probably send less -.ban the year just ended. The drought this winter in Argentina may restrict the output ''■'>■"'-'£ the coming summer. Siberia, too, ~nSs suffered from very hot and dry weather this summer,, and the production., thoufe.li greater than la=t year, will fall short of the early estimates. Cheese. — The excellent condition of the pastures since May all over the United Kingdom will conduce to a make of cheese fully equal to, if not more than, that of last year Canadian and Dutch supplies are not expected to show any increase over "ast year. The prospects in New Zealand, however, favour a continuance of the steady increase maintained during the past few years. - Butter and_Cheese. — A wide and care/ul survey of nil ~the sources of supply at the present date leac"s to the conclusion that, in the coirin? winter, butter and cheere will be on a rather lower basis of price's than last year. The survey especially indicates that this will be so- for butter^ if Aust-ra.lian exports come up to present expectations.

Messrs Wendell and Co. deplore the increased moisture in butter from New Zealand an-d Australia and say this increase _in moisture is accountable for deficiency in rjualitj", wlncn 1 believe to be <juit« true. This is even a mere serious blunder than the idea of expecting London buyers to long submit tc payir-g 11<J to Hid per 1b for wat<?r instead of butter.

Writing of the supply of foreign butter Messrs Weddel and Co. say: — Of the ten foreign countries which last year supplied our markets with 178,378 tons of \l.r-.: butter, five of them sent no less tLaa I'JS 250 tens, the other "five contributing '>yjy 'j\l'i tons. Ths five countries supplying iht gr^t bulk of foreign butter weie Denuiark, 'j3 PSO t.ns, Russia, 32,612 tons; L'tdiicc -ij.o'7s tons; Sweden, 13,236 tons; and Holland, 10,400 tons. Ten years ago the Oaniih supply io our markets was 71.708 t^ns, and yearly increased until 1903, -when I stood at 88 903 — an increase of 17,195 tons in fovs years — and then declined to 81,261 tons in 1906, after which it steadily increased to the 93,050 tons in the present year, •which is the greatest amount ever received. The gro.vth of the Danish butter trade with England is a result of regular weekly shipments, combined with high quality. The only irregularity in quality is owing to the change of food to the cows, as in May, when stall feeding is succeeded by spring grass, and again when the cows return to stall feeding in November of each year. Russia has increased 1-er butter trade with us even ruore rapidly than Denmark. Ker exports consist virtually of only Finnish " * and Siberian. In 1000 the receipts from Russia were 7558 tons, nearly all of it beirg Fhi- . mish, while last year it was 32,612 tons, ova- 21,000 tons of this being Siberian. The development cf the butter industry in Siberia is almost phenomenal. JLn=t year 'over 50 0> tons wer-e exported. i:e'>tly a.i of :t coining io European countries, "out in the wii.ter season a email trade is done with Vladivostok and other places bn the Pacific -roast. The French butter trade with the TJniterl Kiugdcm during the past ten years shoved p. ceveiopivent from ISOJ to 1901, v.htn i-c'&ched 22,223 tons. A 5 if yards ohcase they say: "r^r '.h-e year ended June last the total t ,^ht of cJiF?*e imps-ted into the Umlcd Kirs.!->i>i v.Pb 116 3-2-1 tons, which consisted of 5V2 J74 to',? colonial ar.d 23.550 tons of icre-sn. Since tno year 19(>3 there has bepn a continuous and heavy decline in the supply from icreign countries, and since 1904 from the colonies. The total decline in the irnpoit of cheese since 1304 is 18,953 tons.