PASTORAL NOTES

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 8206, 31 July 1905, Page 7

PASTORAL NOTES

( Special Contributor.)

Fanners and stationholders generally will hail with joy the coming of spring, as the winter season has been a very trying one— both for man aud beast. The past few nonths have been so continuously wet that low-lying pastures have been in a very sloppy condition, and, in consequence, there has been very little substance iv the grass. Stock in some parts of the district are not looking as well as they might do, hoggets having fared rather badly. I hear that there has been a larger mortality amongst them than for a good many past winters. The older sheep, however, have wintered much better, and on the whole are looking to W better advantage than one would expect after such a severe winter. I saw some

splendid flocks of breeding ewes in the Mas-

terton district a feu- days ago, and it is to Jtoe hoped that there will bo a spell of nice weather for the lambing season. There have been some lambs in the Rangitikei and Otaki districts for some weeks past, but I have not hoard of any about Masterton yet; but some of the graziers expect them early next month. The fat lamb industry has reached large dimensions in this district, and it has proved a source of great profit, both to the small farmer and the nmholder, and each season now a larger area of land is broken up and rape sown for fattening purposes; and no ■wonder, for there is no question as to which is the most profitable stork to keep-the breeding ewe. With ordinary luck, a lamb in three months, or less, will bring in twelve or fourteen shillings. The Southdown or blackface is the lamb that has gained in favour for the freezer, and commands a higher price in the market than the other breeds, and, moreover, it matures more quickly. Two seasons ago, I knew a farmer who got away his tlock of SouthdownLincoln lambs, numbering eight hundred, with the exception of eight, and these he killed for his own use. For the past six years, since he went into this cross, he has had almost as good results. The great drawback last season, and, in fact, for some years past, in the Masterton ♦district, for fa I. stock owners have been the bad facilities for handling stock at the Masterton Railway Station, and, from inquiries made, there does not seem as if there will be much improvement for the coming season. I have, on many occasions, seen fat sheep driven a good many miles to the railway station, only to find that the trucks ordered were not available, and they would have to be kept waiting about in bare paddocks; consequently, by the time they reach the freezing works, they have each shrank several" pounds in weight. I have heard that a lamb will shrink three pounds in weight in two days, after leaving its mother, which means a big loss to the owner who is freezing on his own account. Then, again, look at the number that get bruised before they reach their destination and it does not take much to bruise a lamb._ Anyone who has travelled on the Wairarapa train, and felt the sharp jolts when the train is pulled up with a sudden jerk, can understand why it is that so many fats are rejected at the works for freezing purposes and sold at a loss to the owner to the Wellington retail butchers. Now is the time for the Farmers' Union to move in the matter before the season is too far advanced. The past year has been the most prosperous one in the history of the Colony, for the

farmer —high prices ruling all round. The price for fat and store sheep has been pheand wool has not been so high in Jflklie market for a good many years, and, £iccording to Home reports, is likely to keep good for some time to come. The butter and cheese markets have also been good, and prospects look bright for the coming season. Some of the large produce merchants at Home have already sent out representatives to buy up next season's out- *"* put.