COMMERCIAL

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4599, 17 August 1923, Page 3

COMMERCIAL

WAIKATO MABKET BEPOBT* The Farmers’ Co-operative Auctioneering Co., Ltd.,, report:— Beef.—Supplies are fast diminishing, and some difficulty may be ex- ■ pefienced shortly in filling requirements. Naturally, prices are advancing rapidly. Mutton.—The same conditions prevail in .the mutton market. Good wethers are particularly scarce. . Store Cattle.—The store cattle market seems t.o have brightened a little, though not to the extent that the improvement in beef might justify. We are now approaching that stage, however, which the wholesale slaughter of calves forecasted, and it seems likely that a frantic demand for male cattle will shortly be witnessed without being satisfied. A pe/i of good steers is becoming rather a rare sight in Waikato yards, and it looks as if a lot of back country that has been brought into pasture at a heavy cost must fall into a sorry state of decay, as, indeed, is happening at the ‘jit present time. - Store Sheep.—Store sheep would be saleable, but quotations are difficult to obtain, few farmers having anv surplus above their ojvn requirements. According to Southern and King Country reports hoggets have made a sharp advance. Dairy Cattle. —There is practically no alteration to record in dairy cartie. High testing herds are still saleable at good prices, but dairymen seem at last to have realised that the reject, or even average cow, does not pay to feed, and consequently the sale for this class is extremely dull. , Pigs.—Pigs still continue to sell t well. Fat pigs have slightly eased, but the demand for stores remains strong and unaltered. Horses.—Good enquiry exists for draught horses, and the approaching spring fairs offer prospect of good competition. , We quote as follows: Bullocks, heavy prime £lO to £l2 10s, medium £8 10s to £9 15s; cows, heavy, young, £6 to £B, medium £4 10s to £5 10s, forward £3 5s to £4 ; steers, 3% to 4%-yrs,. forward, £4 15s to £5 153, stores £4' to £4 10 s; cows, stores £1 10s to £2; steers, 3-year, test £3 10s to £3 15s; heifers, rising 2-year, r.w.b., Jersey £lO Is to £l5, rising 3year Shorthorjn £6 to £7 ss, rising 3- . year Holstein £7 10s to £9; empty heifers, 18-months, best Shorthorn £2 to- £2 15s, medium £1 15s to £2; steers, 18-months, best shorthorn £3 2s 6d to £3 12s 6d, medium £2 10s to £3 ; calves, heifers, best Shorthorn £1 •5s to £1 10s, Holstein £2 to £2 10s, Jersey-cross £3 5s to £5 ; steer calves, best £1 10s to £2 2s 6d, medium ?.l 5s to £f 10. s, weedy 15s to £l. Wethprime heavy 35s 6d to £2, medium to 34s 6d; ewes, prime heavy 30s to 345; breeding ewes, best 5 and 6yenr 31s to 355, medium 25s to 28s; store hoggets, good £1 Is to £1 4s, medium 18s 6d to £l. Pigs : Baconers, heavy. £3 15,s to £5, light £3 2s 6d tQ £3 103; heavy porkers £2 7s 6d to

£3 ; good slips £1 7s 6d to £1 10s, small £1 to £1 5s ; jveaners 10s to 15s. Horses : Heavy draughts £4O to £45, medium £3O to £3B 10s, light £2O to £23 ; harness horses £lO to £l7, hacks £5 to £lO.