NOTES FOR GRAZIER AND DEALER.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9326, 29 January 1896, Page 6

NOTES FOR GRAZIER AND DEALER.

" Weekly Press and; Referee." [By Straggler.] Mγ Gordon P. Wood, secretary of the Timaru A. and P. Association, advises mc that the date of the Association's Ram Fair is changed from March 26th to Thursday, March 19th. ", " Reason " writes:—"Like some of your other friends I hare a suggestion to make concerning the Ram Fair. Last year the practice of selling stud rams in a ring was introduced, and, unless my memory plays mc false, some so-called "studs" were sold at 70s apiece, a nice price truly for studs when a decent flock ram is worth 3#s. What I want to suggest is the desirability of the Association refusing to allow any stud ram to be sold under sgs by public auction in the stud ring. Please put this suggestion forward and oblige not only mc but many others." Our agricultural reporter, who was recently inspecting the crops in the Sejwyn County, writes mc as under:— "You will doubtless be interested in hearing that I saw tliree of the breeding flocks in the district as I journeyed round. One of these was Mr J. M. Furze's, of Gift Farm. Of course Mr Furze has during the past few years attained fame in the show ring, and the merits of his sheep are wellknown to the general public. This year Mr Furze's flock consists of 650 four and sixtooth ewes, 200 maiden ewes, 600 lambs, 200 two-tooth rams, and a strong contingent of show sheep of both sexes. A personal inspection of Mr Furzete flock must readily convince anyone that his treatment of his flock is essentially of that nature which is necessary to enable him to turn out good hardy animals adapted for use on any description of country. Without undue reflection on Mr Furze's land it may fairly be aid that sheep which thrive on it and display the growth and constitution which his do ' must surely be made of that material which fully entitles them to the reputation they ' have made as good doers on any class of country. Mr Furze, I may mention, has many flattering notes from squatters who have tested the abilities of his sheep on country well calculated to try the merits of ; any stud stock. "As I said before it is not necessary to ; enlarge upon the quality of Mr Furze's ] sheep. His show honours prove quite sufficient recommendation in this respect. ' For instance, his record for the show season ' just clo3ed ij, instructive, and here it is :— ' Leeston, 6 firsts, 4 seconds, 3 highly com- \ mended and 2 specials ; Ashburton, 3 firsts, 1 second, 1 third and 1 highly commended ; ' Christchurch, 2 firsts, 2 highly commended and 1 commended; Courtenay, 6 firsts; ' total, 32. 1 " Almost adjoining Mr Furze's farm is the residence of Mr George LilL Mr lill is one of Dunsandel's successful farmers, and is now devoting a portion of his busy life to i founding an English Leicester Flock, which ' | will, I have no doubt, in due course do him | as much credit as his farm at present does. ] I saw some fifty or sixty well-grown, healthy \ two-tooth rams at Mr Lill'a, and am quite i certain that the future of Mr Lill'a flock v 11

well assured if he continues to increase it upon present lines.

" Another gentleman who is evidently Dent pon taking part in show competitions at an arly date is Mr Jonathan Sowden. At the *te Hon. E. Gray's clearing sale of his Jnglish Leicester flock, Mr Sowden exended a good deal of money in procuring irst-class material to work upon, and the iresent result is some very fine 2 tooths by he late Mr Gray's select rams out of the ame breeder's best ewes. Needless to say ir Sowden has some fine sheep to show isitors. I wish him every success." 1 am much obliged to our representative or these notes. I can only regret that his omments on the crops which were uncut >reviou3 to the late gales are not of a more :heerful character. I notice for example hat he found a paddock of oats and another pf barley on Mr Furze's place completely lestroyed. The sale of some 5000 young merino vethers from a north Canterbury station is eported, but the price has not been disdosed to mc. I notice that a recent Frozen Meat report >y London salesmen says : —" We are still nost strongly of opinion that a regular iiipply of prime Southdowns would always md a ready and realise satisfactory >rices." please note. Says " the Australasian the ricissitudes stock farming in he northern portion of Australia are very nuch greater than is generally imagined by ;hose who have no practical acquaintance •'ith the industry. During my late trip in Queensland I saw an immense area of :ountry in the southern and western parts of he colony, in which the grass, though abunlant, was so withered that it afforded no iustenance for sheep or cattle. Since then ;ood rains have fallen, and from several jarts of the country I have received letters nforming mc of the luxuriant rush of vegeation that has followed the break of the leason. Where I saw nothing but withered itar grass, which the stock will not eat, the jountry has now the appearance of a young vheatfield. Bat the mischief was done, and ;he loss to the squatters in the shortage of he yield of wool, and in the very poor ambing represents an immense sum of noney. A gentleman interested in a large itation in the North, on which the sheep ire well bred and well managed, informs ne that from 120,000 sheep the company iave obtained 800 bales of wool less than ast year's clip, when the number of sheep ivas about the same. The lambing has been i great failure, for from 50,000 ewes only 10 )er cent of lambs have been reared, and they ire "poddies." This has been prettymuch the sxperience of most pasfcoralists in Southern Queensland and Northern New South Wales. These heavy losses have been caused by :ircumstances beyond the control of even ;he very best management. With the short iroduction of wheat and other farm proluce, a bad lambing, poor clip, few fat itock, and numerous deaths of cattle and iheep, the pastoral and agricultural indus;ries of Australia have suffered more serious osses this season than in any one year lince these colonies were formed. The Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales for November publishes a paper read >y Mr E. Stanley, the Government vete•inarian, before the N.S.W. Veterinary Medical Association, on the subject of delorning, in which he endeavours to show ;hat the operation is neither neceseary nor lseful. With respect to the advantage of polled over horned cattle for shipping to England, Mr Stanley pronounces strongly in ! avour of the latter ; and in support of his iontention cites the opinion of Mr Brabbin, ivhom he describes as the most experienced ihipper of live cattle in the colony. Mr Brabbin said that lately he declined •o buy a mob of beautiful polled cattle jecause they were semi-wild, and could lot be handled on board ship as easily is horned cattle. Mr Stanley sums up ;he question of polled versus horned jattle in the following words:—"From inquiry I find dehorning is only rarely resorted ;o in any part of the world, and it is more a "ad than of any practical utility." In >pposition to the opinion of Mr Brabbin, I juote some remarks made by Mr G. T. Turner, in a letter addressed to the Live Stock Journal a few months back. He said : " Most of the cattle from America are poleys, having been dehorned by the appli:ation of caustic potash, which I consider a jreat advantage." As to the injury inflicted jy the horns of cattle, one has only to Bit on /he cap of a stockyard fence for half an hour, /vhen a mob of run cattle have been brought n, to be convinced of their power for mis:hief. With dairy cattle the case is much yoree, as they are so often yarded. In the •ailway trucks the horns are greatly in the yay; and, to judge by what I have seen of :attle on board ship, they appear to mc to je equally out of place there. The cruelty >f the practice of dehorning grown cattle ippears to be greatly exaggerated, if we may udge from the numerous experiments that iave been made in America in dehorning lairy cows. Close observation has shown ihat the flow of milk fell off very slightly, md that after the operation the cows took ;o their food as well as ever. The only place vhere I have found the horns of cattle of •eal use is on those Queensland runs where >he cattle have at times to live almost entirely on mulga scrub. For this purpose ;he horn conies in very handy to break down uhe saplings. This season, on Barenya Station, Queensland, the average number of men on the )oard was twenty-nine, who shore 90,000 iheep in three weeks and five days, or L 72£ hours. The highest individual tally pros made by J. Power on September 20th, ivhen he shore 315 sheep (mixed), working ess than eight hours. J. Howe, who holds /he record for Australia, shore 321 sheep in sight hours forty minutes, so that Power's record is a better one.