BRITAIN’S FOOD SUPPLIES

Taranaki Daily News, 16 October 1931, Page 12

BRITAIN’S FOOD SUPPLIES

AUSTRALIA A GROWING FACTOR.

IMPRESSIONS OF MR. C. D. DICKIE.

Manv matters of interest to farmers were th© subject of inquiry abroad by Mr. C. D. Dickie, chairman of the Patca Farmers’ Freezing Company, who returned this week from a trip abroad, in Australia he saw something of the freezing industry, his impressions of which he outlined in an interview with the Hawera Star.

At Perth, Mr. Dickie said, some very fine lambs were being slaughtered, although business was on a comparatively small scale. The same applied to freezing works in South Australia. Victoria, on the other hand, was steadily increasing her lamb exports and also was improving the quality of her stock, lhe increase this year in the number of stock to b© handled was expected to be in th© vicinity of 500,000 head. A large percentage of th© New South Wales lambs, said Mr. Dickie, weie sent to Melbourne to be killed on account of the lower ruling Tates, the charge for killing alone being 10s per hundred less than in Sydney. Another argument used by buyers was that the Melbourne brand brought a higher price on the London market, which he found was an actual fact. Mr. Dickie attended th© great sheep sales at Newmarket, in Melbourne, also th© Melbourne Royal A. and P. Show. At the Newmarket sale over 40,000 fat lambs were penned, and sold, by auction. The Melbourne show _ was well worth a visit and during his stay there was a record attendance. The stock generally -was not up to New Zealand standard, especially the dairy stock. There was a fine entry of Lincoln and Bolder Leicester sheep, but the Southdown and Romney Marsh classes were few and not up to the best in New Zealand. Victoria, he considered, would soon be a competitor with New Zealand in lambs and dairy produce, increasingly larger exports going on to the London market. “A study of the meat and. dairy industry in Australia, shows,” said Mr. Dickie, “that our neighbours will, in good seasons, be a great factor in Empire supplies. Australian lamb and mutton will steadily increase in volume and improve in quality. Th© same applies to pork and' dairy .products. They have an excellent climate along the coastal districts for raising pork and their great supply of grain gives them a greater advantage in pig and poultry raising. The present method of railing stock, particularly lambs, long distances and knocking them about in sal© yards, is a great national loss and. is also the cause of the high killing rates and. lack of bloom. Lambs knocked about in this manner are hard to dress and they go back from first quality to seconds and thirds, and th© loss in weight is enormous.” The fact that the poor third grade lambs often brought more per lb than the heavier lambs of better grade did not compensate them for their loss, and the sooner they adopted, the system in vogue in New Zealand of getting the lambs to the works direct from the farm th© better it would be for the producer.

In England Mr. Dickie attended, a number of shows. At the Royal Agricultural and' Pastoral Show at Warwick Castle there was a very fin© showing of horses, cattle and pigs, all of which were of a better class than similar exhibits seen either in Australia or New Zealand. The pigs especially were of a good type. In the sheep classes New Zealand breeders would have scored heavily. Southdowns seemed to approach more closely the New Zealand standard for this breed and the sheep in the first prize pen perhaps would have equalled those of a similar award at Hawera. Hie Large White and Tamworth pigs were of a very high quality, the exhibits of the latter breed surpassing anything to be seen either in New Zealand or Australia. The Tamworth-Berkshire cross was the ideal pig for export trade in the Dominion, but in England the Large White was more popular from the British consumers’ point of view where they would use a heavier carcase. At the weights demanded in the frozen meat trade this breed, was found to be too heavily boned, and consequently there was too much waste. Mi’. Dickie spent quite a lot of time in Smithfield Market, where the continued improvement of the New Zealand lamb, both in quality and display, was most apparent and very favourably commented on by brokers. The North Island lamb in particular seemed to be most favoured in this respect. The visitor noticed some carcases branded “Super Canterbury,” and on the adjoining stall were some Southdown cross lambs from Auckland. The stallholders admitted that the Amckland-grown lamb was superior in quality, the improvement having been brought about since the introduction of the Southdown breed in that district.