TRUCKING SHEEP VERSUS DRIVING.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2376, 17 December 1908, Page 3

TRUCKING SHEEP VERSUS DRIVING.

[To the Editor.] Sir, —The cost of trucking sheep and lambs from Pulia to Gisborne ranges from about 4d per head on big wethers in the ■wool to 3d oil shorn sheep and 2d on lambs, tlie charge per truck being 15s. The cost of driving, in mobs of from 500 to 1000, works out at about ltd per head. I tried driving half a mob of wethers in the wool and trucking the other hall, ami the trucked sheep averaged 60.97, while the driven sheep averaged 60.81. This represents a loss of over id per iiead, and there was also a loss of lllb worth about 2gd. Deduct these losses of inside fat from the driven sheep, from the cost of trucking, viz., 4d per head in this case, and it leaves the charge at Id per head by rail, as against lid by road. AVith lambs, especially milk-fed lambs, the difference should be still more marked, as it is well known that' driven lambs soon lose their bloom as well as their weight. Shorn sheep should work out at at least 1-J-d per head in favor of trucking, especially when the losses and accidents that occur on the road are taken into consideration. —I am, etc., E. M. HUTCHINSON, AVaihuka. December 16 th, 190 S.