NOTES FOR GRAZIER AND DEALER.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 10063, 15 June 1898, Page 2

NOTES FOR GRAZIER AND DEALER.

"• Weekly Press and Referee,'

[By Straggler.]

Now that butchers are not allowed by the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,to tie the legs of calves as they are being removed from the saleyards, some better arrangement is required than the netting now used f or holding them iri,the carts. There ia always a difficulty in getting the calves into the carts under the netting, and there is sometimes as much roughness used in this respect as there was in tieing the animals' legs. A moveable arrangement so as to form the cart into a sort of pen such as is frequently used for conveying stud sheep, would be a very inexpensive improvement upon the present method.

I have received from the Department of Agriculture, Wellington, a copy of the regulations re the importation of sheep into Tasmania. All sheep imported from the colonies of Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, and New Zealand may be landed at Hobart, Launceston, Devonport, Burnie, or Strahan, and not elsewhere, except by previous permission in writing, signed by the Chief Inspector or such officer as he may appoint. Three day's notice of the intention to land sheep must be given, and sheep imported from the colonies mentioned must be accom panied by a declaration of health by the owner or agent, and by a certificate from the inspector at the port of shipment that the sheep are free from disease ; any sheep not bred in the colonies to have undergone the dipping and quarantine necessary.

At the Kaikoura Collie Dog Olub trials the following were the results:—Heading and Bringing Back—L. Lyford's Fly, 26 points, 1 j A. McKenzie's Sam, and L. Ward's Don (equal), 22 points, 2. Heading, Bringing Back and Yarding—L..Lyford's Fly, and J. Jamieson's Darkie (equal), 28 points, 1; A. Davidson's Sandy, 23 points, 3. Hunt Away— G. Lang's Sharp, 26 points, 1; G. Lang's Force, 14 points, 2; B. Gilling's Baldie, 13 points, 3. Farmers' Trial,' Heading and

Bringing Back—H. Collins's Flo, 23 points, 1; F. Barrett's Darkie, 22 points, 2; F. Barrett's Don, 17 points, 3. Consolation— A. Kennedy's Glen 1, J. Jamieson's Jo 2, J. Dclnnes's Rover 3. Messrs H. S. Fitter and Sons, in their mail circular, dated April 23rd, state that small prim© New Zealand sheep were still very short, but larger sheep were selling better, and prices were decidedly firmer. They continue: —"The Maori's cargo has turned out in a most unsatisfactory condition, some of the carcases being mouldy and others mis-shapen. The longer this meat is kept in store the worse it will become—consequently the market is being pressed, and prices for lamb are weaker. The demand for lamb continues good, but there are so many half-fed lambs, and others slightly that the market is being spoiled by them." Some correspondence has been going on lately in the South Canterbury papers concerning the practice of "trotting' at auction sales, and Mr J. Mundell, a well-known salesman, gave his views as follows .*—"After twenty years' experience in the business as an auctioneer, I fully endorse all that has been written against the practice, and am fully convinced that the sooner it ip totally abolished the better for all parties in any way connected with the business. When the auction system was first initiated, it was surely never contemplated that sellers ofproperty or stock and their friends were to enter into'bogus competition with bona fide intending buyers. About a year ago an attempt was made to stop it voluntarily, but faded for want of unanimity, therefore I quite agree that it can be stopped only by legislation, and that can be obtained only by the wish of the public. At present the auction business is surrounded by a §reat deal of distrust and suspicion, which injures tho business very much. Surely a.business that has now become t_he medium by which so much property is disposed of should be fenced in with the most stringent laws to prevent, as far as possible, any fraudulent practices. Until that is done auctioneers can only adapt themselves, though often very unwillingly, to a vicious system." The matter of "trotting" was brought up at a meeting of the Geraldine Farmers' Club last week, and the practice was generally condemned. One member said he was opposed to it because it was misleading to the public as to tihe ruling value of sheep, and then he naively added—'At -ac same time, if he had sheep in the yards of his own he did not care how much the auctioneers ran the price up " That is the whole point of the matter; the practice is supported as much by those who condemn; it as by the salesmen themselves, who usually get all the blame. The club decided to adjourn the discussion for a fortnight to allow the auctioners to be present. It is proposed to supply the Victorian markets with frozen beef and mutton from Queensland, but "Brum" thinks that the attempt will prove a failure. The Melbourne consumers like the appearance ot freshly killed m*at, and will have no other; even hung meat is generally objected to. The Americans are eating more mutton than they used to do, and if the reports of tlie quality of the mutton raised in ttie States are correct, it is not surprising that mutton was not in general favour. On this subject "Coleman's Rural World" says : — "The sheep industry has had;in the.past a. rather varied career, arising ia part from thp fact that we grew.sheep for the wool, not the mutton. The time is not yet com*; when good mutton can be easily secured at our markets. Most of it—not leßsthan ninetenths of it—is below medium in quality, and not calculated to increase the demand for it." __

Australian dairy cattle for China has a novel sound about it, but tjie Sydney "Telegraph" reports that "some very well bred stud dairy cattle have just been shipped to China, on account of Messrs Power and Sudholz. The Tokio Maru on Saturday last took 22 cows, and the Taiyuan another lot of 23 cows and 2 bulls, in all 47 head. Among the consignments were Pansy, the winner of two first prizes at the recent show—an animal of great reputation as a milk producer— and a show bull bred by Mr John Booth, of-Prospect. The cows are crosses between the Ayrshire, Jersey, and Short-horn breeds.

A new departuf- in local wool selling has (says the Melbourne Leader) been successfully inaugurated. Eleven gentlemen, unSressed with the circumstance that the inciental charges in connection with the sale of wool in Melbourne are now too high compared with its selling price, recently undertook to guarantee to take up 100 shares each, at £1 per share, to start a company, to be called the Co-operative Wool and Produce Company, with the object of quitting wool and produce at the of incidental expense. It was mentioned that a similar company formed in Sydney last year in the course of three or four months' operations reduced the charges on sales of wool by 2 per cent., and divided £1000 surplus profits between its members pro rata, according to the extent of their sales. Another Tasmanian company was instanced as having paid its shareholders 5 per cent, dividends and distributed 10 per cent bonuses. All the guarantors at the meeting -were influential squatters. One gentleman said he alone could oring forward for sale by the proposed new company 5000 bales of Kiverina wool, whilst the Clark Proprietary Company Limited promised its support by letter, and undertook to forward 1000 bales. It was arranged that none but producers may hold shares in the company, and that an effort' shall be made to secure the membership of small wool growers as well as squatters. No opposition is anticipated from the Woolbrokers Association sufficiently strong to prevent buyers dealing with tbe company. Bae Agricultural Conference that recently sst at R-ockhampton, in Queensland, affirmed the desirability of the Government placing £10,000 on the estimates to be expended in granting a bonus of id per lb on all chilled meat exported from the colony. The number of fresh outbreaks of sheep scab that occurred during the month of March was 151, these having been in twentyseven English counties, eleven Welsh counties, and six Scotch counties. The disease •listed during the mu-th in forty English

counties, twelve Welsh counties, and six* teen Scotch counties. In February the number of fresh outbreaks was 363, and in Jan«« ary 714, so that the position is improving. 'Hereford cattle are in strong favour with the American graziers. Messrs George Leigh, of Illinois, and Scott, of Montana, were recently in Herefordshire, making 4 selection of sixty head of Hereford heifeM and bulls, which were to be shipped ia April. Fifty-one head, said to be one of the largest and best consignments of pedigree Hereford cattle that has gone to the United States for many years, were previously shipped to the order of the Armour Packing Company, of Kansas City. A correspondent of the Live Stock Journal Btates that he once bought an Ayrshire cow, heavy in calf, with a large V-shaped wedge cut out of each ear, and in due time' she calved and had a bull calf which wfis ear-marked exactly in tihe same manner as her* self. Cattle being so scarce he was allowed to live, and quite unintentionally was allowed to serve a young Shorthorn cow the next spring, which produced a calf nine months after ear-marked exactly like its sire and granddam. The experiment, if it might be so called, was carried no further, but a friend of the writer's had a cow similarly marked, all of whoseoffspring had similar transmitted characteristics.

This brings to one's mind the question of whether efforts have ever been made to breed sheep without long tails. One would think from the results obtained from an earmarked cow that it was time our sheep, after so many generations have been docked, vrex* beginning to grow shorter tails, and thus obviate the necessity for using the knife. Asked recently whether he had ever noticed a connection between the quantity and quality of feed for ewes in the autumn, and the preponderance of either sex among the lambs of the following spring, a Cum--berland sheep farmer replied that he had never noticed any difference whatsoever.; Between the numbers of lambs from ewes generously fed from ewes poorly fed in the autumn he, and not he alone, but flock-owners, he believed ,in common, had observed considerable difference, and he thought it was allowed by most or all of them that good and ample nourishment4n the autumn was favourable to the proba* bility of a large 1 number of lambs, whilst scanty autumn food was decidedly unfavourable, and almost) invariably followed by a small production of lambs. It was, therefore, the rule to do as well as they could to the ewes in autumn, in the expectation of a liberal return from the ewes in .--F-fg. . Naturally good seasons, those in which the natural food of the flock is abundant and of good quality, and weather and tempera,t_re conducive to the health and thriving of stock at pasture, musß of course, in that case, have beneficial influence, as adverse seasons must have adverse influence upon ewes about the period of conception. The greater care, therefore, is necessary to make up to ewes, as far as artificial help can do so, the want of sufficiency of nutrition, and, in some" seasons, of warmth. The latter, where better shelter is not practicable, may be in some measure met by the supply, of heat-gipng food. • *~ The Marlborough Express states that tue cattle of Messrs Boyce, J, Healy, C. Horaa, and Mrs P. Healy, of Tua Marina, winch were subjected to the test for *ttrt»erculP-B» by Mr A. 'Park, Government yet_nnary ■ surgeon, were passed as satisfactory, none ol them living re-acted. Out of Over 200 head of cattle at, Tua Marina which have been subjected, to the test, none have re-acted. Mr Pftrk says this is the only examination that he has conducted M the colony that W resulted so favourably.