AUSTRALIAN LAMB

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 311, 17 December 1936, Page 7

AUSTRALIAN LAMB

A RAPIDLY increasing INDUSTRY.

CANTERBUR Y VIEWS. Mr. A. M. Carpenter, of Fernside, Canterbury, who returned dining the week from Sydney, where he at tended the sheep show and sales, spent most of his spare time in gathering information concerning the pastoral activities of the State, particularly of the developments in the fat lamb export trade. In a talk with “Straggler,” of the Christchurch Press, Mr. Carpenter said he was impressed with the determination of the pastoral community t.i increase its exports of fat lambs to the English market. The farm newspapers devoted some space while he was there to this development, . and to the methods it was proposed to adopt to obtain a larger share of the lamb trade. It. was pointed out in these articles that the Dominion’s exnort. annually of lamb was approximately 5,000,000 carcases, whereas the Australian export was nearly 5,000,000. One authority expressed the opinion that Australia would in a few vears export annually about 10,000,000 lambs to England. Sheep men say that, the fat lamb industry has become really important in Australia, and that more and more breeders are concentrating on the best type of fat lamb for the Home market. This indicates the importance, considers Mr. Carpenter, of expert publicity in England on behalf of New Zealand lamb, and also the necessity of realising that it is the light-weight lamb that is required .

BRIDGING THE GAP. The Australian lamb producer claims that quality for quality New Zealand obtains a higher price for her lam!) than Australia does. Australia lias to bridge this gap by supplying qualitv lamb. The publicity they consider most, valuable is that now (wing conducted by William Angliss Ply. Co., Ltd., which is part of the world meat organisation of Vcstey’s, who control some 4000 butchers’ shops in Britain. Consequently the firm is in a particularly good position to secure publicity for Australian lamb. The firm supplies direct to the consumer. The Australian lamb producer is very wide awake to-day to the possibilities. The preference for lightweight, lamb has been taught him through supplying the demand for small joints, as.required in the flats of the Australian cities, where largo joints would be useless. The lamb-i;aiser in Australia is also paying a good deal of attention to pasture management, top-dressing, and artificial feed pro luction, which lie calls the “New Zealand methods.’,' Quite a compliment to New Zealand! “ One is bound to realise, alter meeting these men and attending their show, and noting the prices paid for good Southdown, Dorset Horn, Ryeland and Merino sheep—which made up to 750 guineas—that New Zealand canpot afford to neglect any opportunity of maintaining the market in England. In this respect the wisdom of restricting a British firm owning numbers of shops in England, in its operations in New Zealand, was open to question. A firm such as the one he mentioned, with 4000 shops iu England, certainly appeared an asset to every lamb producer, as such a distribution medium meant the direct supply of 2,000,000 consumers