Contracts in Sales

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 47, 11 March 1937, Page 15

Contracts in Sales

SH0RTAGE OF FEED Fine Lot of Shorn Ewe Lambs Make 30/6 VALUE 0F BREED1NG The difference between the tono in the selling at Waipukurau on Friday and at Stortford Lodge yesterday was somewhat surprising. On Tuesday a bright market prevailed, "but yesterday the selling was lifeless with a tendency to drag. Feed shortage was undoubtedly a governing factor yesterday. A month ago certain farmers complained that they had so mueh feed that they did not. know what to do with it, If that was a probiem the intervening weeks have splved it. The oou- . tinued high westerly winds have played havoc with some of the pastures, completely checking growth. The result is that mauy have been quickly fed out, and some farmera already have actually been looking round for grazing. This applies to the usual areas which burn up quickly, but most of tbe hills in tho back country are in splendid order. Mount Cameron, Mangaone and Dartmoor still retain their greenness, but a mils further over towards Okawa the diflerence is very marked. The shortage of feed has affected cattle to a mueh greater extent than sheep. Tuesday 's sale of sheep showed that iu Central Hawke's Bay breeding qwes which mouth up quite well are likely to continuo to make good selling. Some good lines of five-year-olds, repreaenting the annual drafts from varioue properties, sold well. The quality of these was definitebr better than at Stortford Lodgt. yesterday. Most of the twotooths in both yards on offer are small grown, being chiefly carry-over propositions, which make them dear enough at the prioes they are making. High-counlTy ewes continue to be in the best order, and the way that som© Of the older lines mouth up is surprising, t Fat Lines Hard to Trade. Fattening lines, frcquently described as being surtable for another eeason, , ' are becoming harder to trade. What feed many farmers have now they require for their breeding ewes and younger sheep. j Store wethers are easier wi'th values! more in sympathy with the recent re- ! duction in, the freezing schedule. rThe j lighter-eonditioned lines on offer yes J terday will be hold-over lots in which j the buyers gave all that could be ex- j pepted of them. ^ | With rape crops now nearing their ! end and choumollier being fed hard back, the trading in lambs haa eased babk. Both this week's small yardings wer© chiefly carry-over lots, the finishing lines for this season being isolated. During the past few days several good' patches of young lucerne have been providing first-class feeding for topping off lambs. Pastures of this type are unfortunately very limited , and the lines which cannot be reasonably fattened in the autumn and have to be carried over are not those that grow into money. One Waihau farmer who has had some good topping-off feed, truckecf into the works during the week-end ap-

proximahely 750 well-doue lambs. Very few drafts like that now reinain, and buyers on behalf of freezing interests are quite satisfied to be able to pick up truck lots. Exceptionnl Line. Ewe lambs comiag forward are eear erally more ragiged, and small grown than ever, the exceptions being very few. One of these was a line of 32, in from Mount Wenley} Korokipo.. For store late ewe lambs 80/6 is certainly a phenomenally high price, but this was one of that lines that was fully worth its money. Mr Henderson had t'aken his Down rams out of his ewes when be put with them two stud Romney rams belonging to his neigbbour, •Mr AI Hunt, who bad already finished his eeason with them, Besides the ewe lambs a number of wether lambs were dropped. These lambs, which came away eplendidly despit© their lateuess, were full of breeding. In the sale pen they fully reflected both quality and character and illustrate just what can be done with good sires. If rams of this quality were used througb Hawkq's Bay flocks, muoh of the need for wool research would be eliminated. Breeding appears to be tha starting point fpr research in wool rather than after the wool has been clipped. If these lambs had bCen offerej during the period that' peak values ruled, th Qy wopld have made a figure that would have startled Hawke'a Bay. In both yardings this week wefe a few pens of late small lambs in hardy order which made only cull line values. These are the lines that will 'grow into money and certainly make the best buying; in the lambs pens- just now, LittlQ Beef Quality Quality was entirely lacking for oxbeef yesterday, and with the exeeptiop of one pen, three months of finishing grazing wer© requirgd to put butchers' condition on. The shortag© of feed was responsible for an oversupply of these lines, for which butQhers showed a reluctanee to securc. Most qf them were grazers' lines, aud to be r^ally prime for the winter they wguJd need to be on the best feeding. Some of tha lighter bullocks could have atood another 2001bS with advantage. Thf female pcms were littla bettqp than the ox-beef. ' Most of the cows wero pf secondary quality and wquld have been' in their place if offered, in the Store pens, The littla interest displayed in the selling at times drew a complaint from one of th© au'ctioneers about the social conyersation in progi.es3. , Another broke a lengthy period of silence jwhen not a bid was fortlicoming by i stating that he was not there to be ! photographed, j In cgntr.ast to the fat pens, the I store eectjon provided som© excellent | quality of young bullooks and 20j month steers which had to meet a downward market. The market was j similar to that at the cattle fair at 'Gisborne on Tuesday where higher . values, were . expected. The market j there, boWever, was well met, and one Hawke's Bay buyer alone purchased 600. Breeding cows with calves at foot : ar© commanding good saies. Yester- ! day a line which had been running | with a stud Aberdeen Angus bull for i the last two months and had late but strong calves at foot made £8. The deinand for breeding cows shows the great shortage of station-beef in Hawke's Bay, and weaners from May onwarSs are likely to set a high level in values.