HIGH STANDARD

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVI, Issue 21324, 19 April 1939, Page 3

HIGH STANDARD

Smithfield Judges’ Verdict South Island Lambs The Smithfield judges' report on the South Island district competition for export lambs has been received by the New Zealand Meat Producers’ Board, and contains much valuable information which will be useful in maintaining the high quality of the product.

“The districts entered this year represented a very excellent collection of lambs as a whole,” reported the judges, Messrs F. H. Dennison and E. H. Fitter of the Imported Meat Trade Association, “and we considered that they were well up to the high standard of previous years.” Ten districts entered, and the judges state that selection from 150 pens of well bred lambs of a high standard was a difficult task. They were first required to decide the best district display as a whole, and their choice fell on the present holders of the Board's silver challenge shield, Southland. The second place was awarded to East Southland (a close second in the judges’ opinion), third place to Central Otago, and fourth to Mid-Canterbury.

Prizes are also awarded by the Board to the best three pens in the whole exhibit and the judges’ placings were as follows: —

First Prize (£ls)—Mid-Canterbury, Pen No. 46 (G. H. B. Lili). Second Prize (£lo)—Southland, Pen No. 87 (H. A. Robertson).

Third Prize (£s)—South Otago, Pen No. 17 (S. W. Moffat).

Highly Commended —Central Otago, Pen No. 3 (J. Watt).

The leading pen was described by the judges as consisting of “three exceedingly good lambs of good shape and make, of excellent quality, bursting with meat and yet not too fatsplendid butcher’s meat.”

Comments on District Entries

The following are the comments of the judges on each of the ten districts included in the competition:— North Canterbury: Although a good make and shape most of the lambs forming this group were rather too wasteful and carried too much excess inside and outside fat to suit the London trade.

Mid-Canterbury: A very good run of lambs. A shade fatter across the loins than some of the other districts but on the whole a most commendable exhibit.

South Canterbury: A good run of lambs. Quite an attractive exhibit of well shaped lambs, but a few were inclined to fall away slightly in the legs and a further few inclined to rather too much fat on loins.

Marlborough: A fair run of lambs of good build. A considerable number carried an excess of fat across loins and a few were a little weak in the legs. The group as a whole was rather heavy.

Nelson: A very good group of lambs of splendid make and shape but perhaps just a little heavier than is desirable for the general London trade. A small percentage were also inclined to be rather wasteful.

North Otago: A very nice run of well bred lambs, full of meat. Only failed to qualify in the district placings because five carcases carried too much inside waste fat.

Central Otago: A very nice group of lambs of excellent quality and of good make and shape. Generally of handy size and although a few showed palpable signs of fat across the loins they were nevertheless good butcher’s meat. South Otago: A very fine group of lambs representing attractive butcher’s meat, but just a few fell a little short of what we expect to see In exhibits of this kind.

Southland (awarded the shield): A group of magnificent lambs of ideal shape and make. Very even, of suitable weights with short legs, thick shoulders and good backs. Perfect butcher’s meat.

East Southland: A group of excellent lambs, of splendid shape. As a group this district fell very little short of Southland except that a few lambs showed a trifle excess fat on loins. As a whole very suitable butcher’s meat. As the Meat Board’s annual district lamb competition is regarded as of high importance in securing a product most suitable for the trade, the London judges go to considerable trouble in their detailed criticism of all the entries. In addition to the reports on the district exhibits as a whole, they give their remarks on pens placed in the New Ze: If nd judging, but not placed in London. This information is being circulated to the Agricultural and Pastoral Societies who assist the Board in the organisation of the compettiion and the farmers’ field days.