STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3468, 31 August 1920, Page 9

STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Weekly Stock Sale*. .Burnside, Wednesdays Asbburton, Tuesdays Addington, Wednesdays i Walareka Hallway Juno- ! tion. Tuesdays ! Wallacctown. Tuesdays Heriot, Thursdays Fortnightly. Clinton, Thursdays Ownka, alternate Thurduys with Olinton Balclutha, Fridays Gore, Oarcaru, Tuesdays Monthly. . Wallacetown, Tuesdays s Paitnerstou, Ist Holiday Winton, Ist Thursday Duntrooc, 2nd Friday

Msnthly (continued!. \S uodlauds, 2nd Thcraday »V"yndfc»in, last Thursday Balfour, Srd Thursday Thornbury, Ist Friday UuntrooD A OtaaUu. Tnd Friday l}iv«rsdßle, 3rd Friday VValkaka, last Friday Clyde-vale, last Thursday . Periodically as Advertised. - Lumsden, Moasbuin, Urepukl, Mut-aura, WaikoualU, .'iiivertbn, Kgnpara, and Otago Central "sales. -

OTAGO.

We have had a wintry week throughout Otago—not so much rain, due at ■'■i*±L- a - a.: boisterous wind and a low temperature ruung. Stock feel the climatic conditions where shelter is limited and feed scarce. It seems as if the potato embargo has been removed, but it is dangerous to depend on rumour. 'An official declaration is worth . while.. ■ . ' . ~. -..; : . BURNSIDE MARKET. There was a fairly big entry of fat sheep at Burnside. Well-finisned lots were numerically few, while unfinished sorts were disproportionately large.' About 100.; half bleds were yarded. . Sales were made on a' lowerbasis than at the previous?sale—easier4bh the run of a sticky sale by Is 6d ahead. Some very fair store wethers, -including some fine 'vools Jn hot bad, order, Vhjade 29s 6d. and straight half bred wethers; 30s 6d to 33s 9d. Fat hoggets made about- the same rates. as at Jast sale. r The quality of a fair yarding of_ fat cattle was generally good, some extra-quality animals being included. The demand was good at a shade better than at the previous sale for quality sorts, beef making 59s per 1001 b with a tendency to firm. Half-fat cattle again seem' relatively cheap—round £ls for turnip-fed cattle cannot be considered dear. Considerably under 100 head of store cattle (mostly oddments) were yarded. The demand for this class is slack. A pen of youngsters (Shorthorn breed, evidently weaned on to turnips, etc., .and fed right along) made £9 to £lO 17s 6d. The smallest would kill out 3501 b. Fat pigs improved about 5s a head, few being yarded. Dairy cows were sold to £l7 10s, but the quality yarded was but medium. ADDINGTON YARDS. . The yarding of fat sheep at Addington -was a very fair one of medium quality. With the exception of first-class-quality sheep, prices were much easier than at the previous sale, secondary grades being hard to place. Prices were down fullv 3 S a head on all olasses with the exception stated. The entry of store sheep was comparatively ~.small, but here, too, prices were easier, hoggets declining 2s to 3s, and wethers about the same. Ewes were steady, but few lots were penned. A line of 60 two-tooth halfbred ewes in lamb made 495. The yarding of fat cattle, was big and representative of the province. Prices, although good, were ■ not • up to vendors anticipations. Heloed, however by passings, the sale finished strongly nt a eK<irJe under last week's prices. A yard of six Shorthorn bullocks from . Birdling's Flat made an average of £36 10s. A big entry of store cattle (mostly youner sorts) elicited but moderate competition, all excepting well forward steers (which sold at recent rates) making lower values. Dairy sorts were not a very gay lot, which fact, together with feed being slow in coming away, checked the demand anticipated. Prices ruled from £l3 to £22 The pisr sections were but mnrWatey supnlied. and prices were consequently very firm at top rates, the price psr lb being round about Is 2d. NORTH ISLAND STOCK VALUES. Prices are, if anything, slightly easier for store stock in the North island. In the Auckland province at the Westfield market beef fold up to 58s per 1001 b. forward wethers Ms to 375, fair hoggets 25s to 2Rs, omoty heifers £5 to £6 10s, yearlings to £4-, and two year-olds (medium sorts) to £6 15s. In Poverty Bay hocre-ets sold at from 23s to 275, inferior from 17s 6d. in lamb ewes (four, six,: and eight tooths) 34s 6d, inferior lots from 2Rs, yearling steers £4 10s, wenners to £3 10s, and two-year-olds (good colours) to- £8 10s. In Taranaki hoggets brought 22s to 28s, wethers to 38s. extra 41s. yearling Jersey heifers £7. others from; £3. best, dairy heifers £2O to £22. da'ry cows £ls to . £24, medium two-and-a-half-year-old steers £6. and three-year-olds £B. In HaWke's Bay hoergets ranged from 24s to 295. inferior 17s. two-tooth wethers to 365. failing ewes to 29s 6d, good yearlinsr steers £6 15s, two-year-olds to £8 2s > 6d. empty dairy heifers £5. springing dairy heifers £lO to, £2O, and good sorts of polled Angus cows (in calf) made to £l2.

CLINTON-CLTJTHA SALES. Some 2000 sheep were yarded at a mixed lot, comprising a few yards b$ fair ewes, some failing mouths, and t-ho balanoe wethers and medium hoggets. Tha sale was of a dragging nature, and salei were hard to effect, half the entry being? passed. Sales were made on a basis of os a head under the previous market quotas tations. A line of 300 two, four, and sixtooth in-lamb ewes was passed; at 36s 6dj fair mixed ewes made 28s sd, failing 17s 9d to 20s, poor sorts 12s, good wether hoggets' 24s 2d to 27s Id, ewe hoggets 29s 7d\ a small lot of medium ewe Jioggets being l passed at 20s 3d; fair mixed hoggets to 27| 4d, inferior mixed 19s, small two and fourtooth wethers 33s 9d, extra 365, and extra forward being. passed ■at 38s- 3d. . At Balclutha about 1000 sheep and ISO head of cattle were yarded. The entry inr eluded some good pens of fat sheep and fat heifers. . Sales were, made on a parity witli v Clinton's effort the previous day, a lino * of good. Rdrhney wether hoggets making 28s, mixed hoggets 26s 2d to 26s sd, mixed ewes 29s 6d, failing 295, forward wethersi to 38s 6d, backward 28s 9d, thin half bredfour and. six-tooths 31s. A number of cattlewere passed, dairy cows making from;. £8 to £2O 15s, ,and. killable animals fully equal to rates ruling at Burnside during August* ..STOCK NOTES, With the exception of dairy stock, values in Otago have generally come back, in-lamb • ewes possibly alone among sheep excepted'. There J isj however, not a great deal of business doing at the moment, excepting at clearing sales, where high values rule for all farm requisites. Nothing new was disclosed at the meeting ' of .delegates in Wellington recently anent the wool position, the mere fact that delegates were in the dark and not fortified by tho opinions of the organisations they represented savouring of burlesque. At the first sho,v and sale of purebred dairy Shorthorns by the Birmingham. Agricultural Society, the first prize cow, four years old, was sold for 260g3, the champion cow, Heatherden Tulip, making similar money. The champion bull, Orford < Duke, sold for 160 gs. At a sale in Warwickshire 56 head • averaged £291 16s lOd. Grendon Rose, winner of first prize for heifers at London , Dairy Siliow last year, and who gave nearkr" 10,0001 b milk in'"li;.months, was bought'for 950 gs. A yearling bull, Grendon Musician, made 850gsj Roseleaf 2nd, a fiver year-old cow, 750 gs; and the samo price was paid for Sweet-Lilac, her bull calf making 250 gs; others making from 3Oogs to 400 gs. Mr J. MacCallum Smith, M.P. for North Perth, manager .of -the Perth Sunday Times, and director, of the. Western Australian Bank, has bought the Canowie Suffolk - Punch stud of about 30 horses, which are to be sent to his stud farm, Home bush, 80 miles from Perth. The top price paid for Friesiaiis at Mrs Case's dispersal sale at North Elmham, Norfolk, was a three-year-old" heifer of great size and good markings realising this figure. Other good prices were 650 gs, 470 gs, 360 gs, and 350 gs. The average for 85 females was £207 18s 3d. / . .'- ' What is said to be a record sale of fat steers in the Argentina is recorded in a recent River Plate Observer.. We extract' the following:—"Senor Pedro Estanguefc has now for some years established record operations by his yearly sales of fat steers. A few years ago, when he sold about 6000 head at one operation, it was considered by many to be the largest number of fat steers that were likely to be sold in one lot. Since then the yearly lot sold in one operation had increased to 1.0,200 last year when the Anglo-South American Meat Com* n-vTo wis i}*~ this" year, sold to the Anglo by weight, the* price beinsr 30 cents per lb dead. The cattle are supposed to yield around 7501 bof dressed beef. The large number. of 12:000 head will be sent to the works, which marks a ;;hew; record for number of fat. steers entering in one operation. The fact that they have been sold to weight marks a new dp-riarture on the part of the seller, as! he refused to sell last year's lot in the same way." There was good competition for merinos at the stud sheep sales- in Melbourne on 4+h August. 30f>ors beinsr obtained for a ram from the Wintnn jflork and SOOgs for another, while 1900-s and umvards were paid several times. . EVw "British breeds were ronresehted. and -W* year's nr'Ves, were always obtainable. Three Corriedales from N«w Zealand (Ensors) made 45gs, 25gs, and 40fs respectively. :, Stallions a.nd brood mares were auctioned on the 4th fnst. in Adelaide, a.nd with nnl-n- a fair demand .** O-nod colts sold w«ll. OVdesdalfi, FW of B«"arat. made WJm. J-T° is r'sinc three years old. Other stallions rirasro-ed at WVs to IP»<Vg. Mares (somp 50 beinsr offered) met w<*-h more competition, and sold from 50gs to 84gs. MEAT IN. THE COMMON WEALTH. Fewer and fewer number of sheep ar«, coming into the Homebush market (Syd> ney), and larger and larger are the with?

drawals from the cold storage supply, 20,000 now being withdrawn weekly (says a recent Australian Meat Trades Journal). The next few months are going to be anxious ones for those responsible for the supply of meat. The mutton in store cannot possibly last for more than seven or eight weeks at the present rate of consumption, and already supplies are being looked for in Queensland and elsewhere. Last week 2000 shorn sheep from Queensland, which fetched 48s per,head at the saleyards, helped the supply, which otherwise would have been almost negligible. A contract has just been fixed in Brisbane for 1000 tons of frozen beef from Imperial Government supplies, at cost price plus storage charges, and more is available if required. However, at is expected that supplies of live cattle will be shortly arriving from Western Queensland, which will relieve the position £o far as beef is concerned. As no steamers are available the Queensland frozen beef is to be brought overland, necessitating rehandling at the border. No doubt it could -come down all right this time of the year as deck cargo, that is if it were loaded quickly and quickly discharged, but no "go' slow" policy would do. However, the rail has been decided upon, as the coastal boats are mostly full up. Immediate steps should be taken to get mutton

and lamb from Victoria, and, failing supplies from there from New Zealand. We should require for some time at least 20.000 carcases per week, and no time should bo. wasted in getting it. j Most of the meat works in Southern Queensland are closing down shortly. John Cooke and Co. at Redbank and the Queensland Meat Export Company (Ltd.) have already done so. This is owing to the shortage of fat cattle. However, they hope to resume again at the end of the year. The Northern works, were ships available, would go on to the end of October; but that is the rub—they are not available. The demand for mutton for the United States may be in view; but we heard that many years ago. However, we have little meat to send them, and are not likely to have for some years. Neither New South Wales nor Queensland are likely to havo much for export for a year or two,, and the former State will be buying live, stock largely, from, Victoria, which will reduce that State's supplies for export. It will take years of good seasons to bring us back to normal conditions.

AT THE ROYAL (ENGLAND). For the first occasion at a Eoyal (England) Show the Clydesdales exceeded the Shires in numbers at Darlington. Being held in the North of England, practically all the Scottish winners were entered. The championship of the show was Mr A." M. Montgomery, with Fyoie Sensation, a two-year-old bay by Hiawatha Again. The female champion was a two-year-old filly, Peace, shown by Mr J. Gray. In the Shire classes several winners at previous shows were. put down, The male championship went to Messrs J. Forshaw and Sons' Foch, by Abbott's Royal Blood. His Majesty the King's Maid Marion 2nd, by Friar Tuck, took the female championship. The 4600-guinea mare Gladthorpe Seclusion was. beaten in her class. The winning Berkshires at the DarlingtonRoyal were quite up to the highest stand* aid -of the breed. The champion prize for *""" bear or sow went to Basildon Jovenal, a fine young sow shown _by _Major -J. A. Morrison. Champion prize. for best boar was gained by Mr H. R. Beeton's Carry On." " A boar which won in the yearling 1

class was afterwards sold for 310 gs. Large Black pigs put up a great sale. The top price was SYOgs, paid for a boar sold by Mrs W. Kennedy to Mr H. Groom. Others sold at 350 gs, 3W)gs, and 310 gs, arid 163 head averaged £6B 6s 3d. Shorthorn sales at the Royal showyards in England included the top price, 4000 gs, paid by Mr J. Shepherd for Diamond Butterfly, , owned by the Prince of Wales; whal© Mr M. B.' Whigham gave 2500 gs for the Prince's . Shorthorn bull Oberon. Mr M Marshall paid 3100 gs for Major dive Behren's Swinton Rosicrucian 2nd. A feature cf tho Royal Show* was the great display of-Ryeland sleep. The shearling class of 17- sheep was led by Mr P. T. Gough's Lugwardine Sparklet, described by the Live Stock Journal as' one of the best shearbng rams ever seen at the Royal. In Roniney Marsh classes Mr J. Egerton Quested took both championships and a number of other, prizes. The Lincoln classes were well filled with good sheep. Mr O. T. Howard took the championship with a fine yearling ram.