GRAZIERS & THEIR STOCK

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 133, 17 January 1916, Page 1

GRAZIERS & THEIR STOCK

Current Methods Criticised. (Contributed. "We are like the totalizator, it' you will only pass them through our hands often enough we will get the lot."

This remark of a well-known auctioneer and the talk of all the farmers' fabulous war profits, on which he is uncomplaininglv allowing nimself to be taxed, has set us ttiinki.g.

We will confine our investigations to Fukekohe and surrounding distiicts as immediately under our eve, and U32 4 per cent commission all round for convenience.

lha line in which all are more less interested is cattle grazing, bo we will take the life of a steer calf and endeavour to follow him through his vicissitudes, then we will cease to vsonder why the steerß of cur boylitod are tu be found on very rare occasions, unless mother-fed and grown on their birth place. For every day a steer is driven or stands in the yards he requires a week to recover aid to bring him back to the thriving state he was in previously.

As thi average beast travels one day to and trorn ard one day in the yards, i.e., three days, we may say that each lime he is taken to the sale, whether sold or not, he loses three weeks' thriving.

In the spring, when nature intended him to do his annual growing, this three, six, or nine weeks' loss, according to how many times be is olfered or sold, is of vital importance and mounts up before he is killed for beef. hirst sale—F>om a six months cult worth £2 to a yearling worth £5: 28 wedes for £3, per week 2s Id, three weeks' loss 6s 3d. Second sale—From a yearling worth £5 to a 2-jear-old worth £7, 52 weeks for £2, per week 9Jd, three weeks' loss 2s 3d.

Trird sale—From a 2-year-old worth £7 to a 3-jear-i'U backwaid Ttorih £9, 52 wetks for £2, per week 9£d, three weeks,' loss 2s 3d. Fourth stile—Fiom a 3-year-old worth £9 to a 4-year-c 11 w:rth £l2, 52 weeks for £3, per week 3a ljd, three weeks' Ijss 3s sd. Fifth sale—From 1-year-old worth £l2 to beef in four months worth £ls, 16 weeks lor £3, per week 3s 9d, three weeks' loss lis 3d. Total in all 25s 5d

Hence 25s 5d worth of grazing gois for no'hing, and 03 top of that an average shrinkage trom the paddock till sold and slaughtered of 101b a day, say, 40lbs a bead at 42s per hundred, 10s lOd and 25s sd, 42s 3d. This rather reminds us of a greasy pole contest, when you climb up 3ft and slide back lft. But the fact remains a National asset of 42s 3d per head i 3 leaking away.

How much of this leakage can we arrest?

Milk-pans gave place to separators because of the leakage of cream; are the graziers to allow the dairymen to be more brainy and progressive than themselves, and put up with the leakage of their products 1 jr ever? The number of sales that we may attend each month is appalling and gives too much opportunity for uetuations in price and chance ot an xtra "twist," as they very aptly all i?, out oi the poor animal at the hands of a commercial vulture, and yet another commission to add to the already long list. Also a dreadful waste of public time attending, for out cf 100 men at a sale but 00 or TU intend to or do buy or sell.

Yet in lace of this we see districts chmouring for the erection cf yards and more yards, thereby tanning the llame which is destined to consume them. .Anywhere b'outti of Mcicer it is possible, even customary, for the auctioneers to sell largely in the paddock, thereby saving much of the road work and subsequent loss of growth ar.d condition. Tina method is the most economical when all is said and done, and much better tor the buyer's stock. The silling commis:ion is computed each time on th 3 whole value of the beast, i.e., the owner's money, on which he is allowed to pay 4 per cent as a great treat, not a mere fee for service rendered. Let us imagine other services rer;Ccrctl on the same basis, say, rail, cartage, steamer, etc. 1 We laugh r.wardly at the idea !

iii the case el fattener?, 1 pet cent three times in the year! "Agents lor the vendor,'' torBooth! The bill heat's should read: "Agents lor our giddy selves." It would he in ore to the punt it they received at '.lie rate of, say, Is per calf and yearling, 2s per i-yca r , 3s per " year, Is per 4year, Ga per steer beet, 4s per cow beef, single beasts 25 per cent o try. The ir labour neiilier ircreasa nor decreases perceptibly with market fluctuations. We do not gird at any particular firm or firm?, but merely at the prevailing ay stem. II the whole selling system is no', taken in hand and readjusted voluntarily by the auctioneer.-; or forcibly by the farmers and barkers, the graizera' poeilion will be untenable during a uepiessi;>n. Another aspect oi the yraziers's business we will analyse. The price oi beet is suppos.d to regulate the price ol stores. At present this is very wide of the truth. We hav'2 a standard beef once of 425, and iitd:-A calf weighing B'j I b a making or 50s per l(l(Jlbs; a yearling weighing 2Uolbs making £5, or 50s per I'jOlbs; a two year old wiegbing 3501b8 making 17, or lO.i pel lOOIba; a three

vear-old weighing 4501bs making £]o, ur 44s 6d per lOOIfs; a three-year-old very good weighing 5501bs making £l2, or 43b 6d per lOUlbs; 4-year-old hard weighing 5001b making £l2, or 48s per 1001b; 4-year-old very forward weighing 600108 making £l3, or 43a per 1001b*.

Now, if a fattener buys a 4-year steer, hard, weighing 5001ba for £l2 and keeps him till he wei/hs SOOlba and sella for 42) that makes £l6 16s, less £l2, having a profit of £4 16b. So for the 300llbs of the choicest meat, which he puts on with bis £SO land, he gets £1 12i per lOOlbs gross. This is happening every day, and makes fattening merely a rich man's hobby and not a jjcommercial proposition. The two men who really prosper out of the animal are those who have no money invested in him, viz., the dairyman to whom he is only a by-product of six months duration, and the auctioneer who spends 3 minutes cn him at each of the 5 sales—or 15 minutes all told. Now we will turn to the case ol the intermediate men and see how they fare. We take it that a farmer is entitled to 5 per cent on his money invested, apart from his liviDg wage jast as our friends the Trade Unionists think and do, when they earn 12s a day for 6 days and put their savings in the bank or shares or debentures, or even lend it to a farmer to make his huge profits with. For instance, take a man with 1000 acreß with £lO carrying 800 yearlings for 12 months, costing £5 a bead, averaging £2 profit when sold. Namely, 720 sold, after 10 per cent losseß, for a grosa profit of £IO4O. Now deduct £7OO, being 5 per cent interest on the capital sunk in land and stock, leaving £340. From this take £202 for commission and £2O for ten tr ips to the sales, or £222. This leaves a living wage of £llß, or £2 5a 6d per week. Again 1000 acres at £lO carrying 500 2-year-olds for twelve months, costing £7. Allow 5 per rent losses and tell 475 for £lO, or a gross profit of £1250 on 500 bought. Deduct £675, being 5 per cent interest on capital as before, leaving £575, minus commission £l9O, eight trips £l6, or £206; leaving £369, or £7 per week. Once more 1000 acres at £lO, with 333 backward 3-year-olds for twelve monthß, costing £9. Allow 5 per cent losses and Bell 316 for £l2, that is £795 on the 333 head. Interest on capital £650, balance £145. From this take commission £152 and five trips £lO, or £162, and you will have a deficit of £l7, or 6s 8d a week less than wages.

Now take a 200 acre farm worth £lO and stock it with the most profitable line, Bay, 95 2-year-olds, for twelve months, at £7, and se 1 95 ior £10; profit, £285; iutereal on capital, £135; leaving £lso;t commission £3B, and 3 trips £5, or £43; boiling down to £ll7, or £2 5s per week. Next we will take a fattening farm uf 80 acres at £4O, with 37 four-year-olds every four months, costing £l2; in all 111 sold for £ls, or £333 profit; interest on capital £182; balance £151; commission £66 10s, trucks £ll, insurance £5 10s, and 12 trips to sale £5, or £B9. Now we see £62, or £1 is a week.

finally take 30 acres worth £SO fattening 27 head every four month?, purchased for £l2; 81 eold fir £ls, or £243, less interest on capital £9l, equals £152; commissiou £4B, trucke £B, insurance £4, travel £3, or £63; residue £B9, £1 14s per week. As all farms are discounted by a few acres for household purposes an allowance is made of 10 acres from the 200 acres, 6 from the 80 acres, and 3 from the 30 acres. One hundred calves thus have paid in commission on sales £8 as 6 months' old, £2O as yearlings, £2B as 2-year-olds, £4O as 3-year-olds, £4B as 4 year-olds and £6O as beet, making £204 in all, or equal to a little more than £2 per head, the origioal value to the producer. The prosperity of any community depends chiefly cn tlii tirm financial basis of the small to moderate holuing, and not on the dividends paid by commercial firms, which as a rule are only part of the income of the individual investor. The present state if things savours more of commercial cannibalism than of alround prosperity, acd the btrain can only be borne when times are good. ilow often do we hear a city man sneeringly ask: "Are you keeipDg the farm, or is the farm keeping you'/'' And well might the answer be: "In either case it is certain it is keeping you.'

We suggest a body, it cot to control pi ices, to report; not a Chamber oi Commerce, for that smacks ol' a lot of "clack," sweet nothings and masterly inactivity. This "Board of Values" composed of men capasle to sift out the whys and wherefores ol prices ruling, and to periodically report to the farming community why the price should be, what it is, of any commodity; why an exporter can only afford 10 give 5Jd for lamb when the producer thiriks he should get (id, et:. Tostibly we are all wrong in oui surmises. If we are, let any one work out his own case on similar lines to ours and see for himself where he stands alter taking into the interest due on hia money invested.