STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3519, 23 August 1921, Page 9

STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Weekly Stock Sales. Burnside, Wednesdays Addibgton, Wednesdavs aiareka Railwaj- Junction, Tuesday's W&llacetown, Tuesdays Fortnightly. B iversdale, Friday Ashburton,. Tuesdays Heriot, Thursdays iViuton, Thursdays Wyndham, Thursdays Clinton, Thursdays Balclutha, Fridays Gore, Tuesdays Monthly. Palmerston, 4th Thursday IV in ton, 4th Tuesday

Monthly (continued). : Duntrooa, 2nd Wednesday : Woodlands, 3rd Friday i Milton, 2nd Tuesday ! Italfour, 3rd Thursday Tho/nbury, Ist Friday Imntroon, 2nd Wednep day Otautau, 2nd Friday liiversdalc, 3rd Friday Waiknka, last Friday riv.-’cv-F. last Tu^day Periodically as Advertised. TiUinsden, Mossburn, Orepuki, Mataura, Wuikouaiti, ltivertou, Kgapara, and Otago Central Sales. ,

5 OTAGO. • Some useful ruins fell lust week, and j should do a world of good in Otago, where *■ land was drying up. There has been no k sunshine worth mentioning for several days. 1 he re is a semblance of greenness m I l ' sheltered grass paddocks, hut. nothing much of u bile lor stock. A number of early j lambs are to bo seen about. They are ' '‘doing' 1 well with their mothers on roots ; ; and there have been comparatively no t deaths recorded. 3 AI a meeting of the directors of the Wai- > taki Farmers’ Freezing Company, held at ’ Waimate the other day, it was decided to " make a call on the shareholders, and go on with the works as soon as possible. The • site has not yet been finally decided upon. s BURNSIDE MARKET. i The yarding of fat sheep at Burnside was r a moderate one, the quality being only fair 1 and a comparative absence of extra heavy prime sheep, one race would hold the lot. e There was a good demand, and sales were , made on an average of Is a head in advance of the previous week’s rates, all classes f moving up. Included in the entry were n several pennings of fine-woolled sheep, which t hi well relatively to other similar sheep, I but carrying a lower grade of wool; mutton ~ hi, ewe 3hl per lh. The fat hoggets penned • r • i n' of mixed quality with some extra well. i finished sorts, which sold we!!, but prices v j gonerullv were unchanged, tegs making to - j cbi per' H>. j 'i Th.mke to comparatively small entry of fat I y cattle the demand was good from the .start. tipeni at an ailvaneo of ill a head on d well-finished bullocks, prices generally were maintained, and beef moved off at about n up to 48s per 1001 b, with heifer and cow I ; selling proportionately less. Under 100 if head of store cattle were yarded, a mixed d lot,. There was a bettor demand, and rates e of a fortnight ago were obtainable, a pen

of three-year-old Shorthorn steers made £8 13s, and a second pen, same age, good order, but of mixed breeding, made £B, two pens year-and-a-half steers (dairy type) made £2 10s to £3, empty forward heifers £5 to £6 (a, ordinary cull cows £4 to £6. An average yarding of fat pigs with rather more porkers than usual were a little easier in talue, but small sorts and stores sold well, an improvement of some shillings per head on recent rates being noticeable, and a good ting of buyers were in attendance. ADDINGTON YARDS. I hero was a very large yarding of fat sheep at Addignton, probably 50 per cent, more than the butchers required, and the worst sale for many a day resulted, prices, owing to the general weak demand, easing 4s to 5s a head compared to recent sales. A good many pennings were passed, but yet, mutton at times slacked to close on 3d per lb. Ihe yarding of store sheep was fairly large, and the demand of a dragging nature. Bales of best grades being effected at, shillings per head lower than a month ago- r lho first lot this season of ewes with lambs at foot (100 per cent.) were yarded and made 10s a head all counted. The entry of fat cattle was of medium quality, in numbers well enough, but many animals lacked finish. Helped out by free passings of stock, values were just about maintained for prime, but unfinished sorts were, more or less, neglected. Dairies sold well—a good supply— at up to £2O, but all other .store cattle were apparently not wanted and sales were difficult to effect, four-year-old bullocks making £7, and younger sorts proportionately less. The demand for fat pigs was a bit erratic, but the supply was good. Store pigs were penned in gcodly numbers and evoked fair competition at somewhat lower rates than at the previous sale. NORTH ISLAND STOCK VALUES. 1 With the exception of dairy stock, movement in the stock markets of the North Island is practically lifeless. In the Auckland Province, at the Westfield market, beef sold at up to 37s per 1001 b, three-year-old steers £4 5s to £7 ss, forward wethers 13s 6d to 17s 3d, forward hoggets 9s 6d to 13s 6d. In Poverty Bay, mixed ewes in lamb made 18s to 21s, forward wethers to 19s, good Friesian and Jersey cross cows round £2O. In Taranaki, springing heifers, Jerseys to £l6, Jersey yearling heifers £6, ordinary 25s to 355, dairy cows at clearing sales to £26, and averaging round £l7. In the Wairarapa. two tooth wethers 9s to 11s. forward wethers 14s 3d, hoggets 0s to 9s 6d, culls 4s, very fair yearling heifers £5, dairy heifers, springing £lO. fu Hawke’s Bay, two tooth wethers of fair quality made Ss 6d. medium hoggets 6s fed to 7s 3d, extra 10s 6d, medium yearling heifers £2, yearling steers £1 ss. springing cows £9 to £l2, springing heifers £8 to £ll. STOCK N<ITER. Values of store stock in Otago are much as they were a week ago, and it is diffi- . cult to see how they can appreciate till | “fats” move off the farm more freely. ! Beef, if marketed in moderate supply, ts firm, so also with fat sheep, but the latter, it is alloged, are piling up in the country, thanks to adequate winter feed and a slack demand for any but wethers or ewes , making about 6511) when prime. The sheep stock valuations are now practically over for the year in Scotland. One of the last of the important, ones was that ; of the famous Blackface stock of Mr Adam Archibald, the ouf-going tenant of Oyorsliields, Stow, Midlothian (saws the N.B. j Agriculturist). They brought wonderful values: but, the Oversliiels Blackfaces bad a remarkable reputation, extending over a long period of years, and had the valuation been, say, a. year ago, instead of now, when prices are beginning to recede from the high-water mark, more sensational figures might have been looked for. Ihe prices fixed were as follows: £ s. cl. Ewes with single lambs fi n 0 Ewes with single lambs, shott .. 6 ft 0 Ewes and twin lambs 10 ft 0 Ewes and twin lambs, shott .. .. 7 0 0 E.ild ewes 5 10 0 F> VI owes, shott 4 10 0 Eild gimmers ft 10 ft Ewe hoggets ft 0 0 Ewe hoggets, shott 5 10 0 Two and thi'ee-yoar-olcl stud rams 40 0 ft Four-year-old stud rams 20 ft ft Five-year-old stud rams 15 ft ft Aged stud rams 5 0 0 Tup hoggets 15 ft 0 Tub hoggets Id 0 0 j Tup hoggets 5 0 0 A Clydesdale mare, owned by Air Wil- ! Ham Harrison. Oulton Grange, Wigton, has ! given birth to her twentieth foal, by Briton’s Footprint, one of the Wampool stud horses. This mure has been a consistent breeder, having produced 20 foals in 21 years, and it is enjoying well-earned rej tiremont, from work. Horse sales were bold in Sydney recently l at the Show Grounds. Bidding was fairly

spirited for draught stallions, but there was not a keen demand for other sorts. •Sentinel, a three-year-old. by Scotland— Viceroy Mag, catalogued by Messrs Blair and Robson, New Zealand, topped the sale with 220gns, the purchaser being Mr Geo. Bowra, Sydney. Live oilier horses realised over lOOgns each. At the Flemington saleyards, Melbourne, on July 26, a consignment of first-class Suffolk-Lincoln lambs (70 in the line) made , 30s ?d. Another lot of Suffolk-Lincoin- | Alerino crossbred lambs realised 21s to I 25s per head. ! At the Royal Counties Show (England) the champion Shorthorn bull was judged to be liis Alajesty’s Windsor Matchless, and the champion female was Mr Garlan’s Have Beauty Slieep 4th. Maiden Premier secured the male championship for Shire horses for Sir Bernard Groenwell. Air R. Mond’s Lady Alilner secured the championship for mares. His Mtiesty the King secured a first prize for his Hereford bull, Sir Edward. The Terling herd of Friesian cattle, belonging to Lord Rayleigh, met in .luue last with a very level trade, the 55 head averaging £204; the top price being 500 gs for the bull Telling Jeltman. The female descendants of Terling Torch made 348 gs. 350 gs, and 4logs respectively. “Nearly 10,000,000 less head of live stock were on farms in the United States on January 1, 1921, than a year previously,” are the opening words of the summary report on the live stock statistics for the year, which has just come to hand from the United States Department of Agriculture. Horses, of which 20,133,000 are returned, have decreased by about 602,000, or 2.9 per cent.; mules (4.999.0C0) have decreased by 42,000, or 0.8 per cent. ; milch cows (22,221,000) have decreased by 298,000, or 1.3 per cent. ; other cattle .; (42,870,000) have decreased by 1,8 O,COO. or j 4.2 per cent. ; pigs (66,649,000) have deI creased by 5,078,000, or 7.1 per cent. ; while sheep (45,667.000) have decreased by 2,047,000, or 4.3 per cent. The detailed figures show that horses during the year have declined in value 15.3 per cent., mules by 22 per cent., milch cows by 24.8 per cent., other cattle by 27.3 tier cent., pigs by 31.7 per cent., and sheep by 31.9 per cent. Moderate sale prices (reports the River Plato Observer) ruled at the recent stock sales on the Palermo Show Grounds, Argetina, m May last. Young imported Aberdeen Angus bulls brought £l7O to £175, and a yearling heifer £BS. Hereford heifer calves made £llO to £l3O, Shorthorn herd bulls up to £6O, South Devons to £BO, Friesian bulls £lO5 to £IBO, and Friesian cows to u 92 10s. j MERINO STUD IMPORTATIONS. Last week Mr J. P. Little, manager of Puketoi Station, Otago, returned from Aus- | tralia. having attended the sheep sales in j Melbourne in search of merino rams—iresh i blood being wanted for the Puketoi stud | flock. Mr Little was fortunate in having ' the assistance of Mr G. Gumming (a noted breeder of line-combiner sheep and a judge at the recent sheenbreeders' show) in selecting sheep suited to New Zealand conditions. Their first choice fell on a fourtooth merino ram bred by Air John Taylor, of Win toil. 'ibis sheen was the prizewinner in his class this year at the A 1 idland Show, Tasmania, and after spirited 1 bidding was secured for Puketoi Station for 160 gs. He is a well-grown, well-clad animal, carrying a type cf wool considered likely to “nick” in well with the Puketoi • stud" flock. Another ram, a four-tooth, an evenly-woolled sheep from the Hon. Theodore " Begg’s, M.P. (Eurabeen), flock was also secured, while a third from Mr Philip Russell, of Carnghan, Victoria, coaipie ted the consignment. Tlie third ram is 1 a three-year-old, carrying a line, even 1 fleece full of chai actor, both animals being ■ much admired and making satisfactory 1 values, although prices were down considcrl ably compared with the previous year. Mile ’ rains were landed and conveyed to the station last week, and should do much to . enhance the reputation of Otago mc-riuos. > THE DAIRY WORLD. 3 To Mr Giles Randall, of Aloulsoe, New 1 port Pugnell, belongs the honour of develop g ing the twentieth British and the nineteenth > British Friesian cow to yield under official 9 test 2000 gal of milk in a lactation period 3 of less than a year. Her production figure 9 to dale is 200Ggal in 337 days, and she is 9 still yielding sgul daily. The cow in ques 9 tion. lilackmore Snowdrop 3rd, a dairj ’ matron of good quality, has had a wonderfu f career, as in addition to being the youngesl jj cow to make a 2000gul record, she has alsi y the distinction of having given 4295 gal o: - milk before her sixth birthday, as she wi! s not be six years old until October sth next t Her lactation period yields wore 972 gal 1 1322ga1, and 2000 gal to date. Messrs Ran dall Brothers, who are the owners of £ l heifer calf from Blackmore Snowdrop 3rd - | are hopeful that their entire herd wil j average 900gul. j | Since the introduction of herd-testim f j dairying is reported to have made astonish

■ ing strides in the Alstonville district of New South \\ ales. At a meeting of the local - agricultural society recently a prominent breeder of dairy stock submitted that the i practice had added thousands upon thousands of pounds to the wealth of the disI trict. It was enthusiastically decided to present a gold medal to the owner of every cow that parsed the 10001 b butter test within ‘ a radium of eight miles of Alstonville, and it was agreed that the successful cows should be exhibited at the forthcoming local show. J hus is the value of herd-testing wisely ! recognised and emphasised. ; Among- the cows which completed a test of 365 days in June, under Government supervision in New South Wales, was the ) lllawarra Fairy of Fairfield, the property of Alessrs Alexander Bros. She produced of milk during this period, thus making a new record for Australia, and (says the Sydney Morning Herald) beating the milk production of Melba XV by over , 3001 b. As the test averaged 3.6 per cent., ■ the total butter-fat was 786.171 b, equivalent • to 9471 b commercial butter. i ! NEW ZEALAND CLYDESDALE STUD . i BOOK. , ! Volume IV of the New Zealand Clydesdale ; Stud Book has been issued, and should (trove > a most useful compilation to all interested i in the breed. Here we have practically the history of stud Clydesdales in New Zealand —at feast of those prior to 1920. Mho obT jecls of the society are clearly set out toI go!her with a roll of membership, and the E "Prefixes” adopted by breeders, together 1 with a host of details in respect to the listed 1 mares and stallions. Altogether the book 1 serves a most useful purpose, and should be > in the hands of all breeders of Clydesdales. ' The hook is priced at 30s net, plus postage, > and the hon. secretary is Alex. Hunter, 7 j Union street. Hawera. ’| MEAT CONDITIONS IN LONDON. 2 1 Writing under date 31st May, 1921, anent frozen meat in Great Britain, Henry S. . Fitter and Sons report that “the New Zea- ! land boats that are here have been discharg--5 ing very slowly, partly owing to the cl iHi - . cully of finding storage, and enough lambs have not been available to meet the demand. c Prices have been very firm, with an indication of slightly lower values as larger quantities arrive, but there is no sign at piesont j of the demand falling off, and many good -) forward sales have been made. The first 1 consignment of show lambs and teggs since i the war arrived last week from Hie Datino- ) virke Agricultural Pastoral Association’s 1 Show, and created considerable and well- • merited interest when they were brought { on Smithfield market to be judged by ouri selves as carcases most suitable for the Lon* j 1 don trade. The first few lots were so even that it. was no easy matter to decide which ” were the best, and the ready manner in t which they sold showed very clearly bow j extra prime meat is appreciated here.” , Messrs Gilbert Anderson and Co. (Ltd.), ] London, under date June 9, say:—“Since our last letter the market his been fairly 7 steady on the spot for lamb ami light-weight 1 mutton. The slow discharge of steamer* has greatly assisted in holding the price, as although fair quantities have arrived, and are now in the river, the slow discharge has so far prevented the market from being ) overloaded. With the exception of heavy r weights, the new meat available has made better prices than was generally anticipated, t but despite the good prices ruling on spot ,( buyers will not operate on an equivalent n basis c.i.f. terms. The general basis at the moment is Id per lb lower for the purchases s c.i.f.. as it is found that the goods cannot p be disposed of with 28 days from commencement of discharge of vessel, and buyers still 3 maintain that- the market will weaken proi bably before the goods are available. The g most disturbing influence at the moment is y the number of offers coming forward for ■- June shipment. Buyers are being prosed to e buy at 10J and lid per U> for prime lamb, e and with these prices before them they are o most cautious not to overstock themselves : at current limits. Home-killed lamb is a | little more plentiful, and it is generally l thought that both mutton and lamb cannot be held up much longer. Discussions are now open with Hie Alinistry as to the best ! . way of clearing their stocks, which consist, j roughly, ns follows:—Whole ewes, 600.600; I w 1 m'e withers. 200.009; cut lambs. 100.000; whole lambs. 90.000. The Ministry have suggested that, the lot should fie sold in ‘ one deal in order to clear their account* “j promptly, and agents are considering the q advisability of forming a syndicate to buy \ the lot, and distribute as far ns possible ; ' without upsetting the market for ‘free’ mut"l ton. As it is. buvers know that this meat j. is Gill in store, and are afraid to operate freolv in case the price is considerably re--2' j dueed.” | a HANDLING OF MEAT IX LONDON. I. In connection with the handling of frozen II meat in London, Cold Storage has the following remarks, which should bo of interest g to exporters as showing the treatment 1- accorded to New Zealand produce in Lon-

d'?n>—'-.Notwithstanding the precautions i-a«.-<w-. it the cold stores regarding the h; handling- of meat, there appears to bo a groat deal of ( apathy in this direction on ihe part of ' many of the meat tMrriers around the central markets of London. On either side of the market there ts a daily supply of meat, purchased by the but.-hers from the jobbers, stacked on the pavement awaking removal, and often the meat remains in the street for hours on end without a covering of any kind to protect it. Sometimes a cloth or sack is placed beneath the meat, but this is an exception to the rule, for more often than not, the bare flag-stones are considered sufficient by there people who are prone to handle meat ns they would cases of hardware. It is frit that something should be done without delay to stop this' wanton disregard of proper hygienic methods in handling this perishable commodity."