The Export of Lambs

Southland Times, Issue 14333, 29 April 1899, Page 2 (Supplement)

The Export of Lambs

Says ‘Ovis’ in the Canterbury A. and P. Association’s Journal:—

Our large export trade in frozen lamb has, in one direction, a tendency to deteriorate the character of our sheep stock; but at the same time there are strong counteracting forces which make for improvement. There is doubtless the temptation to consign an unduly large proportion of the best ewe lambs to the freezing chamber, but the practical impossibility of producing fat lambs,and especially early lambs, without suitable ewes, and ewes which receive adequate feeding and attention, must of necessity do much towards improving the standard of our flocks. And leaving out the Down crosses, which, valuable as they are, will probably never form more than a limited proportion of our sheep stock, the requirements of the frozen lamb and mutton industry can scarcely fail to improve the weight and quality of our wool clip. Wool, as well as mutton, is largely the product of feed. Moreover, it is found that in order to produce the mutton most suitable to the market it is desirable to retain a strain of the merino. The halfbred and threequarterbred crosses will probably never go out of fashion, and it is to be regretted that the circumstances which control our agricultural and pastoral industries tend so largely to drive the merino back into the poorer class of country, and thus have the effect of limiting the supply of good halfbred ewes. The halfbred ewe is the connecting link between the paddock sheep and the tussockfed merino. One of the best features of our pastoral industry, and one which tells against the improvement of the character o.f the is the excessive amount of sheepdealing that goes on. Buying and selling sheep is, within limits, a legitimate part of a sheep-farmer’s business; but whenever there is any buoyancy in the sheep market numbers of farmers run about from sale to sale, buying and selling, in the hope of getting larger and more immediate gain than is represented by the slower and surer returns of a settled flock. This is mere gambling, and does not increase the productive value of the sheep, nor add anything to the wealth of the country; and looking at the matter as it affects the whole community, it merely transfers a considerable percentage of money from the pocket of the farmer to that of the commission agent. When the same lot of sheep changes hands several times in the course of a year, the commission agent must absorb a good deal of the profits. The sheep dealer has his uses, and may exist with advantage to the community if he is a man of enterprise and scope, but a swarm of iqeue sheep pedlars cap only he classed- as a nuisance. . .