OUR CANTERBURY BUDGET.

Otago Witness, Issue 3870, 15 May 1928, Page 21

OUR CANTERBURY BUDGET.

MUCH SHARPER WEATHER. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Sharp frosts with clear days and fog in the low-lying country in the morning has been the lot of Canterbury in the week gone by. The change in the weather which occurred at the previous week-end brought good showers of rain to most portions of the province. This was followed by a. double-figure frost, and there has been a succession of them. A few agriculturists complain that the ground is still hard enough, and around parts of the Lincoln district, for instance, the bottom of a newly turned furrow is remarkably hard and dry. Where the soil has been prepared for wheat, it is going in with excellent chances of coining away well.

In this connection it is interesting to note in the figures published in the latest abstract of statistics that the wheat yield so far is remarkably high. These figures are compiled from the actual threshing returns furnished, and they are certainly illuminating. The figures are for the period up to April 19, taking into account the returns furnished by threshing mill owners, and the average for the Canterbury province is a fraction over 40 bushels an acre. In round figures 3,.000,000 bushels were threshed, and the remainder of the threshings is not at all large, Otago being the only other province to count, and the total quantity threshed there was, in round figures 500,000 bushels. In the latter ease the figures show a yield per acre of a shade over 36 bushels. The yield of Canterbury is sufficiently high to carry the average for the whole country over 39 bushels. It will not be at all surprising that the slack threshing which had to be done at the time of the making tin of return does not take the average still higher There remains further sto6k threshing figures to be included. Naturally the machine owners ar e alwavs a httle behind with their figures. It will be highly interesting to see what the final result will be. One of the keenest students of wheatgrowing in Canterbury treely stated some weeks back when threshing was under way that the. average was not likely to improve upon that ot last year, but the figures so far show that lie was well astray.

DANGER OF IMPORTING DISEASE

At the meeting of the committee of the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Asociation on Wednesday there was an interesting discussion upon the likelihood ot ioot-and-mouth disease being introduced into the Dominion. A circu’ar was received from the Hawke’s Bay b° cl ety urging that concerted action should be taken by the various organisations representing farmers to urge upon the Government that far form relaxinthe present regulations aiming at the pre°yention of the introduction of the disease mto the Dominion there should be sti'J further tightening of restrictions. The proposal was endorsed by the Canterbury body, and incidentally one of the members of the committee drew attention to f „L, i- lat > should be more carefullj watched than is the case at present. He mentioned the case of a quantity of straw finding its way to a farm in a. package of English-made plough shares, there was a great danger of infection being carried in this manner. Mr R E Alexander, Director of Canterbury Agrithn~’ a College (Lincoln), said that there was not much danger in the importation of straw so long as the present regulations (which compel the burning of straw within a. fortnight of its arrival? were enforced, and from the experience of the institution which he controlled the wmre rS wat Vf? , D ? partment of Agricultural weie watchful in a remarkable de-ree welmvo -r rry ° n the cloa » stock c Present was the sumininp of one member of the committee, "and don t run the risk of importing disease just because there is a clamour from bl ‘ eeders for new blood.” The sentiment was approved . HIGH FIGURES FOR HOGGETS. Weather conditions always react verv quickly on the stock markets, and the frosty days and colder winds experienced in Canterbury in the past week or so have impressed upon all that winter is at hand The fact that the shortest dav is onlv six weeks off before the weather has been re-ilb wintry has made many lose sight of the slipping by of time. In the saleJ ards this week the markets have been steady. There has been no recession so rar as the values of store sheep are concerned, but at Addington, except when odd pens of very good sheep came on the market, the buoyancy which has been the rule. was not so apparent. Naturally, the quality of the sheep had something to do with this, but even w-ethers which at preceding sales have been snapped up like hot cakes failed to elicit the. keen bidding of the previous three w-eeks. Back country stations have not been slow to send their sheep forward while the prices have been so good, and there w-as a strikingly large proportion of wether lines penned at Addington this week in the store section of the sale. A good many of them were halfbreds from stations

with a reputation for turning off sheep which do well. It was not the high prices of wethers which formed the most noticeable feature of the store sheep sale at Addington this week, but rather the abnormal figures touched for some of the ewe hoggets offering. When halfbred ewe hoggets in May run to 35s lOd, it is reminiscent of the best prices of the boom days. iliis money was paid for a pen at Addington on Wednesday, and there were other high prices which made many of the sales of sheep of this class, which were thought more or less extraordinarily dear at some of the North Canterbury fairs, appear very reasonable. This high-priced pen was a few less than a truck lot from North Canterbury, and they were nicely woolled, with a well grown, healthy appearance. A pen of halfbred ewe lambs numbering 186’’broiight 31s 2d. and they were not specially big, and rather uneven in the fleeces. Several pens of strongwoolled lambs sold at close on 30s. This on a day when the wether lambs, were inclined to move backward in price if anything. EWES ARE NOT EASY TO BUY.

There is a dearth of reasonably good class ewes in the ealeyards at the present time, and a farmer with any pride in his flock would have hesitated before he bought any of the breeding ewes penned at Addington this week. They were a very poor lot taken generally, and were mainly ewes of very ordinary quality and low condition, in spite of the good pastures which have been so plentiful throughout the past summer and autumn. Some fair ewes, fine in the wool, were obtainable round 30s, but there, were not many of them. A pen of ewes from Glen Wye, a fairly hard North Canterbury hill property, made 30s 2d, but as the rams had not been turned out with them, many farmers would not look upon them favourably on account of the late lambing. Sales of wethers were interesting, and the most forward draft was from Cheddar Valley. They were. four-tooths, and sold at 30s 9d to 32s Id. Castle Bill sheep brought 28s lOd, and Ilossack fourpenee less. Both these properties are well back, and wethers from them are always sought after. The sting in the demand seems to have departed. Graziers who wanted sheep to carry through for shearing were in evidence, and the consistency of the wool market makes them fairly bold bidders when the right classes of sheep are on offer.

FAT LAMB BUYERS STILL KEEN. Due, no doubt, to the very excellent weather conditions which have ruled up till lately, the yardings of fat lambs continue to keep up very well, numerically at least, at the metropolitan saleyards, and the exporters are just as keen to secure lambs at this late stage as they were at any part of their buying. The 1928 season certainly stands out from all the seasons in the past five years for a firmness of demand at an even and gradually rising set of prices. There have been no sudden fluctuations and no disturbance from the even tenor of the trend upwards. There have been no striking jumps forward, but what has been very satisfactory is that the buyer of store lambs has been able to come out right. No less than throe vendors received the good figure of 38s LI for the best of their drafts this week. A pen of 20 sent forward by Mr J. F. Nicklaus (Yaldhurst) reached this figure, and Mr S. Re\elly (Mount Somers) and T. W. Brooks (Brookside) sold pens of 19 and nine at the same price. Naturally skin values enter largely into the determination of the price at the present time. OVER-SUPBUY OF BEEF

Two yardings of fat cattle totalling figures which averaged out at 635 head was too much for the butchers to absorb, and the prices of fat cattle slid back a little in consequence. Had it not been that some graziers handy to the city were prepared to buy some of the back country station cattle the likelihood is that the rates ruling for the plainer steers would have been lower. Good cattie were still worth very fair money, for three bullocks sold on account of Messrs Ensor and M'Cracken (Pendle Hill) made £lB 7s 6d. and a heifer from Styx £l5 2s 6d. Two cows on account of Mr B. Wynn-Williams (Waipara) made £l4 2s 6d and £l4 7s 6d. The best of the beef was selling at up to 38s, with the average prime quality from 35s to 375. A fairlv large proportion of ,the entrj’- was from North Canterbury properties, and some of them were off long drives. With the practical elimination of the cows from the market which takes place in the later weeks of the winter, beef prices are likely to run up well over

the 40s mark before the grass comes again. Indications are that Otago and Southland graziers will have a fair supply of stock on hand for the Addington trade, in which they have shared very materially in the spring in the past few years. The good conditions ruling in the lamb pens were more or less reflected in the buying of fat sheep. The schedule in use by the freezing companies at the present time runs to 7id for the very light wethers, but 7|d. the 49-561 b price and Gfd for tha 57-641 b weights. The very heavy sheep run down to still another penny less. Ewe mutton at the moment ranges from 4d to s£d. For the more popular weight ■' 5d and is paid.