NEW ZEALAND LAMB

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 August 1938, Page 7

NEW ZEALAND LAMB

AUSTRALIAN AND ARGENTINE COMPETITION. VIEWS OF SIR W. PERRY. . The Australian grade of lamb and mutton was gradually creeping up on New Zealand and our producers could not afford to sit back and say they were doing all right, declared Sir William Perry, when speaking at yesterday's meeting of the Masterton A. and P. Association. Australian farmers, he added, were systematically improving the quality of their lamb. The success of Wairarapa in the Export Lamb competition, continued Sir William, showed that the breeders of the district knew what type of lamb to breed for the Home market. The idea behind the competition was to improve the quality of our lamb arid he considered that the Wairarapa had done very well indeed in producing the type of carcase desired in England. Referring to the difference in the judging of ■the carcases in New Zealand and at Home, Sir- William said that it was accounted for mainly by the fact that the carcases were apt to shrink as the result of freezing. If the New Zealand graders could judge the lambs after they had been frozen he had no doubt that their results would agree with those of the Smithfield graders. The latest price for best New Zealand lamb at Home was 7 5-8 d a lb., as compared with Australian 7Jd and Argentine 7d. Australia and Argentine both had an advantage over New Zealand in that they could supply the demand for small joints. It would not pay the New Zealand farmer to produce a 281 b. lamb. It was astonishing how the population at Home had turned over to lean meat. Although it was difficult to believe, the English people would have nothing to do with the inches fat lamb that used to sell so well.