NOTES AND COMMENTS

Waikato Times, Volume 126, Issue 21038, 14 February 1940, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS

Unfortunate Show One of the unluckiest show associations in the Waikato as far as the weather is concerned is the Te Awamutu Agricultural, Pastoral and Horticultural Association. During the last five or six years, wet weather has always seemed to coincide with the show and last Saturday proved no exception. Special effort had been made by the executive to stage the best show in the history of the association and with record entries in some sections the fixture promised to set new standards, but the heavy rain quite upset calculations. Farmers and Union P’ifty farmers in the Kaipaki area have joined the New Zealand Farmers’ Union recently as a result of a canvass by the secretary, Mr N. K. Taylor. Up till now Kaipaki has been associated with Ohaupo in a branch of the union, but a meeting is to be held on Monday night to form a Kaipaki branch. Grade Shorthorns One of the features of the Shorthorn section at the Te Awamutu j Show was the good support accorded j the grade classes. One of the most successful exhibitors in these classes as well as in the pedigree classes were Messrs G. D. Hall and Son, of Kiokio, whose cattle earned the warm praise of the judge, Mr R. D. Cochrane, of Morrinsville. Numerous entries were also forward in the Jersey grade classes where quality was also excellent. Weather For Harvesting Although the wet conditions, which broke last Sunday, were ideal for pasture growth not a few Waikato farmers had reason to be perturbed at the lack of fine weather. These were farmers who were overtaken by wet weather just when they had got their hay cut. In some J cases this hay has been lying on the ground for three or four weeks and on some fields the green grass can be seen pushing through the cut material. The improved conditions at the beginning of the week presented an opportunity to have this hay stacked, but the quality of the hay will be of a rather doubtful nature. President to Leave The Hamilton branch of the New Zealand Poultry Producers’ Federation has been a very live body that has done much to improve marketing methods and returns for Waikato producers. One officer who has dene much to assist the branch has been Mr L. G. Marquand, who has been president of the branch since its inception. Unfortunately, the branch is now to lose the services of Mr Marquand as he has been transferred to Whangarei where he will be the manager of the merchandise department of Messrs Dalgety and Company. Successful Ram Fair The Hamilton ram fair, held at the Claudelands selling pavilion last Thursday, was one of the most successful fairs held in the Waikato for some three years. It was not that prices were so much in advance of other sales but that such a big entry of 1200 rams was able to be disposed of at such satisfactory values. Interest did not slacken off as was anticipated during the late afternoon, but was maintained right up to the final Southdown sale. The buying bench was one of the biggest seen at a ram fair in the Waikato. Jumping in the Rain Competitors in the ring events at the Te Awamutu Show on Saturday had to bring all their skill to bear to avoid mishaps because of the sodden ground. Under the circumstances, riding was of a high standard and provided excellent entertainment for the grandstand. One of the features of the competitions was the success of Mr and Mrs Allan Yarndley in winning the events for best gentleman and best lady rider respectively, thus repeating their success at the same show last year. Busy Day at Auction The big offering of 30,000 store sheep at the Morrinsville yards on Friday required no small amount of organisation before the auction actually commenced. Stock clerks and auctioneers were on the scene at 4 a.m. on Friday morning and the difficult work of drafting the entry was continued without pause till sale time. Again at night there was a lot of work to be done before agents and clerks could leave the yards. The entry was the largest ever handled at the Morrinsville yards and the efficient manner in which the auction was put through was a tribute to the auctioneers and to the capacity of the yards.