CANTERBURY BUDGET.

Otago Witness, Issue 3996, 14 October 1930, Page 16

CANTERBURY BUDGET.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

A MUCH BETTER GROWTH.

In the past week there has been a decided change in the appearance of the countryside, due to a few days of warmer weather, though the week was not without the variableness of temperature which has been the most notable feature of the spring so far. Cereal crops are making headway, and all stock owners welcome the change in the feed supply, though some of the hill country pastoralists are still short enough of feed. With the change in the weather there has been a fair number of dry sheep shorn, though showers in the early part of the week interfered with this work.

At the Addington yards this week there was very little life about the sale, and prices were no better, and the salesmen had harder work to earn commissions. The entry of store stock was not a heavy one, and the quality varied little from what the yards have been filled with of late. Occasional good pens were met with, and it is interesting to note the good values comparatively which sheep out of the ordinary run make. One example was a pen of good class Romney ewe hoggets from well down in South Canterbury. They were very well grown, carried a good fleece, and sold at 255. For 260 three-quarterbred hoggets of the same sex 20s 6d was paid. It required a good class wether- hogget to make 14s. Some sound-mouthed ewes with 100 per cent, of lambs brought -13 s all counted. Several of the lines of ewes and lambs were of very poor quality indeed.

COST OF FATTENING LAMBS. Of late the Canterbury Agricultural College has been collecting information in regard to the costs of fattening lambs, and some of the incidental information is decidedly interesting. The facts show that there is a great deal of relationship to the weight of the lamb at birth to early maturity, and the costs of getting the lamb off fat at various ages is decidedly worth study by every farmer engaged in the sheep business. The cost of grazing a lamb which goes off to the works early and its mother from the time the lamb is born until mating time next season -works out at 10s 8d; a mid-season lamb on the same basis runs to 12s 3d; and a late, lamb 14s. Taking Is as a fair return for grazing a dry sheep for a month, and assuming that a lamb is worth 10s at birth, a profit is made when the lamb is sold early at 21s. A mid-season lamb fails by Is 3d to pay Is a month, and a late lamb fails by 3s to pay Is a month, or to put the figures in another way an early lamb works out at 1.03 s a month; a mid-season lamb at .9s; and a late lamb ,78s This calculation merely show’s the amount of feed required to keep the lamb until it is fat, and to keep the ewe for eight months, and does not take into consideration the value of. the food at any given period or the available supply of such food. If a graph were made correlating the rate at which the lambs in question thrived and feed growth and supply, it would be found that the early lamb coincides with rapid feed growth and plentiful supply; the mid-season lamb comes into a period when shortage exists and requires special feed; the late lamb is wholly fattened on specially-grown feed.

THE VALUE OF WINTER FEEDING. During the past year an experiment was carried out at the college to test the effect of the feeding of ewes on the rate of gro-wth of the lambs. These were more than ordinarily interesting. It is assumed that a live weight of 801 b will give a prime carcase of 361 b to 381 b. The time the various weights took to gain this weight were as follows:—

If lamb feed is worth id per day, the 51b lamb would cost 9s 2d to fatten, the

61b lamb 7e BJd, 71b 7s 3d, 81b 6s 9Jd, 91b 6s 2d, and the 101 b 5s 7d. The figures suggest that there is a double value in the winter feeding of ewes whicb makes for the heavier lamb at birth, as the more rapid growth of the lambs would amply recoup the cost of feeding and the shorter time they are on the place would enable more stock to be handled. EXPLORING NEW AVENUES. At the monthly meeting of the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Aseocia- £ on r ; o ’i Wednesday the president (Mr L K. C. Macfarlane) brought forward some suggestions as to new avenues for farmers wnrV k eV !i nue ’-r> Tile re P° rt was sent for nffttee Researcb Advisory Cornfix ? VC « bave , to recognise,” eta ted the report, "are the fallen and falling comnnnv f 0 „ our * arm Products, in the W3 f h - aJI . world commodities—and thA bei ? g lar g ely over-production cSom!rs d and P. urehasin g power of our V? 1 th s consequent parlous ..^ oi a 1 farmers’ finances. W make - a profit we have t°: P (a L ♦ ept lower . prices and reduce our cou-ts to a par with th e spending power s.o o.K'.r-'- (b) " d “ l ” so In exanrning the question of new avenues of production, we are limited bv impossible to produce anything in this nrnd \ bleh requires much labour in are limited °£ n!° r Bai ? le reason we •ue limited to new enterprises that will utilise our present plant. The idX O F* .farmer spending money on plant, oTtndeed life f when°hk y £7 Ut - the b i are necef *ities of {„e unen ins £1 is only worth 12s in sound? U th C J la i ing po J ver > is financially unpurse’ volunterdv 8 his restricted Ultimately causes the ■ nec l essity wi!l adjustment causes him e . c ° nomic trtaS?- PrimS ‘Xi the shipping interests could iieln with dean 3 bin l ° U . r good Se and guarded. f health should be jealously of home-nrodunnfl power m heu of imported. The use of extent lorricJ ° f T > ract .°r s ’ and to a certain ing our t^m’ o -> ni e ul - tnnate effect of selling oin teams and using gas. and sowing is oW tha°t U w hOrSe and <? at ' a 3docks in wheat® is that we over-produce wheat to exactly this extent, and adversely affect not onlv ourselves but every other farmer in ti e land We send off the farm hard cash &e to borrow! 1 Which We wUI probably ou .r grass seed and clover d e lln y enlar « ln K °pr export and pro- , ’° w fnv ■E. ncoU ’| a KC the growing of linseed tor oil and seed. We now import £114,000 or vegetable oil. (5) Encourage the growing of grains, roots, etc., in dairy districts to'feed calves and pigs having the effect of slightly reducing the output of butter but increasing the output ot beef and pork. (6) Encourage the growing of more tobacco and ensure that more is used in this country, and at a lower price; this would stimulate consumption. (7) Other email side-lines are the growing of broom corn for brushes, basket willow, vegetable and flower seeds; the manufacture of fancy cheese, jams, bottle truits, kiihn corn, dried vegetables, haricot beans, etc, and the production of charcoal tor gas engines, wood-pulp, strawboard. etc.

“ (9) Encourage home industries on the farms, e.g., own bread, jam, butter, cheese, pickles, and the utilisation of waste materials.

“Tlie crux of the position is that in addition to the meat, butter, cheese we export should go beef, pork, linseed, grass seed, etc,” continued the report. "The more home-produced power, food, and luxuries we have the better off will everyone in the country be.

“The difficulty is that all farmers cannot make these changes, owing to circumstances of soil and lack of experience. It is only by the help of those that are not handicapped that we can bring these changes about.”

The report was commended by members, and it was agreed to take any steps possible to encourage farmers to work along the lines embodied in it.

The association, acting on a suggestion made in the report, decided to provide a tent at the next spring show, which will be used by Lincoln College and the Government Agricultural Department, instructors, with whom, farmers will be able to discuss matters, and from which literature will be distributed.

Weight at Gain per Days to reach Birth. Day. 801b live weight. 5 .34 220 G .4 185 7 .42 174 8 .44 163 9 .48 148 10 .52 134