LAMB COMPETITION

Southland Times, Issue 22770, 21 December 1935, Page 14

LAMB COMPETITION

ABSENCE OF STANDARD ALLEGED Dissatisfaction with the system, or alleged lack of it, used in the judging of the district competition for fat lambs, is expressed by a correspondent to the Press. “I was unable to be present at Belfast on December 6, when the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association held the competition for export lambs, and I was rather surprised when I read the results,” he writes. “The placings were: First, three 341 b lambs; second, two 311 b and one 321 b lamb; third, two 331 b and one 321 b lamb, and so on. This is absolutely at variance with last year’s decisions. If I remember correctly, the first place went to lambs weighing 361 b, 361 b, 351 b, averaging nearly 361 b; and the other placings were on a par with these. The judges were not then interested in lambs weighing from 311 b to 341 b, which this year were in the places of honour. If this competition is to continue and is to be patronized by producers, there must be some standard to go by, and there must not be a tendency on the part of the judges to swing from the 361 b to the 31-341 b standard, from one year to the next: otherwise the producer is in a quandary as to what weight lambs he should send.

“I think this state of affairs will kill any interest in the competition. We understand that the light lamb is the one required in England by those people who consume the greater amount of our meat. This means that unmatured and light second quality lambs are the ones required. If the bulk of our lambs went away in this state, Canterbury quality would soon be a thing of the past. However, I do not anticipate that many will sacrifice their lambs before they are fair weights, and get a lower price than if kept till they were a few pounds heavier and a shilling or two a head better in price. I hope the Canterbury agricultural and pastoral will go into this matter, and next year let the producers know, before entering lambs for the competition, what weights are likely to be required to catch the eye.”