STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2914, 19 January 1910, Page 7

STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

By Dhoveh.

Weekly Stock Sales: Burnside, Wednesdays Ashburton, Tuesdays Addington, Wednesdays Waiareka Railway Junction, Tuesdays Fortnightly; Bulclutha, Fridays Gore, Tuesdays Oasiatu, Tuesdays Invercargill, Tuesdays

Monthly; ! Kgapara, first Thurs- ! day in each month ' Glenavy, second Wednesday in each month Dnrtroon, second Friday in each month Clinton, Palmerston, Winton, and Waikouaiti. j Periodically: Heriot, Kelso, Kyeburn

At Addington last week export buyers operated a little in prime moderate-weight wet bars, and paid 14s to 14s 6d for them. A few outside speculators took a few prime lambs for export at from 10s 6d to 12s 6d, but avoided the heavier weights. At Burnside there was a moderate yarding of sheep, which butchers cleared at equal to last week’s rates. There was a heavy yarding of lambs, and. with no export buyers, as the freezing works don’t open till February. Of course, there was a slump, and best lambs sold at from 9s to 10s. The same results are likely to follow on any further large yarding until the freezing works open and export buyers begin to operate. As yet these export buyers or those who have in the past been such have not disclosed themselves. There Is, in fact, apparently no interest taken in buying meat; all seem marking time, and everything appears uncertain. It is doubtful if farmers should base their expectations on over 10s 6d for lambs and 14s for wethers, both prime; and when, buying does start the demand will be for 361 bto 381 h carcase lambs, and those heavier will likely be in less demand!, and, at lower rates than the favoured weights. It may be taken that heavy mutton and heavy lambs are to- be -at lower prices than lighter prime carcases, but I fear the bulk of the offerings later on must bo on the heavy side.

Re the London market, on November 24Messrs H. S. Fitter and Co. write;—“Since

tbs issue of our last report, the weather | has boon much colder. In Scotland and j the North of England there have been unusually heavy falls of snow. The colder j weather has helped! trade somewhat; but j the general supplies, as is usual at this j season of the year, are very heavy, and ; there is no difficulty in supplying the demand. There has been a very plentiful j supply of Scotch, English, and' Dutch mutton, and the demand has not been strong enough, to beep up prices. Old ewes are still being sold at low prices, all over the ; country. The frozen mutton trade con- j , tinucs very slow, and many, who formerly , . were .regular buyers, arc still dealing in j Home-killed or Dutch mutton in preference, | j for the quality of many of the leading brands of New Zealand mutton still leaves , much to be desired. Australian, mutton still meets a slow demand. The lower prices quoted last week for New Zealand lamb had l a good effect on the demand, j and sales were big for the time of year. The condition of many of the parcels of lambs recently dealt with has mg.de it quite evident that the time had come when they must bs sold, or the consequences might be disastrous. Australian lambs ax - © beginning to appear on the market in larger numbers, and a few Argentine lambs have arrived.” I

We have always had ample evidence that a, very large portion of our best meat is sold as English, and that inferior Argentine and Australian meat is largely sold as New Zealand or prime Canterbury. The latest evidence on this point comes from, Mr Mathews, who compiles the statistics and information re the meat trade for the London Government Board of Agriculture. He writes an article to s, magazine called the Estate, in which he describes the various frauds. Mr Mathews is biassed against frozen mutton, and does his beet to show its great inferiority to Home-grown. But he shows clearly how a few carcases of Home-grown meat, is kept as a decoy. Customers order their meat, and then frozen meat kept in the back premises is supplied. He also, says that a few carcases of prime N.Z. frozen meat is also kept as a decoy for orders. Inferior Argentine and! Australian being substituted to fill the orders. According to Air Mathews, this is done on a large scale all over the united Kingdom. There is nothing new in this, but it goes to prove how bad and disastrous is- our method of getting cur frozen mutton properly before the public. The public nr© prejudiced, and not well informed, and w© want to dispel both the prejudice and the lack of knowledge and show them clearly what good New Zealand meat is. I venture to say most of them will admit its value if sold at its best. It is not so good as Home-grown, but it is good enough for all purposes, and they have consumed millions of carcases already, believing it to be Home-grown, and paying - for it the price of Home-grown.

The London correspondent of the Pastoralists’ Review, writing on the sth of i November, makes the following remarks on the situation: —The position of the market of late weeks suggests that the excessively low prices of the summer were not warranted, also that we have not exhausted the demand for frozen meat here. 1 Provided meat-owners are prepared to accept low prices .for the- large bulk, demand could be enormously increased. There is still a class with a limited amount of money to get. hold of. That class would be customers-if the meat comes within their means; if it does not, they will buy no meats. Butchers last year could have had this class if they had lowered their prices , in proportion to their .cheaper purchasing, j but they did not. They preferred the j bigger profit on lessor sales. The frozen meat exposed on Sinithfieldl market is not j at its best just now. No fresh Australian | meat is there to modify the rather stale | appearance, of the goods. The bulk of the carcases are, to .use the surveyors’ term, off colour, and may be described as “rusty,” wearing a brown look where the flesh is exposed. The bright ruddy look of the New Zealand frozen sheep is a tremendous asset in the wholesale and retail trades. Several butchers in a large way, that is to say, with a large number of retail shops, tempted by the low price of fresh meat, I have left frozen for it. Wher they can' get ewes off the hooks at 4i,d, at the same I time that frozen, mutton is being offered at 4id and sd, the temptation to take the j former is great. A good many more would ; succumb than do, were it not for the upset the change causes. I heard- this week of _ one man with a large number of shops who tried fresh meat for one week.. But it so dislocated his trade that he went back to his old lines of dealing exclusively in frozen. Frozen meat is now a trade of its own, to a large -extent, and it does not ■pay to leave it oven for a time. Dutch mutton recently arrived has had to be sacrificed at a very low figure. A week ago there were heavy arrivals. But the weather was wet and mug'gy, and it was found) that the Dutch meat went el imp very quickly, and had to be got rid of. Unlike frozen meat, it cannot be put back into cold store —another advantage for the frozenarticle.

The increase in our dairy produce shipments over last season is satisfactory, but

by no means so great as was expected from the Dominion as a whole. The in* crease is proportionately greater in thrf South Island than in the North. I shall take the first eight fortnightly shipments' last season and this season as a baths of comparison. lam dealing with the new, season’s butter and cheese only. Prevcdoua ■ to our first shipments of new season’s make a considerable quantity of stored butter and winter-made cheese was shipped,■' but I am not taking these' into account.! Last season in this same period 308.204- 1 boxes of butter were shipped, while this season the number was 325,010 boxes-—an. increase of 16,806 boxes over last season, or about 5 per cent. Last season, in the same period 104,027 crates cheese were shipped This season the total was 112,820 crates —• an increase of about 7 per cent. In respect to cheese from Bluff, Dunedin, and Lyttel-! ton, I take the first five fortnightly shipmerits last year and this year, which is all one can deal with at this date. From Bluff last year the cheese shipped was 18,979 crates ; this year it is 25,822 crates — an increase of 6343 orates, an increase of 35 per cent. From Dunedin Last year 5491 crates were shipped, and this year 5898 crates—£in increase of 407 boxes, or about 7g per cent. It will be seen, however, that Otago’s butter ’increase makes up for her smaller increase in cheese as compared with Bluff. From Lyttelton last season, in the period under notice, 2659 crater of cheese were shipped, and' this year 314\ orates—an increase of 448 crates, or nearly 16 per cent.

Hast season, during the above period, 8900 boxes were shipped, and this season 21,'857 boxes—an increase of 12,957 boxes, or considerably more than double last year’s expoi't to Don do n. Lyttelton sent last year 10,945 boxes, and this year 17.444 an increase of 6499 boxes, or nearly 60 per cent. _ The reason that the North Island shipments do not show so great an increase as the South is to some extent due to disease and deaths among the cows. Mammitis has been very prevalent, and many deaths of cows were due to it. Up to tlx© px-esent the weather has beer favourable. The South Island increase it due partly to a fin© season, but also to an increased number of factories started this season, which are 11 turning out a fair quantity of cheese of good quality—some extra good. These new factories numbeoc 13 in Southland, 3 in Otago, and 2 ia Canterbury.

The (Government experiments in cow-test-ing in the Wairanapa are still in progress, and will not ba completed for gome months yet. The results will, I believe, be very valuable, and wilr demonstrate the fact that our output of dairy produce might easily be increased by 50 per cent, with the present number of cows if the many useless and unprofitable animals now in use were replaced with profitable ones. The Government intend to spread the information this experimenting in a Cow-testing Association has disclosed, when it is complete, to show how valuable ?,n institution a Cow-testing Association is. We might have taken this for granted on the long experience of Canada and Denmark, and the testimony of all their experts. There is only one opinion n these countries—viz., that cow-testing associations mean money, and plenty of money, to the dairy farmer. The N.Z. Government want farmers to know this on testimony carefully obtained within the Dominion. The Wairarapa District’s average cow is and has been about the same as the average over the Dominion, so that the results will have equal application all round. Ido not expect the Government to take up the testing of cows all over the Dominion, but I believe Minister of Agriculture would favour giving a subsidy to> farmers joining to form a. cow-testing association, and that the Government expert's information and advice would l be available to start it.

There is to be a co3iferen.ee of the South Island Dairy Association (Ltd.) at Invercargill, on the 28th mst., and the Dairy, Commissioner and staff will be present.. There may be important matters to discuss, but no more important matter than the improvement of our dairy herds by means of the formation of Cow-testing Associations can come before that meeting. The savings to be made in marketing, indenting material, etc., are but paltry to the money to be made in improving and increasing the production of milk from OUTGO WB.