FAT LAMB INDUSTRY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20150, 19 May 1928, Page 10 (Supplement)

FAT LAMB INDUSTRY

AUCKLAND'S OPPORTUNITIES SCOPE FOB EXPANSION One of the most notable featuies in \u:-klan<] farming during the past few rats has been the remarkable linpiovi- ■ tent in the quality of fat Jambs raised : the province and shipped to th' Eng- ' is* markels, says a writer in the New i Zealand Herald. ■>n several occasions recently l.<»n--5 •*( n meat merchants have • tbeir high appreciation of the high i-tandard of Auckland lamb, an.! v hat jis still more mq taut, lave proved 11 eeir (ppreciati.ie by paying the verv ; highest market price and have asked I for more of the same quality. The I most recent report regarding Auckland lamb received from London gives a very favourable account of 14 Jots of Auckland lamb which were shown by .Messrs. W. Wcddel at Smithfield recently. “They are the most uniform prize lot we have ever had.’’ said Air A. Row- ! lands, of Messrs. Wcddel and Company. i“They have eliminated the heavy- ■ weights and given us the most popular carcases on the market. On the | whole, there is not a lamb t hat is not • justifiml as a prize Jamb, l.cth on ac- ■ lint of weight and quality.’’ This report and the satisfactory ! [.rices now being given for lamb in j the overseas markets should stimulate increased production in this part of New Zealand. The Auckland district still contains several million acres of land which is lying idle at the present time and much of it is admirably adapted for fat lamb raising. This idle land is to be found in all parts of the province. In the great Northern Peninsula, in the Bay of Plenty, in lhe King Country and in the light-soil districts which extend from the Waikato toward Lake Taupo. During the past decade dairying in Auckland Lad made marvellous progress and has absorbed much of the energy and capital available in the northern province. Dairying is not likely to halt in its stride because the genial climate of til’s part of New Zealand enables milk mg herds to be carried more cheaply and butter-fat to bo produced more economically than in any other part of the world. The same conditions shoul 1 be in favour of the lamb-raising industry. Auckland’s Possibilities. At one time experts were of opinion that owing tc its general high temperature, Aucklai.il was unfitted to become a great dairy ng district and for many years it actually imported its supplies of butter and cheese from Taranaki and elsewhere. To-day it is by far the greatest producer of dairy products ’n the whole of New Zealand and the quiftion may T -e asked why it should lot become the greatest producer of fit lamb and .mutton. The same mild climate, the same eas-ily-worked anl responsive soils which

have been in favour of Auckland’s dairying indasiry. are, as have been abundantly proved, in favour of +at lamb raising. The old idea that it requ'.'cd the col I of South Island winters to jut the bloom of “prime Canterbuiy ’’ on lambs has long been explod'd]. It is just a question of breeding and feeding and certainly in the matter of feeding, the warm climate has decided advantages over a cold one. Auckland to-day possesses more unused lands suitable for farming than all the other provinces of New Zealand put together. The fact that much of this unused land is highly suitable for sheep-farming gives point to the argument that there is scope for a great expansion of the fat lamb raising industry. It may be explained that while in the southern parts of the Auckland province, there are large tracts of open tussock land, little of it makes natural pasture good enough for stock.

Millions of Idle Acres.

This tussock land as a general rule grows root crops easily, and the clover lamily most luxuriantly, and under proper methods excellent pasture cun be laid down at a low cost. In otherparts of the province the unused lands are covered with scrub, fern or bush. This means that practically all these millions of idle acres in the Auckland district have to be cultivated in some form or other before they can be made to carry stock. Cultivation, however, where sheep-farming is concerned in Auckland is a wide term.