WETHERS USEFUL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 60, Issue 4229, 10 January 1940, Page 2

WETHERS USEFUL

RETURN ANALYSED. A hill country farmer of Manawatu, whose place is on the Tararua range, is .disappointed at the price for fat wethers. His ideal winter stocking was to run 900 ewes and 150 wethers. The latter were his “shock absorbers”; they could be pinched if necessary and readily sold at any month of the year if needful or convenient, writes H.A.S. in the Dominion. The fall in the market last season to about 18s a head made them unprofitable to carry and so he abandoned bls line and carried extra ewes. He had hoped that the position might be improved when the commandeer came as wether mutton is good, solid meat, of value as war food. The price determined, 20s 6d to 21s 6d, is of little worth under rising costs. Against this, however, we would set also the gain in wool vdlue of 3d lb. It wethers clipped 101 b this means 2s 6d each. Put to this the 2s gain in fat price and there is a total improvement of 4s 6d in gross return. This should make wether carrying worthy of consideration. A year’s wool growth of 101 b at say 12}d lb equals 10s 3d gross and would net 9s 3d on present charges. As to return from growth, that is dependent upon the store prices paid. These will soon be seen.