It is a long time since shearing in Hawke’s Bay has been so persistently hampered by unfavourable weather as has been the case this season with the continuance of boisterous and showery weather.
It is likely that shearing in parts of the district, more especially in the case of high-country flocks, will extend well into January.
Owing to a series of delays caused by the weather many sheds are behind schedule.
It is reported that on some stations where the sheds are generally cut out by Christmas a start has not yet been possible.
By degrees shearing has been cleared up on most lower country properties, but on high country stations there is still a number of clips to be taken off.
The shearing season was no sooner under way than there were delays through heavy rain, which threw shearers out in their schedules for the season.
In spite of all the rain experienced the clips are reported to be coming off the sheep in really good order.
The improvement in the weather has worked wonders in helping on cultivation and shearing and also in the appearance of grass and oat paddocks.
The oat crop is bound to be late in most places and a late harvest is seldom a satisfactory one either for quality or yield, though most of the oat crop now is cut for chaff.
Shearing of dry sheep is now being pushed ahead, but very few breeding ewes are shorn yet.
Some owners are anxious to get the first draft of lambs away before shearing, as no matter how careful the handling may be lambs invariably have a set-back at shearing.