STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES

Otago Witness, Issue 3330, 9 January 1918, Page 9

STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES

Weekly Stock Sales. Burniide, Wednesday* Ashburton, Tuesdays Addington, Wednesdays Walareka Railway Junction, Tnesdava "" Wallacetown, Tuesdays Fortnightly. Clinton, Thursday! Balclutha, Fridays Gore, Tuesdays Oamaru, Tuesdays Wallacetown, Tuesday! Heriot, Thursdays Monthly. Palaierston, Ist llonday Winton, Ist Thursday Duutrocn, 2nd Friday

Monthly (continued). Woodlands, 2nd Thursday Wyndham, last Thursday Balfour, 3rd Thursday Thornbury, Ist Friday Duntroon & Otautaa, 2nd Friday Riversdale, 3rd Friday Waikaka, last Friday Clydevale, last dayPeriodically as Advertised. Lumsden, Orepuki, Mutaura, Waikouaiti, Riverton; Ngapara. and Otago Central tfales. •

OTAGO. The holidays over, the weather cleared, and there seems an end now to squally south-west to north-west winds with cold rain showers. Early-sown roots, however, have appreciated the late varied conditions, and turnips now being "singled" are standing- up well to- the operation. Some sunshine is now required to hearten up stock and ripen the feed a bit, and lambs will do better. As it is, the growth of vegetation has been so free that ewes with lambs would be all the better with some dry feed, and so endeavour to avoid any going back in condition. Wool is coming in steadily to the various centres for. appraisement. Ere this noto is in our readers' hands the third series of appraisements will have been finished in Dunedin. The wool valuers have been kept busy, and the work has proceeded smoothly. The wool is opening up .to expectations, and although there is yet ample room for improvment in the "get un" of too many of the lots submitted Otago wools are making "good." If .growers cannot see that they have anything to gain by submitting straight lines of wool of about the same count it is their misfortune, and the sooner they appreciate tho basis'of valuing the better for all concerned. Seedy stuff is not in the same street as clean wool for value,* and should not bo intermixed with such unless tho grower elects to gamble and risk "falling in"; but, having fallen in, he should 'lie quiet. Th,e Continental carbonising plants are not in work as of yore, and naturally wools free of vegetable matter are in favour to-day. It is not to be inferred from the above remarks that Otago wools have suffered to any great extent in this respect; but growers are just warned again to keep seedy wool by itself". [Local mills havte secured a good deal of wool under the arrangements entered into at the commencement of the season. Our Allies, too, both Canadian and French nominees, have eagerly availed themselves of the opportunities offering, and have been freely allocated suitable lots of Otago wools at the appraised values. Up till the present tho Tuapeka A. and P. Society seems the only southern association objecting to the imposition of .the amusement tax in as far as it affects shows. More power to them. The Legislature in its sanest moments surely never deemed that an agricultural show would be termed an amusing affair under the Finance Act. The next Clinton sale will be held on tho 17th of January. BURNSIDE MARKET. The stock sale at Burnside was held early on Friday instead of Wednesday, and supplies prbved in some scctionn short enough. Fat sheen which were passed at the previous week's salo made 3s more per head at this sale. Very few lambs were forward, and prices went up considerably—shillings a head. The fat cattle section was fairly well filled with medium steer cattle and "fairish heifers and cows. Passings were made freely, and this alone served to keep prices from coming back a lot. As it was, thoy were down 20s a head, beef making at most up to 51s per 1001 b. Only 30 store cattle were penned. Thero was a fair demand. A yard of medium two-year-old to three-year-old steers made £l2 19s; others unchanged. Tho few dairy cows penned were sought after. at £8 to £ls ss. Pigs were in modest supply, and high rates prevailed. ADDINGTON YARDS. Values at Aldington for beef and mutton were somewhat lower than at the previous sale, fat sheep being back at least 2s a head in comparison with last sale's prices. Tho sheep yarded wort* of good quality, and in fair numbers. The 630 fat lambs were secured at 2s lower rates than last week. Tho yarding of store eheep was cleared at good values, allowing but a little margin on the fat price. Tho largo entry of fat cattle met with a good demand at a lower level than has been apparent of late, and good-quality beef was secured at 50s per 1001 b. In the store cattle section mostly young sorts were nonned, which wore somewhat easier than has been the rule in this centre for a whilo b'.ck. The quality was only medium. Dairy cows elicited a good demand at £8 10s to £lB. Values in tho pig sections woro very firm, with weaners rather ohoap.-r. NORTH ISLAND STOCK VALUES. Although the holidays aiFectcd stock transactions to some extent In tho North

Island, business, it is opined, is made only with difficulty at the late high level of values. Some recent prices are as undernoted. In the .South Auckland district beef touched 52s per 1001 b. Mediumyoarling steers brought £5 10s, year-and-a-half-olds £6 10s to £lO 10s. and shorn twotooths 23s to 25s 6d. In Poverty Bay all meaty stock sell freely, with store sheep and cattle easier. .Fair lines of young shorn weathers fetched 22s to 28s. others from 19s, cows £9 10s. and dairy sorts £ll to £l4 10s. In Wanganui-Feilding values appear to bo coming back, shorn two-tooths" selling at 255, yearling steers £5 to £6 ss, ycar-and-a-half-olda £7 10s. two-and-a-half-vcar-olds £ll to £l2, and empty heifers £6 'to £B. In the Wairarapa year-'and-a-half-old steers sold at £7 15s, three-year-olds £l2 ss, two-tooth, fourtooth, and si—tooth wethers 245, and culls 16s 9d. In the Wellington province values are hardly maintained. In Hawkc's Bay mixed two-tooths ranged from 17s to 23s 6d, others from 13s 6d, forward wethers 2Rs to 50s. vearlings round about £7, extra £lO. stove cows £7 to £8 15e, and bullocks to £l4 ss. STOCK NOTES. The Chicago Breeders' Gazette says there is an unparalleled demand for Herefords, and record prices are being paid for coveted specimens. Recently there was a sale of "bulls and heifers from the Orchard Lake stud. The record price of Q 3400 was paid by a Canadian buyer for the bull Martin Fairfax. For 25 bulls the average was £476. One cow with a heifer calf at foot realised £IOOO. Of the 75 head sold not one made loss than £2CO. At the Newmarket salcyards (Victoria) some stud sheep were auctioned last week, and made for 103 Lincoln rams (two-tooth) up 'to 3igs. One hundred and ninety-nine merino rams (two tooth) made to 3gs, 17 Border Leicester rams (six-tooth) to 4gs, and 23 Romney Marsh rams (wholly, twotooth to six-tooth) 3gs to 4gs. " Horses useless for any work but possible to eat fetch £SO to £55 a piece," according to a report from Vienna. A herd of 40 goats, the property of Mr A. B. Smith, of Romanby House, Northallerton, was offered for sale in Leeds market. Mr Smith told a press reprosentativo that the demand for goats had enormously increased in the last two years. Their milk was of excellent quality, and the supply was ample and regular for household purposes, one goat yielding from one to three quarts daily. The goats realised from £3 to £4 each—a considerable advance on pre-war prices. An important sale of pedigree dairy Shorthorns was held recently at Hereford, England. Lady Singlet 11th, a two-year-old white heifer, was sold at auction for IOOOgs. and her calf at I2ogs. Other yearlings made 300 es. 270 gs, and 250 gs. Mr O. H. Joliffo's 41 Shorthorn cows and heifers made £8566, or an average of £219; and his five bulls 1715g5, or an average of £360 ss. Altogether trade in Shorthorns was unusually brisk, and the averages are the highest yet recorded. Mr W. M. Oazalet, of Fairlawno, Kent, sold his entire crop of Shorthorn heifers and young bulls under keen competition. Fifty-five lots made £11,197 4s, or an average of £203 lis Bd. Heifers sold exceptionally well, the top price being IOOOgs for a yearling clipper, the 27 heifers averaging £319 17s 3d.

At the annual sale of purebred Shorthorns of the Edgcote Shorthorn Company big money was secured for a number of lots. A red yearling bull, Edgcoto Hero, made 2OoOgs, and an 11-months-old bull 9Oogs. The 26 lots realised 7585g5, an average of 291 gs. Ten cows, some with calves at foot, realised 1608 gs, an average of 160 gs. An item of interest to Friesian breeders is the progress made by Mr F. B. May's wonderful cow Eske Hetty, whose yield to date is 1438 gal in 25 weeks, and sho is still exceeding 7gal daily. Sho should attain 2000 gal yield in the lactation. . This oow is treated the same as the other matrons in Mr May's English herd, and has been and is only milked twice daily. She is due to calve again within 13 months from commencing this lactation period. With the exception of Chaddcsdcn Darkie, she apparently stands in a class by herself as a phenomenal yielder. Chaddcsden Darkie, owned by Messrs "Willetts, of Derby, has at 12 years old exceeded the 180Ogal record in 12 months, this performance being the more remarkable in that she has, like Eske Hetty, been a most regular breeder. Both of these exceptional animals are tinder official test.

Mr Mills, of Glonmona Park, Victoria, is adding to his Border Leicester stud a ram lamb and a gimmcr bred by Mr J. Lawson. Elsricfce Mains. Biggar. The ram lamb is by Loyalty Yet (4338) from a Leaston Hector ewe. The trimmer is by Proud Ideal (3133) from a F.oosovelt ewe. —Scottish Farmer.

The frigorifico at Asuncion, Paraguay, established by national capital, has contracted to supply its output to the British army through a local house. For the better convenience of the soldiers, the product will be put up in small rectangular cans, instead of as heretofore. Bv every boat arriving come representatives of foreign concerns who are surveying the country to estimate its resources for cattleraising, -and possibly for the establishment of more frigorificos. The number of notablo Lincoln rams, that have now for many years been imported into Argentine lias caused the

change from the merino to tho more profitable Lincoln and its crosses. ,The impetus given to tho production of sheep for export (says tho River Plate Observer) as frozen mutton was also in favour of the Lincoln, due to the colour of the carcase and valuable skin of lengthy good wool. The Lincoln cross is at present the favourite sheep in this country, and forms a very high percentage of tho total sheep in the Republic. A lot of 18 Lincoln rams imported recently averaged over. £4O each. THE WORLD SHORTAGE. The Meat Trade Journal (London) says: "Lecturing at the London School of Economics on 'The Coming AVorld Shortage,' Mr Sidney Webb said that when peace oame it would oome not only suddenly, but unexpectedly, and then we should be forced to face a great world, shortage, signs of which were already visible. The flocks and herds of the world were to-day very, much smaller, and even the once-despised pig was rapidly disappearing. The consumption of metals, oil, coal, ' wool, hides, leather, and timber was altogether in excess of the present production. There were plenty of those things in and under the earth, but there was no labour to produce them. At present there were about 45,000,000 workmen engaged on munitions, or about oneeighth of the whole population of the world; -whose energies had been transferred from civil production to that of war." SHORTHORNS AT PALERMO. Mr Robert Bruce contributes an article on the above to the Live Stock Journal. This gentleman had just returned from his visit to Buenos Aires after judging at this important fixture, and no doubt the following passage will be perused with interest:—"The manner in -which the animals were brought out was quite a revelation. In the great majority of cases not a hair was out of place if it could be utilised to hide or lessen a defect, rendering careful handling a necessity. I venture here to say, belonging, a 3 I do, to an older school than many of the presentday judges, that I do not feel justified to giVe an award without my hands searching for what no art of the man in charge, tho amount of hair, nor the wet dandybrush can hide. Watching breeders and others examining tho animals in the stalls after the judging, they seemed to confine the handling to tapping 'their finger-points along the backs over the rumps, and feeling for a well laid-in tail, missing altogether the search for quality and evenlydistributed flesh. Speaking of the exhibits as a whole, it seemed to mo that breeders have been giving careful attention to the development of wide fore roasts, smooth rumps, and nicely laid-in tail roots, but neglecting tho covering of the shoulder points, neck veins, fore flanks, and depth of flesh over the ribs. A considerable majority of the 1058 bulls entered, although well covered' along their backs, showed a decided slackness along the top lines. This, I presume, must to some extent have been due to the continued excessive high feeding they had been subjected to at an early age. Speaking of the prize and commended bulls as seen on the two occasions the publio had an opportunity of seeing them in the parade ring, no one could fail being strongly impressed with the large number of really splendid specimens of tho Shorthorn breed. Taken as a whole, tho winners in the younger classes, if in 'the interval'they are not overloaded wen fat, should in 1918 make even a more meritorious lot than did the older specimens, good as they were, in the' show of 1917. The champion bull, a red with little white, calved in May, 1915, was smooth in flesh, with not a wrinkle on any part of his body. With the exception of the ends of his rumps being somewhat cow-shaped, he could be spoken of as almost faultless. His head was good and well carried: his neck, neck vein, and brisket were well developed; his shoulders nicely laid, with wonderful for-eflanke; the back was wide and strong, with woll-covered ribs ; hock bones smooth and well covered, and tho twist wide and well let down. He weighed at two years and four months about 20cwt. and walked with great freedom.' The name of tin's bull was Best Duke, and ho was tho property of Mr Eduardo Hoaly. The reserve number bull, longer in his middle, was a very attractive roan in colour, but wanted depth of flesh, especially over his crops and chine. "Aa arranged in the programme, the auction sale of the champion bull was fixed for the Monday morning of the first day of the sale week. It, however, resulted in a turmoil very trying to tho executive. Long before tho hour fixed for the sale the great hall was overcrowded, and many hundreds of people were unable to get near the doors. Tho auctioneer was unable to mako his voice hoard, and pandemonium resulted. The bull was taken to the parade ring, when a rush was made for the rails and stands, and before one-half of the people were able to get out of the sale hall to reach tho portion of the ring near where the animal was placed, they were quite beyond any possible communication with the auctioneer. It was freely said that several intending bidders who had at an early hour secured seats in the hall had no opportunity to got within sight of the auctioneer. To the disappointment of many who expected to see the bull mako a much hiaher price, tho hammer fell at 52,000d01. The reserve champion, Mr A. L. Pereyra's Quilmes Shenley 20th, by Shenley Banner, sold for 35,000d01.

" The female classes contained about 100 specimens. The older class gf cows, calved before 1915, contained 12, a number of them being overfed, milkless-looking animals. The first prize in her class, Christmas Carol 16th. took her position without question, and ultimately was made female champion of the breed. She _was calved in 1911. a rich roan, and a direct descendant of the Sittyton cow, Christinas Carol, imported in 1889." The champion Hereford bull, Quilmes Fanfare, w : as sold for 24,000d0l to Senor Otto Bemberg. The reserve champion, Quilmes Forward, was sold for 14,000d0l to Senora Ines Salas de Cobo.

The champion Rambouillot sheep was sold for 6000dol to Don Fernando Gonzalez.