THE EWE LAMB QUESTION

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 208, 7 October 1914, Page 11

THE EWE LAMB QUESTION

ITS EFFECT ON CANTERBURY.

In the course of their comprehensive annual review upon farming matters, Messrs Pyne and Co. have some interesting remarks upon the outlook of the I stock market and incidentally the ewe jlamb question, which, with the high | prices ruling for lamb, is likely to become more and more acute as time goes on. Supply and demand may be relied upon to rectify the trouble. This was exemplified by the sales in the winter, before the war affected prices. Good ewe lambs were fetching up to 21/- per head. If the best ewe iambs of a flock had been retained and put upon the market as stores, the returns to the flock-owner would have been just as profitable as if they had been consigned to the factory as ' ' fats.' > Thus the fodder*.-used to fatten the lambs could have •been utilised to fatten up the tail end of the draft. The extract from the review is as follows: — '' ',« I '• Although the spring was rather later than usual, there was every prospect in July of an .exceptionally keen demand fjpr'all clas'ses of store stock, prices up to the end of that month being on a higher level than for several years past; in fact, there was evidence of more ewes : being required to keep the ordinary flocks on the Plains up to their .Usual standard—and to bring this about, higher prices were being paid for any such coming on the market irrespective'of ages. The same remarks apply to ewe hoggets, but the commencement of hostilities in August was immediately felt, and previous ruling prices gave way considerably. The fact was, however, demonstrated by July transactions that we were short" of breeding sheep at that time, and this brings us to the question as to whether our flocks-are-not likely to be depleted in numbers, as. they certainly are. in quality unless we change our, tactics. We are referring more particularly to our Canterbury sheep. We remarked" above that we considered sheep owners her.e,.; were lightly stocked, and we feel'convinced that we are right in saying so as regards breeding ewes, though the interim sheep returns give, the total of all classes of sheep in this province as being higher than they were last season. Most''of bur readers are no'doubt''aware "of the heavy importations of ewes from the North Island this year, and if we are not over stocked at present what would bur position have been without these oversea sheep? Many of these were of a class very different to the first or second cross ewes upon which we used to pride ourselves in Canterbury, and from which—mated with Leicester or other long-woolled rams—our prime Canterbury Fat Lambs were obtained. Other satisfactory- results, and perhaps more so, were obtained from: our strong-wool-led ewes crossed with black faced" rams, j This is quite r satisfactory where the 1 whole of the progeny can be fattened (which is very seldom) but the result is not looked upon with favour as regards sheep so bred to be held over. This is, perhaps, getting away from the question, but the fact remains that Canterbury has to import a considerable of breeding ewes to maintain the numerical strength of its flocksyear tby year, that these ewes are of a class more suitable to the climate and other conditions from whence they came than they are to our drier climate and country here. We may not yet have felt the full adverse effect of these importations, for it is not many years since we lost the merino as the foundation of our half-bred ewes, but the time must come when sheep breeders in their own interest will recognise that if they are to maintain the standard of our lamb exports, they must do something to keep up the desired class and constitution of the flock ewe, and instead of exporting the best of their young breeding sheep in the'shape of the pick of their ewe lambs, a large percentage of these must be retained for our own use. This, we know, is quite a hackneyed subject, and one which we have referred to in former years, but it is, nevertheless, an all important one, and the quicker it is recognised as such, the more likely we are to . retain the term "Prime Canterbury" for our mutton and lamb. We must apologise for digressing so far from the subject we had in view when commencing under this heading, viz., the general state of the live stock trade in New Zealand during the past twelve months, but we are raced with the fact that had we not drawn largely from the North Island in breeding ewes this season, we should have been far short of our requirements, and that we now have a lot of sheep of a much less suitable class for our country than we Ourselves bred, and might have retain 1 ed for our own use. The temptation came, however, in the shape of anything from 17/- to 20/- for the fat lamb. We took the money, andy in exchange, parted, as it were, witli the goose that would have laid the golden egg, and spent what we had''received for our fat lambs (the ewe portion included) in buying breeding sheep of a. much less suitable description. It is a strange anomaly having to admit the fact of the North Island importing our fine woolled rams (mostly Downs, jt is true) to improve the quality of their exportable meat, while we, at the same time, are taking in return their long and coarse woolled ewes —and these not the best of the northern sheep—to maintain the numbers of our breeding flocks, and that in so doing we are depreciating the average quality of our Canterbury sheep. Such, however, is the case at present, and if our surmise is correct even these will not be available a few years hence. We notice that a correspondent in writing on this subject a little time since, ridiculed the suggestion which had been made, that the Government should step in and protect us against ourselves in this matter, his argument being that this weak point in connection with dealing with our flocks would rectify itself ■. We certainly think breeders are, beginning to recognise that it will pay them to adopt a different course,; as there are certainly more ewe lambs in evidence at the different markets than of late vears. These, however, are not of our best, and in most cases represent lambs which failed to mature for export rather than the pick of our lamb flocks. This gives rise to another consideration, viz., how long will the North Island be able to supply us with the necessary ewes to maintain the numerical strength of our Canterbury flocks. It is quite true that the former lias responded liberally to our .call this season as it did last year, but it is equally true that the northern people are making strenuous efforts for'exxtending their ex-

port meat business, if we may judge by the new freezing works contemplated in the North Island, including districts in. the far north, where the distance to local markets has hitherto been a considerable handicap to profitable sheep-farming and meat-rais-ing. It will be recognised that the erection of export works in an out-of theway district—that is, a district considerably distant from a good live stock market—places it on nearly an equal footing with others much more favourably situated in this respect, provided, of course, that facilities are available for getting meat when frozen to a seaport for shipment. It looks as if northern breeders are fully alive to the benefits likely to be derived from the new meat markets abroad, and are preparing to take advantage of them, and, this being the case, we shall get many less sheep from the north (with a handicap of 3/- to 4/- per head expenses in transit charges, etc.) in the future than we have done in the past, for the reason that the ewes will be required there. Thus, if we are not prepared to help ourselves in keeping up the number and standard of our flocks, it is very doubtful if we can rely upon the north to help us in the future to the same extent as in the past. A reference to the list of prices current for store sheep at Addington during .July will show the trend of what is happening, and may be taken as an indication that the '' shoe is already beginning to pinch" as far as breeding sheep are concerned, and the position will probably be accentuated next March and April. In July and August last year the top price for ewe hoggets was about 18/-. This year, in the former month, over 21/- was paid. In breeding ewes, carrying the then ensuing season's lambs, there was not the same difference, though as high as 27/was paid for fairly good ewes at Addington, and at certain outside clearing sales up to 30/-, aged ewes ranging from 15/- for very medium sorts to about 22/for the best classes.