STORE-SHEEP BREEDING

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 51, 23 November 1937, Page 10

STORE-SHEEP BREEDING

Trend in Poverty Bay FARMERS MEET MARKET There has been" a tendency duriug the last few years toward breeding store Sheep in Poverty Bay districts on account of good prices offering for store stock in the Waikato, Hawke's Bay and the Auckland districts. This was the opinion expressed by Mr E. M. Bates, B.Sc.j Institute o'f Agriculture, at Gisborne. For example, he said, solne 355,000 sheep were driven to outside districts last season. About ten years ago there were five freezing works in Poverty Bay; now there were only two and the total killings of sheep over the last five years, in thousands, clearly indicated the present trend.

With high prices ruling for ewes, fat lamb farmers buying in ewes for the flying flocks annually have to pay. dearly for their requirements. Twotooth flock ewes have inereased in five years from. 17/6 to £2, approximately. On the hill country there is less trouble with store sheep, and fattening may be very slow. Morc store shocp can be carried per acre and store sheep can also be driven. With fat lambs 90 per ecnt. go to the works by lorry and rail. Following the completion of I4ie Gisborne-Napier railway, aud on the assumption that store. prices will conipare favourably with fat lamb farming l'Oturns, prospects would appear bright for Poverty Bay and East Coast districts becoming the breeding ground for maUy of the North Island docks. If the store market drops to any marked extent, no doubt there will be a swing back to the blackface ram instead of the Romney ram on farms of the district that can produce fat lambs profitably. Again the more extonsive uso of subterranean clover and phospate topdressing should tend to steady the trend away from the fat lamb industry in tho district.

Fat lambs. WetheTs Ewes. 1932-33 .. 382.3 224.7 78.3 1933-34 .. 359.4 177.9 . 59.9 1934-35 .. 279.5 175.4 48.4 '» 1935-36 .. 252.7 177.4 21.7 1936-37 .. 279.0 170.3 24.2