Wether Values Appreviate At Feilding

Chronicle (Levin), 17 April 1948, Page 3

Wether Values Appreviate At Feilding

Wether mutton values appreciated at the Feilding live stock sale yesterday. when the generally stronger quality appealed to buyers who rapidly absorbed the whole offering of all classes whieh totalled over 1000 head. In one sense this was the only really bright spot of the sale held in hot sunshine and in a record period of dry weather. The pieture in the store sheep section was not so bright as the entries in this department were made up of sheep which were being subjected to a forced sale owing to the drought. Not all were in that category but most of the lines. particularly the mated ewes, represented stock whicli owners could no longer liold owing to the lack of both feed and water. Compared with the rates ruling early in the ewe season, prices were down considerably but in the case of lauibs the values were not so low as there were buyers in the low country with. feed and they provided. some competition. Howevcr, prices were relatively cheap in a nuinber of cases and those who were in the happy position of being able to buy should do well on their in vestmcnt. The setback in cattle values was more pronounced and here vendors had to accept the market being left with no alternative other than consigning the cattle to the works as stores. Many hundreds of head of bcef cattle have beon sacriliccd because of the serious dry spell in this area and the situation has confounded all farm economy. The best priee for 24-year A.A. well-bred steers was £8 18s and 18-inths steers were sacriliccd at as low as £4 13s. Pat Sheep Wether mutton in rather good order predominated in the offering of fat sheep and the market had no difficulty in absorbing the total entry of just over 1000 head. -Prime wethers were in good supply and these appreciated in value, top price being 47s ld. Good ewes also appreciated on late rates, the best price being 35s lOd for prime meaty sorts. Generally the lambs were of medium quality. The realisations were: — Wethers, 6 at 36s, 43 at 41s 4d, 18 at 37s 4d, 12 at 41s lOd, 5 at 35s lOd, 12 at 40s lOd, 34 at 42s lOd, 46 at 35s ld, 53 at 40s 4d, 30 at 36s lOd, 23 at 35s lOd, 52 at 36s 4d, 29 at 45 4d, 28 at 45s 4d, 37 at 44s ld, 7 at 34s ld, 46 at 39s 7d, 40 at 47s ld, 17 at 40s ld, 18 at 36s 4d, 6 at 40s, 4 at 44s lOd, 3 at 43s 4d, 2 at 44s lOd, 6 at 43s lOd, 4 at 46s .10d, 2 at 46s 4d; lambs, 6 at 24s lOd, 28 at 25s, 53 at 25s, 7 at 22s lOd, 1 7at 17s ld, 11 at 25s lOd, 1(5 at 36s 7d, 2 at 44s 4d, 34 at 28s lOd, 14 at 28s lOd; ewes, 8 at 26s ld, 35 at 26s ld, 15 at 21s 4d, 20 at 21s, 20 at 28s 7d, 20 at 32s lOd, 20 at 35s 4d: Down cross 2-tlis, 6 at 43s 7d, 24 al 39s ld, 20 at 38s lOd, 20 at 35s 7d, 4 at 13s ld; maiden ewes, one at 39s 4d, 8 at 38s 7d, 5 at 41s 4d, 3 at 40s 10(1. Store Sheep Entries in the store sheep section included mauy lines of mated ewes whicli grazicrs were obligcd to sell owing to the lack of feed consequent on the extraordinary dry spell over the district. Despite the kuown absence of feed most of the sheep camc forward iu mcdiuiu to good condition and while tlie market for the ewes was decidedly easicr the weakoning in the case of lambs was not so approciable. However, some lambs of good quality went clieaplv and buyers were certainly on top in these transactions. The-reaiisa-tions were: E'recdiiig ewes,. 149 4-yf':'M 26s 3d, 61 2-tli at 35s, 98 4-yr;at 27s 9d, 50 4-yr at 28s 3d, 90 6-th at 23s ld,.92 4. and ;5-yr. at 26s ld, 500 4-th to 5-yr at 25s 1 d, 125 5-yr at 25s 7d, 120 2-th at 31s 2d, 120 5-yr. at 27s 6d, 67 m.a. at 27s 4d. Lambs: Down cross, 61 at 20s 5d, 10 at 15s 8d, 144 at 15s ld, 96 at 16s 10d, 110 at 19s 9d; whitc face> wether, 166 at 19s, 106 at 23s, 114 at 20s 6d, 142 at 19s, 242 at 19s 8d, 69 at 18s 7d, 85 at 18s 6d, 91 at 16s 9d, 95 at 19s 2d; ewe lambs, S8 al 29s 4d, 47 at 25s; 2-th wethers, 9'2 at 32s ld, 52 f. and tt". ;at 38s ld. Fat Cattle There was very little in the way of fat cattle and the offcrings under the hcading were rather lacking size and condition. Prices were: Heifers £7/ 7s 6d to £9 11s, for four Hcreford cows £8. Station Cattle Eloquent evidence of the clfects of Ihe dry spell was fortlicoming wlien the station cattle camc under the hammer. The modest offering represented cattle whicli could no longer be grazed owing to the absence of both feed and water and vendors were obligcd to takc what the market could offer and that was quite £2 a head below what the same cattle were realising a month or sn baclc. The offering coinprlsed mostly young cattle and well bred but these l'actors meant nothing in i'ace of the dry condi tions. Vendors simply had to sacrifi.ee them to those who had some feed. The realisations were: 18 2-J-yr A.A. steers £8 18s, 34 18-mths A.A. steers £7 17s 6d, 32 do. at £7 10s, 16 do. at £6 9s, 9 21-yr A.A. steers £6 7s 6d, 8 do. at £7 16s, 12 do. at £6 9s, 11 18mths. do. at £6 6s, 14 do. at £4 13s. Dairy Cattle Additional support for the dairy cattle section came with the offerings on account of two vendors of rather good quality stoek and these found buyers at . rates in keeping with the best quotations. A number of inferior sorts were offcred but most of these were neglected. The saies were: Springing cowrs, £3 15s, £5 15s, £6, £7, £7 10s, £8 10s, £9, £9 10s, £10, £10 10s, £12, £12 5s, £12 10s, £14 5s to £15; spring ing 'heifers £6 5s, £8, £8 8s, £9 5s to £16 10s; weaner heifers 27s 6d, £2, £2 6s, £2 15s, £2 16s, £3 11s, £4, £4 4s, 7s 6d, £5, £5 8s to £6 15s. Store Cattle The condition of the boner cattle offering was light and this was roflected i nthe prices which were: Cows, 10s, £2 13s, £3 2s 6d, £3 5s, £3 7s 6d, £3 12s 6d, £4, £5 5s, £5 7s 6d to £8 2s 6d and £8 16s; empty heifers £6-, £7 to £9 5s; bulls £3 10s. - ■