BIG PRICES FOR SHEEP IN AUSTRALIA, BIGGEST WOOL COUNTRY IN WORLD

Wanganui Chronicle, 3 June 1950, Page 6

BIG PRICES FOR SHEEP IN AUSTRALIA, BIGGEST WOOL COUNTRY IN WORLD

<By C. R. MENTIPLAY, Special NJZ-P-A. Correspondent).

SYDNEY, May 30.—Despite earlier comments by judges that the entries in the Sydney sheep show were not representative of the great stud stocks which have made Australian wool world famous, sales now taking place in Sydney are proving a spectacular success. Already rams have been sold for 3400 and 3100 guineas, and the indications are that the total turnover will break all records. A strong body of opinion among graziers, however, is that prices would be even higher and the stud sheep industry even more important to Australia if foreign countries were permitted to purchase stud merino sheep. The ban on the sale of merinos overseas was imposed 20 years ago, at the behest of a section of New South Wales graziers who believed overseas countries would use Australian stock to establish huge competitive flocks. The opinion of graziers today is that Australia’s position in the fine wool market is beyond challenge and that because of a worldwide shortage of sheep, it would be both profitable and humanitarian to make the best Australian types of merino available to graziers throughout the world. Economists state that the world sheep population, now about 685,000,000 is about 59,000,000 sheep short of requirements, with a result that prices are unnaturaly high and production cannot overhaul the demand.

Australian flocks, which represent nearly one sixth of the world's sheep population, totalled 108,700,000 last year, and are expected to approach the 1939 figure of 111,100,000 when this year’s tally is completed. They have recovered from the disastrous series of droughts and floods which stripped them from a record total of 125,200,000 in 1942 to 95,700,000 five years later, and are now building rapidly. If mere numbers are considered Australia has over three times the total sheep in the United States, about 30,000,000 more than Russia and 55,000,000 more than India. The combinded sheep populations of the Argentine, Ufuguay and United States still fall short of Australia’s total by some millions. Australia has about two thirds the number sheep of the British Commonwealth’s three main sheepafountries, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. In quality, the odds are even more in Australia's favour, for Australian merino wool has never been bettered. Breeders are convinced that the Australian lead will never be overhauled, and that it should be made legal to sell merino stud stock to South Africa, America, the Argentine, and even to Japan, which recently purchased a selection of Australian corriedales. Some graziers, however, held to the opinion that such a step would endanger Australia’s future.—Special N.Z.P.A. Service.