STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3101, 20 August 1913, Page 15

STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Weekly Stock Salei: Burnside, Wednesday*. Ashburton, Tuesdays. Addington. Wednesdays. Waiareta Railway Junction. Tuesdays. Fortnightly: Clinton, Thursdays. Ralclutha, Fridays. Gore. Tuesdays. Oamoru, Tuesday*. Invercargill, Tuesdays.

Monthly; Ngapara, first Thursday In each month. Qlenary, aecond Wednesday In each month. Duntroon, aeoond Friday In eooh month. Winton, and Waikouaitl.

Periodically: Palmerston, lleriot, Kelsj, Kyeburn.

BURNSIDE MARKET,

[ There was a moderate yarding of 150 fat cattle at Burnside on Wednesday, of which number 62 wore cows and heifers. It was anticipated that in consequence of a number of butchers having received supplies outside the market prices would have receded ; but the contrary was the case, and prices were from 7s 6d to 12s 6d per head above those of the previous week. Best bullocks sold at from £l2 Kfe to £ls, one or two pens realising up to £l7; lighter weights, £lO to £l2; best cows and heifers, £9 10s to £l2 10s; unfinished, £6 10s to £9. Beef may bo quoted at 33s to 36s per 1001 b, according to quality. There was a largo yarding of stores, but prices .were well up to late rates. Good lines of two and a-half years to three-year-old bullocks arc eagerly competed for, and would at present realise handsome prices. Very few of the dairy cows penned were close to profit, and this, with the wet and disagreeable weather, did not help to make a successful sale. Fifteen first calving heifers, although very close to coming into profit, failed to find a purchaser. Borne 2500 fat sheep wore penned, and prices fell by about Is per head as compared with the previous week. Best wethers realised from 25s to 28s; best ewes, 21s to 235. There was a yarding of 300 fat lambs. Prices may bo said to nave boon a little better, ranging as they did from 13s to 19s 6d. Graziers are buying freely lines not quite suitable for freezing. Only 33 fat pigs were penned, and these realised quite up to lato rates, while the 12 stores also sold at the previous week’s rates. ADDINGTON STOCK SALES. There were poor entries in every section of the Addington market last week, duo to the Grand National meeting. The entry of fat cattle totalled 209, as compared with 400 for the previous week. The quality was unfavourable, although there were included j in the yarding some very useful sorts. The 1 demand was not as keen as on the previous | week, but prices for beef were unchanged. The entry of store cattle was small, and was 1 largely composed of old cows. The fat j sheep penned totalled 531 wethers and 61 i hoggets, and was the smallest yarding seen for a long time. The wethers consisted of good quality, and prices were high. Extra prime wethers to 345, prime 25s to 31s 6d, hoggets 19s 3d to 23s 6d. The store sheep consisted chiefly of medium-class owes, with an occasional pen of forward wethers. Ewes were slightly easier in price, duo to the indifferent quality. Prices ranged: For hoggets 15s to 15s. wethers to 22s 9d, ewes to 21s 4d. The fat pigs were represented by a very small entry. Choppers and baconers brought up to the precious week’s rates, but porkers were n shade dearer, and made from £2 8s to £2 12s. The coalers, generally speaking, were of fair quality, and brought satisfactory prices. BURNSIDE FREEZING WORKS. During the past freezing season, which ! extended from February 13 to August 16. the number of sheep and lambs slaughtered at the Christchurch Meat Company’s Burnside Works was 153,403. - When compared with the figures cf the previous season (which closed on September 7) there is a substantial increase of 14,974. THE LONDON MARKET. In view of the tightness of money and the large supplies forward, the price of I frozen meat in London has kept up re- | rnr.rkably well, and it is evident from the ) prices paid by graziers for good stores that they anticipate good prices next season, i Advices to hand tend to show that recent weakness in the market, and especially She continued decline in the price of lambs ; early in July, was duo to the weakness of i adders of stocks who were determined to i •calise at almost any price It was gonerilly admitted that the decline was not war--anted by the moderate stocks then in land and the good demand which prevailed; nit, as is usually the case, the market was it the mercy of those who were probably | orced to realise because of the weakness of 1 j heir financial position. There is room for mprovoment in the methods of marketing : iur frozen meat as well as dairy produce. :

0 ACTIVITY IX THE NORTH. n b Groat hopes are entertained in Auckland - of an extensive trade in - moat with Van--1 couver and San Irancisco, and it is antici- - pated American buyers will be on the mar--2 hot It is reported that the freezing work* s recently opened at Whangcrei Heads hav» s been taken over by a strong English firm s with a view to catering for the American 5 trade. 1 his “deal,” it is said, has already - i had a marked effect on the values of cattlo. / lands north of Auckland. It is predicted by i cattle-breeders that the profits from the j raising of cattle will soon exceed those of sheep-breeding. Instances are quoted of farmers who bought two-vcar-old steers 12 months ago at £4 5s selling them this year at £lO 10s. The present high prices are not the result of the demand from outside, but is evidently duo to the scarcity of cattle in Auckland suitable for the butchering trade. As a consequence dealers are buying in other districts, and a cry is being raised that tins is done to “boar” the Auckland market, which is, of course, ridiculous. JUDGING SHEEP SUITABLE FOREXPORT. There has been some discussion in tho North Island as to whether it is advisable t* have fat sheep and fat lambs suitable lot export adjudicated upon by local judges at A. and P. Association shows. At the annual . meeting of the Masterton Society attention was drawn to the difference of opinion between the local and Home judgments. In point of fact, the majority of sheep that I were given prizes at Solway were passed ; over by tho English judges. In no single i instance was tho local first award sustained, j It has been suggested that the' local judging of (he sheep is not only unnecessary, but is positively injurious to the industry. A farmer, for instance, may exhibit his sheep locally, and not got a place in the prize-list. On that experience he may determine to change his breeding methods. Ho .subsequently learns that he has made a grave mistake when he gets the English returns. For this reason it is urged in soma quarters that associations would bo consulting the best interests of the frozen moat trade and the fanners by abandoning the local judging, and submitting tho pens of freezers solely to the judgment of tho Homo buyers. It is the shqcp that best suits tho London market that should be bred, and it is tho judgment of the English experts that counts. MARGARINE. In order that a good idea might be got of tho nature aril taste of margarine, Mr ' Graham (Victorian Minister of Agriculture) I imported through Messrs Wcddel and Co. some samples of tho article, which wero inspected by a largo number of those interested in tjnio butter trade. Tho substance was found to bo of a pale creamy colour, and tho flavour was easily d : stjnguishabla fyom butter. In a letter accompanying tho samples Messrs Weddel and Co. stated that os it could ho sold .at about half tho price of butter it was a formidable rival to all but tho best quality of butter on the London market. Fostered by immense improvements in tho methods of manufacture, it 1 had made such enormous strdcs within tho ! past two years that it had become a serious j factor in tho Australian trade. Margarine i docs not compote with choice-quality butter, and Danish, Swedish, New Zealand, i the choicest Australian, and other high- } quality butters do not feel the direct com- | petition of margarine. The direct way to overcome the competition of margarine was to so improve tho quality that, like Now Zealand, it might remain above the margarine lino of attack. A sample of secondquality blended butter was forwarded with the margarine—-a mixture of Australian, New Zealand, Siberian, and other butters sold at Hid wholesale in London, Experts who sampled it in Melbourne declared it would not pass in Melbourne for ordinary table use. QUALITY WILL TELL. Speaking at tho exhibition of samples of margarine, Mr Graham said they must improve tho quality of their butter if they wore to meet this competition. A Bill was being prepared providing for tho grad : ng of cream. Although some of thq traders objected to tho grading of butter, he felt that in that too they had a means of improving tho quality. Ho had arranged for other samples of margarine to be sent out for exhibition at the forthcoming Melbourne Agricultural Show. Hitherto tho Australan idea of checking tho sail? of margarine was to induce the Home Government to pass legislation forbidding the use of colouring matter. On this point Messrs Weddel and. Co. say: “It is useless trying to persuade any British Government at th : s time of day to restrict tho sale of what is, after all, healthy, nutritious food by proscribing its sale if made of tho same colour as butter.” Mr Reginald Purbrick, manager of tho Bacchus Marsh Concentrated Milk Company, who was at the cool store display, remarked that there was just as much reason to colour margarine as to colour butter. Tho public liked the rich colour, and it was harmless. If butter-makers wore allowed to use colouring, margarinemakers should not be debarred. The more highly refined th» fats used in making margarine tho more wholesome was the product, and yet the paler it became. Tho public liked the rich yellow colour, and it was onlv fair that the margarine-makers should be allowed to please them in this respect. Tho raw material used in mar

garine was produced in Australia, and the industry would not only engage much labour and capital in the future, but would provide an effective check upon the manipulation of prices in the butter market. MATURING CHEESE. Some interesting experiment* have been made by the Rongokokaka Cheese Company by despatching to London a crate of cheese ■which had been allowed to mature for 12 months to ascertain if a high price would bo paid for the article. Messrs Andrew Clements and Sons, to whom the crate was consigned, is a report received say: “The quality' was perfection, tho cheese showed up handsome in appearance, good texture, and nutty Cheddar flavour; in fact, our chairman wa« ao pleased with the cheese that he had one send on to Glasgow for hie own

consumption. The other one we sold to a buyer who was to retail it out, and, if possible, let -us have the opinion of his customers. Now, as to the commercial value, we do not think more money could bo made here to reimburse for extra cost in production, the loss of wfnght, and the loss of interest by holding the cheese for such a period. Most of our buyers who saw the cheese agreed to the quality, but would not pay more for the cheese in proportion. The probability is that if there were a largo number of factories making similar cheese to these there would be a general rise in value of New Zealand; but til is is a matter of speculation to which wo would not care to bn held responsible for any views expressed.” Mr Ellison, the representative of the National Dairy Associaton, who inspected the cheese, says the quality astonished him, as ho hardly thought it, possible to produce such a fine cheese in New Zealand. Whether it could bo made to pay lie is not prepared to express an Opinion. He suggests making a trial with a few crates matured for six instead of 12 month's. KILLING A GOOD TRADE. It. would appear that horse-dealers in Scotland, for the sake of an immediate gain, are likely to destroy the splendid markets in America and Canada for the Cldyesdaie horses, just ns some New Zealanders have done their best to cripple the Australian market bv picking up cheap rubbish and shipping it away - . The Scottish Fanner, in publishing extracts from letters from a patron of the Clydesdale in Canada, says the strictures should be carefully noted. The day of reckoning may come sooner than men anticipate, and when it comes it may bo irretrievable. The extracts arc; “I see an article in your paper of 24th May stating that the breed dors not make any headway in the U.S.A., and I am afraid that it will lose ground hero in Canada. I think that every scrub that you had in .Scotland our importers and your exporters have sent to Canada. That some good ones have come there is no doubt, but they are the exception. I heard a man say that lie went to see the importation that —— made. this spring, and he said he never saw a worse bunch of mares together. 1 went to see that shipment that made last fall, ani£ they were just plain stuff. Keep up the agitation for pood, thick, weighty horses, with pood, clean. hard hone. Every scrub mare or stallion you send to Canada is doing the breed barm. The people hero are petting their eyes opened. The Porch cron is going to pet in hero if our Clydesdale importers persist in bringing in horses that are no good. I saw a home five years old that - sold to an importer here, and he in turn sold to a neighbour of mine. That horse would not cover a mare; the owner never could pet him to seed one. I saw another one that sold to another narty hero that never left one foal in 1012, and these are only a few instances that I could enumerate. The horse trade is quiet here, and will be for a while; but pood ones are all right, and will be. I am breeding some, and have plenty of inquiries for fillies of good duality with some size; but the importations will be light this year, and only good ones will be wanted. Any person who brings poor ones will pet left. I have

written you these few lines in the interest of the breed, frying to give you some light on the horse trade here.”

THE SHIRE HORSE. Breeders of .Shire horses have decided that the present is an opportune time to advance the interests of the breed. They have no doubt realised that, when complaints are rife concerning the cpiaiity of horses shinned to the overseas dominions by Clydesdale breeders, and the still more

serious objection of loss in size and weight, something may be done for the Shire, ihq Shire Horse Society has voted £2OOO for tho encouraging of the owners and breeders of Shire horses in Canada, Australia, the Argentine, and tho United States of America, to cover the years 1913 to 1917 inclusive, an annual sum of £4OO to be devoted to providing eight cold cups, valued £SO each, at representative shows. jhe following arc the selected shows for 1913 Argentine. Palermo Show, Australia, Roval Agricultural Society of "Victoria; Canada, Toronto Sliow; United States of America, Chicago Show. Two gold cups will be offered at each of the above. Tho ciglit gold cups in 1913 are to be offered under identical conditions —four for stallions and four for marcs —viz., (a) for the best registered Shire stallion, and (b) for the best registered Shire mare, duly certificated b\ the official veterinary officer as sound and free from hereditary disease. To be registered (or eligible Tor registration) in any of the stud hooks issued by the duly accredited Shire horse societies and associations of the countries mentioned. The location of the offer may he varied by the council, so that the whole of a dominion could be covered during the five years.