Farming Notes.

Feilding Star, Volume XVI, Issue 253, 29 April 1895, Page 2

Farming Notes.

(By Agricola.) ■ANTERBURY AND NORTH ISLAND MUTTON. It appears tiiat the Canterbury -nutton in the Home market is pre- < to that of the INorth Island, , md fetches a higher price. Breeders , will, no doubt, want to know the j reason why. I think that in a pre- < i*ious " note" on this subject I stae d f th it the Canterbury breeders, being j aid hand ? at ir, have studied to breed , [i class of sheep that will make good i mutton as well ss oive a good clip of j wool. Our North Island breeders ; bave gone in more for heavy clips of : wool and have not paid much atten- ( tion as to whe' her the mutton was of i -rood marketable value or not. I ■ fancy I hear a farmer saying, " Oh, i well, it is iust as well we did not go '. in for growing' mutton as it is not fetching much of a price at Home > just now, and wool is on the rise." > But you must remember that whilst the farmers in the North Island have not be< n looking after their own interests the farmers in the South Island have been reaping a harvest. A propos of .he above I see fhat certain Canterbury breeders have been exhibiting " freezers" at several of the Agricultural Shows in the North Island, and that such had been awarded first prizes at one show and second at another. It appears that the same breeders in the North exhibited the same cla>s of sheep at various shows along with the same class of sheep brought from the South. Of course there were not the same judges at the said shows, and they differed in their awards. Kay, for" instance, that the Canterbury sheep exhibited at one show would be awarded first prize and the Norrh second. At the next show the same sheep would be exhibited and the order would be reversed. Now the. exhibitors agreed to send their sheep Home and let the matter be decided by the authorities there which were the best " freezers." It was understood that it should not be made known where the sheep came from, but it leaked out somehow that some of the sheep were from Canterbury. From a lengthy report whicli appeared in a Wairarapa paper I see that the Canterbury sheep fetched the highest price. The paper, in reviewing the report, pointed out that although the Canterbury sheep fetched the highest price yet the statements contained in the report re North Island sheep as regards weight, fat, lean, etc., were as good, if not better, than that about the Canterbury sheep.