As the sheep industry of Aus. tralia stil is the most important of our primary industries, it behoves, Us (o discover a more humane means of transporting sheep over long, distances, especially in periods of drought. Sir Edward Mitchell, "a leading bareistor in. Victoria and rman more than interested. in- the shoop industry of Australis, has been giving some results. of experients in the transport of sheep by meats of motor lores. This is not new method, as, during the 1920 drought, large' numbers of sheep were transported from the western plains to the eastern coast by means of lorries. More important stil, they were conveyed back to their pastures, at the end of the drought, by motor transport. In many the areas agisted it was necessary to get the sheep out with all rapidity, owing to heavy' falls of attack riper these lands this 02
Rather an interesting sidelight stumps, which were considered Yfiguring. Experiments conducted 1 ect, attach of the Knotty and. buttressahaped bumps possess a prettier figuring than the straight grained sections of the tree which wore the more popular in the Jane Teste considered thatthe Becess of the experiment wil ead an important development in this "fi branch of the timber trade, Sir Edward lays down that one sixewhecled chassis, capable of carrying seven tons, with a trailer attached, would be able to transfer 100 to 400 drought-stricken sheep probably 400 miles in a matter of 21 hours. AMlowing for 100 such vehicles, he estimates that, allowing for return journeys, 300,000 to 400,- 000 starving sheep' could be re~ moved to agisted areas in a matter of three weeks. The tests already made have been conducted with fat) sheep. Merino wethers in forward condition have been carried from! Marpsdale to Hindi, 280 miles, while Iambs in fat condition have been carried from Hindi to New. market and sold upon arrival at satisfactory prices. In one case, the sheep were unloaded at Bairns-dale for the night; in the other, they were transported direct from pasturage to sale yards. If there is the marked saving in actual live weight, owing to the rapidity of the motor transport compared with the former soon will be established as the more satisfactory method of transporting live stock for butchering purposes.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.