New Phase In Export Killing Season

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30960, 17 January 1966, Page 17

New Phase In Export Killing Season

Canterbury’s export lamb killing season is reaching a new phase. The flow of milk lambs off the mothers is coming to an end. It is likely that increasing numbers of ewes will be worked into the kills at works, and when these tail off lambs’will come in off feed. Unlike that in most other districts in the country the

lamb kill so far in Canterbury has been almost up to last season's when a drought of almost a year caused extreme pressure to have lambs killed. Although works have been busy since the resumption of killing after the Christmas and New Year holidays, the pressure to kill lambs has not been heavy, and there has been no pressure as yet to have ewes killed. It now seems very likely that the ewe kill this season will be light Farmers are expected to retain all possible ewes because they have abundant feed supplies and big reserves of hay and will be reluctant to pay high prices for replacement stock. There has been some evidence since the holidays of a decrease in the numbers of over-fat lambs killed. This has been possibly more marked in the northern part of the province, as quite a number of these lambs are still coming forward in South Canterbury. The decline is thought to be related to the stage of the season. Most farmers have now had drafts taken out of their lambs and most of the big lambs and those likely to be over-fat have gone. Many lambs are now weaned, and it is thought that there is likely to be a lower incidence in weaned lambs than in milk lambs, although it is recognised that lambs on feed can also become over-fat.

One buyer said on Friday that a factor in the decline of over-fat lambs could also be that drafters now knew what an over-fat lamb was and were leaving them behind on farms.