Close To The Top Price Level

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31001, 5 March 1966, Page 9

Close To The Top Price Level

'THESE five one-shear Corx riedale rams from W. R. E. and F. E. Booker, Longfield, Hawarden, brought 64gns each at the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association’s flock ram fair last month. It was not a record for the fair for a pen of five, but it is safe to say that it is one of the highest prices paid for a pen of five at the fair. Back in 1951 at the time of the wool boom a pen of five from A. E. Cross, Pine Farm, Bennetts, sold for 66}gns. That year D. S. Studholme (Coldstream) topped the market at 70gns for a pen of four and the average price for 380 Corriedales sold at the fair was more than 38Jgns.

This year the average for 311 rams sold was 25|gns.

Again in 1957, J. H. Grigg, of Longbeach, sold five rams for 65gns each. At the February wool sale that year Corriedale wool was bringing up to 83d a lb.

Runner-up to the Bookers this year for a pen of five was F. C. Ridgen, of Brooklyn, Greendale, with a sale at 48gns a head.

Mr W. R. E. Booker began breeding sheep at Hawarden in 1925 and today the sheep flock on the property is a totally stud one, including about 600 ewes. About 200 to 250 rams are available for sale annually and most of these are sold privately. Rams from the property have gone to Peru, South

Africa, the Argentine, Uruguay, Colombia and Japan. After the World Corriedale Conference in Melbourne last winter, which Mr W. R. E. Booker attended, breeders from the Argentine and Uruguay visited this country and made purchases of rams and ewes; but Mr Booker said this week that because of the difficulty of getting funds out of their countries these sales had fallen through. Just now, he said that there was Australian interest in New Zealand sheep and he knew of one Australian definitely coming to inspect sheep next month, but he said that meantime he understood that Australia was still not prepared to accept New

Zealand sheep because of fears of blue tongue, although New Zealand sheep had not been known to have the disease.

In the photograph are Mr W. R. E. Booker (on the left), Mr F. E. Booker (centre) and the purchaser of the five rams, Mr Donald Rudd, of Blenheim.