COUNTRY NEWS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 61, 18 April 1914, Page 2

COUNTRY NEWS.

Cr*tf»m Our Speeial Correspondent*.) DUNSANDEL. A sale of work and produce in con- ( neetion with the local Methodist Church; -was held in the Town Hall on Thurs-j flay. There was a fair attendance con- < Sidering the cold and inclement weather that prevailed. The sale was officially: opened by the Eev. Gregg, the new pastor for this district. The managers Tffere in hopes of gaining sufficient funds from this sale to clear off the debt that; ' is still on the new church. j There was a very good yarding of; stock at the monthly sale held at Dun-! sandel by the Farmers' Co-operative Association. Values, on the whole, were; ■very good, especially in the case ofi s"heep. The range of values was as fol-; lows: —Sheep—For Mr R. H. John-j ston, 64 fat lambs at 17/6; Mr W.j Adams, 50 breeding ewes, 20/-, 29 fat; ewes 15/-; Messrs Walker Bros., 53; ewes 13/1; Mr D. Lochhead, 130 half-. bred ewes 15/10; Mr E. Gemmell, 88, fat lambs 17/7, fat ewes 13/10; Mr W.; Nixon, 71 store lambs 13/3; a client,! 28 lambs 14/10, old merino ewes 4/10; other store ewes 10/1. Yearling cattle, brought 52/6, a young sow 39/-, wean-, eTS from 5/-, and large stores to 26/-. SHEFFIELD. The Sheffield Football Club held aj dance in the hall on show night. There; was a very large -attendance of dancers, j and a jolly evening was spent. The ', music was supplied by the Misses Mor-« rison, of Racecourse Hill. The aecre-j fcary, Mr T. C. Jebson, was indefatigable! in his efforts to see that everyone was; well looked after, and Messrs C. Gray;) and H. Pettel were efficient as M.C. 's. j LEESTON. | ! On account of the Easter holidays i intervening, the fortnightly stock sale[ was not held at Leeston last week, andj consequently there was a large attend- j anee, and a much larger entry of sto,ck,| at yesterday's sale. Ideal autumn wea-! ther prevailed, and this no doubt en-' eouraged many people to attend the The entries of stock comprised "2500 sheep (1989 ewes,. 433 lambs, and 78 wethers), 211 fat pigs,. 190 stores, and 111 head of cattle. The greater .portion of the sheep were stores, and; the sale had not been in progress long; when it. became evident that the grow-: ing scarcity of feed, due to the continued lengthy spell of dry weather and recent strong nor'-westers, was affect-' ing the prices of store sheep to a' marked extent. As at the pvevious: sale, there were continued -enquiries for the better class ■of breeding ewes in the right condition, but only a small percentage of the yarding were of the, light class, most of those offered being, old and in poor condition. The demand for store lambs was scarcely as, brisk as at recent sales, the scarcity; of feed being the cause. The rape and turnips wJiieh are now used so extensively for fattening purposes have not; •done at all well this season, what with; the dry weather-and the blight, so that l farmers have to rely more upon the' grass for fattening off than is usually; the case. Old ewes were rather dull of.j sale. The entry -of fat pigs was Father too large for the requirements of buyers, and prices eased off a little. A. considerable proportion.of the pigs entered as. fats were not too well finished, and in! some eases sellers were not too well pleased with the values. On the whole,; however, the market for fat pigs was; satisfactory, and the indications are' that the pig-raising industry is likely' to continue profitable for some time to come. Considering the large entry,; store pigs sold fairly well. Anything' in the shape of good dairy cattle found Irayers at payable prices, and it is evident that increasing attention is to be: paid to dairying next season. Values for fat cattle were good, but in the ease of stores the feed outlook had something to do with values. Store cattle generally ease in values at this season of the year. The range of prices was as follows: —Breeding ewes to 17/5, fat ewes 12/- to 14/10, forward lambs 13/6 to 14/6, store lambs from 9/6, forward wethers 15/5, best, bacon pigs • 54/- to 68/6, choppers £3 15/- to £5, porkers to 48/-, stores from 9/- for weaners upwards, springing cows £5 5/- to £8 10/-, fat cows £5 10/to '£7, forward steers £6 15/-, store steers £4 10/-, store cows £3 15/-, calves 7/- to 50/-.