The Supply of Mutton.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5337, 15 August 1895, Page 4

The Supply of Mutton.

Tha effect which the severe winter will have upon the supply of fat sheep for the next year or two ia being diBCUBBed in a good many quarters at present. It was • generally admitted, previous to midwinter and the heaviest of the snowstorms, that fat sheep would be scaxce towards the spring, and this anticipation has been accentuated, but nothing more, since that time. Grass, roots and dry provender are alike scarce at present, but a few fine days will quickly bring np a plentiful and nutritious growth of grass and fodder crops, and the lost condition of the flockß will soon be restored, and mutton come forward in sufficient quantity for all purposes. The scarcity will be in the autumn, in sheep for boiling or preserving. Last season these operations abßorbed an immense number of old sheep, equal probably to the number that the snow has destroyed; and our farms and stations are as a rale stocked with young sound Bheep, whioh will require little if any culling, next season. A good bill ■ lambing cannot be looked for, and the increase in our shipments of lamb and mutton will be checked, but not, we think, materially reduced. At the same time Australian competition has received a severe blow by the drought, and the same influence, which at present is forcing English farmers to sacrifice their sheep for want of fodder, will ultimately shorten the supply of home-bred meat, so that the prospects are decidedly favourable to an enhanced level of valuoß in the near future.