FEILDING SALE

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 189, 7 May 1940, Page 3

FEILDING SALE

Fat Sheep Advancing ANALYSIS OF MARKET The most notable 'feature of last Friday’s Feilding sale, the opening one of Slay, was the advance in fat sheep values. The yarding was rather small. Store sheep prices are unchanged on those of a month earlier. A big cattle yarding provided a good test of the current market and reflected the prevailing dullness. The day was very warm and springlike, following a week’s mild weather. I cannot remember sueh an easy approach to winter. Manawatu has as yet experienced but one real frost and that unusually early, ou April 4. Feed is splendid and crops are excellent. Store Cattle. This sale provided a substantial autumn fair, with the low values commented on a fortnight ago still current. A factor put forward from several quarters as adversely influencing the store cattle trade is the current hold-up in getting fats into export works. Were application made now it would be improbable that any works could take the cuttle before the end of the month. Killings are thus about three weeks behind demand. To a considerable degree that is the fault of fatteuers, who in seeking weight gains held cattle as long as they dared. But so many holdings now result in a jam. Till about a month ago works had not enough cattle coming in. Then there is another important influence —fear of wintering cattle, or perhaps inability to do so. As an indication of a hard market, consider some pens noted on Friday :— £6/18/6: The opening pen, consisting of about 40 3J-year Hereford bullocks, well grown, and bred, dehorned, and in good store condition. £7/8/-: 20 A.A. 3j-year bullocks, nicely ■bred, fairly grown and in excellent store condition. £6/2/-: 30 34-year Hereford bullocks, in fair store order, but not well grown. £9/6/- (about top price for the day) : 60 head of forward A.A. 34-year bullocks, a/c. E. M. Aleyriek, Ridgelands. They were fairly well grown, not big, but really meaty. £7/5/-: 16 Shorthorns and crosses, with touches of dairy blood. Bullocks of big frames, not much quality, dehorned and in good store order. Could be fattened ■by late spring. £7/1/-: A similar line of coloured bullocks in just usual store order. No bid: 27 24-ycar A.A. steers. £6/14/-: 9 good store, SJ-year bullocks of no particular breeding. £6/17/6: 19 2j-year Hereford steers. The choicest pen yarded, they showed splendid breeding and were in forward condition. £6: 12 21-year A.A.-Hereford steers. £5/16/-: 2i-year A.A. steers of quality, well grown and in very good store condition. £4/10/-: 50 20-month A.A.-Hereford steers of good breeding, well grown and in fair store condition. No bid: A pen of in-calf A.A. heifers, nicely bred, fairly grown and in fairly good condition. £4/15/-: A.A. and Red Poll 20-month steers. £2/15/-: 2i-year A.A.-Hereford heifers. Passed in. £2/18/-: About 60 empty A.A. cows, off hard country and just weaned calves. They were in low store order but bright. Fattened well, by next summer should kill at 6001 b. and net £7. £l/12/-:A pen of indifferent quality, only fairly grown, A.A.-Hereford cross weaners. Would probably have made £l/15/- as vealers. £3: 30 weaner steers account Massey College and a credit to the institution. A first-class line, they had breeding, and frames and were in splendid condition.

Compared with prices given in an article on April 20, those current today differed only for the 20-month steers, which were lower by about 7/6 —£4/12/6, as against £5. Otherwise values for good average cattle remain as quoted then: £2/15/- for weaner steers, £6/6/- for 24years, and £8 for 3J-year steers. Fat Sheep. A rather small entry barely totalling 600 head was made up of 300 wethers, 170 ewes and about 120 fat lambs. About a third of the wethers and ewes were b.f’s. The wethers generally were good, the ewes fair to good aud the lambs rather ordinary. All b.f’s. sold excellently. A big proportion of wethers sold at 24/6 and the good average pens at 25/6, with. 28/- as top price. 'Top for ewes was 21/-, with a good lot making £l. Some pens noted were: — 26/10: Eight b.f. wethers 1 , two-tooth, really prime and estimated to dress at 521 b. 28/1: Three w.f. wethers, prime, excellent earcase type, and splendid skins. Would dress at 601 b. 19/-: The opening pens of ewes. Prime, strong skins, good carcases and should dress 611 b. 14/9: A second-rate line. 21/6: Four extra good ewes, like studs. Had splendid skins aud should dress at 681 b. 1.6/9 : Forty ewes in two pens. Rather light, both as to skin and carcase. Would dress at 54-561 b. IS/7: Ten good average ewes which would dress at 601 b. 21/-: Six good average, b.f. ewes, which would dress at 541 b. It is of interest to note the value of skills and the consequent net carcase value of these fat sheep. Consider a typical pen of good two-tooth wethers, killing at 561 b., and selling today at 25/6. Their skins should weigh 91b., worth 9d. a pound or equals 6/9 gross, say 6/- net. The mutton value then was 19/6, which is just under 4id. a pound. In the ease of ewes, take 60-pound sheep selling at 18/6. Skins weighing 81b. at-9d. would gross 6/-, sav 5/3 net. This leaves the mutton at’l3/3, equalling 22-3 d. a pound. Compared with prices at this sale just four weeks ago, wethers have gained 2/and ewes 2/3. Skin value and growth of ■wool would provide 9d. of this in each case so the actual meat appreciation is 1/3’and 1/6. This is a fair increment. Holders have earned 6d. a week grazing fees a sheep carried. A continuation of at least this rate of increment should be seen from now right till September. Tn that case we should see 35/- for fat wethers and -8/for ewes, and possibly 37/6 and 30/-, as general for good average sheep—very reasonable prices. Store Sheep. The entry numbered 3000, fairly evenly covering all classes of sheep, anil generally of fair quality, with some really good pens. Aged ewes sold poorly, but twotooths met a brisk demand, though at very moderate prices. Generally ewes tit’ll remain at below fair-time values. Lambs, generally, of only fair quality, sold well.

Some pens noted were: — 23/1 (average of prices in three lots) : 175 two-tooth wethers sold from 22/10 to 23/4. A good pen, in forward store condition, well grown and willt weighty skins. They would fatten for AugustSeptember trade if required. . 20/6, 100 ewe lambs, account Godfrey EsUtc, Bunnytliorpe. Au attractive pen, medium, well-grown and in excellent condition. r 20/8. 185 ewe lambs, account L. Nitscbke. Nicely bred, in average condition, fairly well grown, and had been shorn. It ia estimated that these would grow to 30/- two-tooth ewes and should shear 6Jlb. next November 15/6 (about top price today), 80 w.t. lambs, varied in size, but. over all with good average frames, iti good condition and bright. Early shorn, they could be fattened this winter. 13/3, 121 w.f. lambs in fair store order, very strong-skinned, woolly, and should clip 71b. in October. Well grown hold-overs. . , Passed in : A good pen of 200 lambs. 11/6, 100 w.f. lambs, just second class Htore«. , , , ~ ~ 10/-, .100 lower run of the above. Really third class, small and iu low condition, would winter fairly with careful

handling. They would then clip about 51b. of wool. The Ewes. Here were some quite choice pens of two-tooths. One noted wold at 30/- for 120, r.w. S.l>. rams. They were well bred, in perfect condition, and should clip 1041 b. next shearing. At the Feilding fair in February these would have brought 30/6-31/-. Another, top hue also made 30/-, for 300 to S.D.-rams, and went likewise to the Marton district. A third pen noted sold at 27/6, for two-tooths, r.w. S.D. rams. They were small, but even, and in excellent order. They'sold extremely well and I think were but 26/- ewes at fair time. They should clip BJlb. next shearing. The four and five-year ewes were very sticky, with a top price of 20/-, and most sales at 16/6. A pen of five-year ewes, 98 head, sold at 14/5, to poor bidding. They were a first-class pen, with good aged mouths, big frames, in good order. They sold at 2/- below fair price. Compared with f'Mir weeks ago, lambs have not risen to any degree,, and ewes have no more than held their own, if that.