TRANSPORT OF STOCK

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 183, 7 August 1935, Page 6

TRANSPORT OF STOCK

f LAMBS FOR THE WORKS I USE OF MOTOR LORRIES EVIDENCE FOB AUTHORITY n c d At the recent sitting of tho No. 5 ? District Transport Authority in Wan ganui, some interesting evidence was II given relating to the question of getting fat lambs to the freezing works 1 by the alternative methods of droving, railing or lorrying. c 11 was stated that droving cither to the rail or the works was becoming . almost obsolete in the thickly populatj ed districts owing to the difficulty of driving lambs along roads with the numbers of motor-cars and lorries traversing them. One lorry owner stated he was called on to lorry lamb;* to the Imlay works, though the farm was only 3A miles out of town. Air. A. li. Ziesler, the manager of A the N.Z. Refrigerating Works at Imlay, i t said that lorrying lambs to the works I (though the practice only commenced ! four or five years ago) was rapidly increasing, and that now*about half of the sheep killed at luilay came in b\ I lorry. Tnere were between 500,000 and ~ 600,000 sheep slaughtered at Imlay , each year, of which about 70 per cent t were fat Jambs. Up to distances of . 35 to 40 miles it was usual to lorry t the lambs to the works—over that disI tnuce the sheep came by rail, though ! in a few instances lambs were lorried , up to 50 miles. He could not say there . was any difference in ihe condition of . the iambs whether they came by rail O’* lorry but both were very preferable . to droving. Up to moderate distances he favoured lurrying direct to the works instead of lorrying to the rail L , and then by rail, as this involved another handling and every handling . meant mure bruised lambs. He did not agree that if lambs were ) lorried that they did not show any . bruises inflicted by lorrying. Any , rough handling, even on the board just 3 before killing, would show on the car ; case. No Loss of Weight. Farmers were preferring lorrying » moderate distances to railing because they believed that they gained weight t. 1 by slaughtering the same day as against holding over the killing to next day. Within 30 to 35 miles it was usual to get the lambs to the ■ works by lorry in time to be killed the satrte day as dratted, whereas by rail : this was seldom possible, and they would be killed the following morning. 1 Though it was the general belief that I this Holding over entailed a loss in weight he could not say they had any ! exact figures to support the idea. Indeed, in one case where half of a mob were killed the next day, the half that 1 was delayed being killed over-night weighed one pound heavier than me ’ half killed the previous evening. But • as the live weights of the lambs were not known this evidence was not of 1 much value. Lorrying lambs was also a help to keep the works steadily employeu, 'as when they came by lorry they came more evenly and were more easily dealt with than by rail bringing larger numbers at one time. Air. F. H. Besley, fat stock buyer for Imlay, also gave evidence, lie said ' that the majority of lambs were lot ried 20 to 24 miles, though in some in- ! stances they were brought from up the ’ Waitotara Valley, a distance of about '5O miles. It was scarcely possible lo be able to load lambs in time to catch • the morning trains to Wangahut from the Waitotara district, wnereas by lorry they would reach Imlay by mid- j day. He considered lambs would aver- jk age one pound heavier if killed the same day as drafted instead of the next day. He had three lots tested, and in each case the half of the mob killed the same day averaged over one pound heavier than the half killed over-night. Tests Carried Out. Air. s. T. Snushall, fat stock buyer in the Waverly district lor the Palea ; works, said tnat he had carried out several tests and in every case the lambs were from i to IJibs. heavier when half of the mob was killed overnight as against next morning, and if i he had to buy lambs on weight and knew they would not be killed tne saint day he would allow Hb. in weight ioi i the holding o'er. lie picked 67,001 fat lambs last year and nearly all tnest were lorried to the works, if the dis tance was 40 miles or over he wouk • rail the lambs, as when over 40 miles the saving in weight would be bal nnced by tne extra cost in lorrying the long distance. 'i ne evidence showed thut generally 1 there were sufficient lurries in the dis 1 trict to cope with the work, though in . a few instances drafting nad to be postponed on account oi shortage ol lorries. H would appear, therefore, that the present licensing system is sutiicientlv elastic to allo» for expan i sion when required. The Railways Case. Latei Mi. Miller, Railway Trail. - ’ Inspector, stated that on Hie previous afternoon, Air. Ziesler, manager ot Imlay Freezing WorKs had stated that he preferred ail lambs from Otuiri Riding, in the vicinity ot Jlunterville, to conic lu his wurk» by lorry, and that they did so. Ai r. AliJler said he had a ’ Jie gram frcin the stationmaster al Hi«n lervillc that morning slating that 17.256 lambs were railed from Hunlvi ville to Wanganui works last season and tnat tris was equal to -‘Oil loin ■ loads. He had also been informed ihaL a considerable amount of night trading went on by lorries in that district for which the drivers, if such were the case, were liable to a penalty fur i«. moving sheep at night. Air. Milkr went ou to say ti’ut in view of statements made before the Authority last year in Wanganui by responsible pci sons, which were quite unfair to the Railway Department, the Authority, in the light of that evidence, might consider the matter of putting the witnesses on oath. The chairman said that there was , a penalty provided on conviction of i persons giving false information to the Authority. Mr. Aliller added that they certainly had experience last year of information rugnr’.ing the railways and wool being absolutely inaccurate. The chairman said that as th< parties concerned were not present h« would not discuss the matter furthei