BIGGER FLOCKS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 34, 3 November 1937, Page 13

BIGGER FLOCKS

Dominion Census Shows ; lncrease ■ , "i MORE OWNERS ENGAGED Both the number of sheepowners in New Zealand and the total of their flocks increased substantially in the year ended on April 30, eompared with the previous year, aceording to the annual sheep returns presented to Parliament by the Minister of Agriculture the Hon. W. Lee Martin. Sheepowners in the various districts totalled 31,177 on April 30, an increase of 587 for the year, and the. total number of sheep was- 31, 305, 818, a gain of 1,192,114. More than half the sheep of the Dominion were in the North Island, aceording to the returns, which showed the totals of the two islands as 17,065,135 in the North and 14,240,683 in the South. The largest number of sheep in any one county, however, was the Southland total of 1,917,905. Other counties with more than a million sheep were Ashburton, 1,217,142, Hawke's Bay 1,409,239, and Rangitikei, 1,410,565. * The returns for the six districts into which the district is divided showed that the greatest number of sheep was in the Poverty Bay-Hawke's Bay district wbei'e there were 6,903,152. Next in erder were Wellington-West Coast, 6^620,122; Otago, 6,612,659; Canterbury-Kaikoura, 6,173,076; Auckland 3,514,861; and Marlborough-Nel-son 1,454,948. Breeding ewes also increased substantially in number during the year. The total at April of 663,116. Although the North Island total was larger than that for the South, the numerical increase for the year waq greater in tlie South Island. Stud sheep entered in the Flock Book totalled 465,898, 0^1.48 per cent. otliers of a distinctive breed 8,999,117, or 28.75 per cent., and ctossbreds and others, 21,840,803, or 69.77 per cent. Of the stud sheep, tho largest number of any one breed was 206,381 Romneys. The next most popqlar breed, among stud sheep, were Southdowns, which totalled 126,722. Romneys also led the sheep of distinctive breeds not entered in the Flock Book, with 3,799,129, or 12.14 per cent., halfbreds being next with 2,477,308, or 7.91 per cent. and Corriedales tliird, with 1,348,702, or 4.31 per cent.