CANTERBURY BUDGET.

Otago Witness, Issue 3886, 4 September 1928, Page 20

CANTERBURY BUDGET.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) MIXTURE OF WEATHER. It has been the lot of Canterbury to experience strikingly good weather in the past week, with the exception of Thursday evening, when after a mild nor’-west day the wind veered to the sou’-west and brought up very squally conditions. The temperature ran down low, and there was a dusting of snow quite low on the Cashmere Hills, with the higher altitudes of Banks Peninsula well covered. In the foothill country the fall was also fairly low down, and the lambing is in progress, so that there will be a, Tew losses, but fortunately the stormy conditions were short lived, and Friday broke fine again. The fall of snow will probably mean more frosts, but there is a good bite of feed on all pastures now, and stock is generally in the pink of condition. Most ewe flocks are on the fat side, and this is making itself felt in connection with the lambing. Ewes have to be watched more closely than usual.

The crops look exceptionally well at present, and few can remember them being so well advanced at the end of August as they were# Winter-sown wheat has come alone in fine style, and if there are sufficient rains throughout the season there should be another very satisfactory harvest. WINTER SHOW WELL ATTENDED. The concluding days of the Canterbury Winter Show were very well attended, and the results should be a decided financial success. In eight days the takings of the gates for the year before were passed and the show was open for 13 days, so that the remaining five days were in excess of the previous year. A permanent home is what is worrying the show management at the present time. Even the very commodious barracks available, plus half the adjoining street, have proved not large enough to hold the show. SHEEP MARKET. Some really good lines of sheep were available to buyers at the Addington yards this, week in the store sheep section, and the keenness of the public indicated that many farmers throughout the province are lightly stocked. Although there was a change in the weather during the latter part of the week the sale at Addington was held in spring-like conditions, and there is plenty of feed at the present time on most farms, Several drafts of .really good hoggets were offering, and the best of them went to 40s Id.

This was for the first run out of 210 a 1 5611 of 600 odd sold on account ot Mr J. O. Redfern (Darfield). 'The remainder .-brought 395. Another lot of 180 much stronger in the wool than the larger pen brought 345. The hoggets were well grown, and were bred from bnowdon ewes by English Leicester rams, being a splendid type of three-quarter-bred. It is not often that a straight U ne , of the kind can be picked up in Canterbury. A few pens of finc-woolled ewe hoggets were sold, but they were of the plain class, and had not the size and condition of the three-quarterbreds. GOOD WETHERS WANTED. With shearing only a few weeks off. it is not surprising that the demand for wethers is still good, and this week there was a pen or two of a good class in the Addington yards, and they met with excellent competition. A truck lot of six ei ßbt-tooth halfbred wethers sold at 3b s 9‘i. and there were several other lota round 355. It was an excellent sale for the wethers. Rarely in August is a line of ewes and Jambs seen in the saleyards in Canterbury, but there was one lot at the Rangiora sale n?;J U< rl ay -’ and ? ,!<?y . b ™UKht a good price. They were m fair order, but the ewes were aged, and they sold at 20s Id. Jt is too early yet to take this as a uuide as to what prices will be in the next few’ months. Several useful lots of breeding ewes were sold at Addington on the following lay and a truck lot of halfbred ewes in lamb to Shropshire and English Leir o?n r, ? nls 2 ve, ; e sol(1 at 43s 3d. A pen of 230 two-toothed Romney ewes, which were sold on account of Mr A. Goodwin (Pigeon Bay), brought 43s 6d. Thev were or the North Island type on the Point of lambing to English Leicester and houthdown rams, and the appearance of the ew’es promised a good lambing. Thev were ewes which had the appearance of being worth the money. There was a wide variety of old ewes, which brought up to 30s.

PLENTY OF MUTTON ABOUT. As is not to be wondered at considering the mildness of the season, there is still plenty of mutton about, and excellent mutton, too. Although the prices at Addington on Wednesday were not as good as usual there was a very satisfactory sale, considering the size of the offering. BUTTER-FAT PERCENTAGE. To those interested in stock, particularly in relation to dairying, it is very interesting to note that at the recent winter show held in Christchurch the milk given by the winning now in the milking competition could not be sold by a milk vendor. Although this cow yielded the most butter-fat of those in the competition, the percentage of fat in the milk was below the legal minimum of 3.25. The Babcock test gave individual reading as low as 2.7 per cent, of fat. Yet this milk was undoubtedly pure, and the good yield was sufficient to win the competition. , Undoubtedly many innocent persons have been fined in connection with the sale of milk, arid the stigma often attaches that this low’ testing milk has been watered. More recently the prosecutions are made for milk of this kind being deficient in solids. This is decidedly fairer to the dairyman, but the question remains as to whether the butterfat percentage set in the Dominion is not too high. Quite a number of herds, particularly in the flush of the season, give butter-fat content which is well below’ the legal minimum, and any dairyman selling this milk would be liable to prosecution. The fact that a cow’ can win butter-fat competitions and yet her milk could not be sold as milk, would rather direct the attention to an anomalous position, and dairymen generally would He justified in asking that the standard should be reviewed.