LAND, STOCK & CROPS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 128, 12 March 1935, Page 7

LAND, STOCK & CROPS

NOTES AND COMMENTS. (By “Ik* Tramp”). Whatever farmers think about the agricultural situation, there is, undoubtedly, “in the city” a feeling that farming now offers a reasonable return for capital invested. Few city men may feel disposed to undertake farming as an independent venture, but some, at least, are inclined to nibble at a partnership. An instance of this kind was. recorded .recently. A farmer wished to develop his milk business, but lacked the wherewithal to buy more cows. A city friend offered to buy the additional cows, pay for labour and keep, and take his share of the net returns from the Milk Board. What would be fair charges for labour and keep? Such costings as are available show that labour may run to about £6 per cow, and foodstuffs, including grazing, with a deduction for farmyard manure, to _ about £l7 per cow per annum. Incidental expenses, such as recording, veterinary, equipment and so forth, may amount to about £2 per cow per annum.

The important question of cream prices and grades—which, as was reported exclusively in the “banners Weekly,” will shortly receive the attention of the Milk Board—-came before the Council of Agriculture for England recently. Cream, recommended the Council s milk committee, should be graded and retailed at proper proportionate prices compared with the price of fresh milk. “It should he easily possible,” stated the report, “for the housewife to obtain a 12 per cent, breakfast of coffee cream at about 9d a pint. The committee recommended) that three standards seemed reasonable: First, a 12 per cent, cream standard, for breakfast or coffee cream; a 25 per cent, standard for fruit cream; and aSO per cent, standard for thick or whipping cream.” If that were done, a great boon would be conferred upon all classes of households and the demand for milk would ho substantially increased. The sale of cream in ice-cream should also be dealt with, andl the public should be protected by the enforcement of legal standards under the National Mark scheme.

“But,” commented the committee, “the industry cannot be firmly established on a broad basis if imports of milk products and processed milks are freely admitted, because it looks to the manufacture of cheese, butter and condensed milk to use up the milk surplus to liquid requirements. “The committee is glad that the Government is fully alive to the need for safeguarding the industry.” (It is something of an anomaly that cream is an expensive luxury in a country literally overflowing with milk. This is not a question for the Government or Dairy Board, but is solely in the hands of individual retailers. It is suggested above that coffee cream could be supplied at 9d per pint, therefore the comparative prices of milk here and in Britain would allow it being sold here at from 3d to 4c( pei pint. Why should some enterprising milk retailer not try the experiment?)

Striking evidence of the popularity of the Shorthorn, due to its capacity to go anywhere and do anything is afforded bv the 1931 Census of 1 urebred Cattle on farms in Canada, ine total figure was 449,462 head, of which the three leading British breeds supplied respectively:—Shorthorn 93,1/9, Hereford 28,117, Aberdeen-Angus 14,448. Thus, the 31iortliorn comprised nearly 21 per cent, of the total purebred cattle population* anc considerably more than double the combined totals of its would-be competitors. The reason is obvious —the Shorthorn is unrivalled, as a general purpose breed.

After being given a vigorous trial in all the cities in the Dominion, the rubber horse-shoe is now being introduced into country districts. Aiming at avoiding jarring, vvhich is such a frequent cause of leg injury in hoises, this new shoe is claimed to revolutionise the shoeing trade. The shoe is lighter than the ordinary shoe, and will, it is claimed, last twice as long. Besides eliminating jarring, these shoes also prevent slipping, which is also a fruitful source of trouble, ffhe shoes have a steel foundation in three pieces, with a light steel bar locking the tips together. Tlie shoe is encased m rubber, which is specially treated to ensure its lasting under heavy wear.

A Manawatu farmer whose pasture land is hounded on the west by a mile of dusty road, over which much motor traffic passes, hopes sincerely that it will never be tar-sealed. He finds that the grass land within 50 yards of the -road is benefited by the dust from the prevailing westerly winds to the same extent as if he had, used ten tons o f superphosphate yearly on the 160 acies which is thus amply top-dressed fiee of cost.

“There is an old saying “Lime and lime without manure will make both farm and farmer poor.” There is a lot of truth in this, but at the present time a tremendous acreage of land in this country is short of lime, and will not yield as heayily as it might until lime has been added (remarks the “Farmers Weekly. ) Lime is a most important substance, and healthy growth of plants is impossible without it. It is in itself a valuable food, but it also lias the most beneficial effects on a soil. On a clay soil it assists to impiovc the tilth, whilst on light land it helps to retain moisture. It causes the dead plant remains, usually termed humus, to rot down and become of direct use to plants, and it makes food material available which would otherwise be useless. It assists manures to reach a state in which roots can take them up. But if lime is continually added to a soil without, at the same time manuring it, the land gradually becomes poorer as the food reserves, released by the lime, become taken up _by plants and removed in the crop. Lime and manures are both required. Lime prevents Anbury, or Imger-and-Toe of cabbages and turnips, and is of great value in the improvement of grass hind which has become impoverished through the formation of a dense “mat” just below the surface of the soil.

Pukepoto, in tlie far north, is being visited by a plague of caterpillars which is causing considerable damage in stripping pastures and vegetation. One settler has had several acres of oops completely destroyed, and also a considerable part of the grass in a paddock closed for hay. In another instance, a settler who had taken one good crop of hay, with another ready for cutting, discovered the paddock practically stripped within 48 hours.

Though caterpillars have previously appeared in the district in fairly large swarms, this is the first occasion for several years that they have caused such extensive damage.