NOTES FOR GRAZIER AND DEALER.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13739, 21 May 1910, Page 5

NOTES FOR GRAZIER AND DEALER.

("Weekly Press and Referee.")

The dispersal sale recently took place at Seahaw harbour of the famous stud jf pedigree Clydesdale horses and pedigree hackneys and hackney ponies so long tho property of the Marquis of Londonderry and his late father, and which for the last ten years has been ocnci-cted by a limited liability company. Mr E. A. Crow was tho auctioneer. Mr Robert Brydon, who lias nnnaged the stud for many years, \both I'r.r Lord Londonderry and afterwards lor the stud company, was a large purchaser, and it is stated that he intends to form a stud'of his own. He gave the, highest price of the day for tne stallion Silver Cup, by Baron's Prfde out of Balmedie Vesta, the great prizewinning sire being knocked down to Hr Brydon foi lOOOgrs. The horse is eleven years old, and has been twice first at the Royal Show. Mr Brydon also gave the top price of 405gs for brood mares, taking at the figure Syringa, by Silver Cup, foaled in 1906, nn*3 in foal to Bonnie Buchlyvic. Other good prices for stallions were 172gs to 230gs, for ir.arcs 175g£ to 3iogs, and for filfies 200gs. Jersey cattle, which are in exclusive possession of their native island, are gaining steadily in favour in America as well aa in England, lteccntly 140 head were shipped to America after undergoing the. tuberculin test at St. Ilelier. Several large consignments were exported earlier, the aggregate despatched to the United States this year already amounting to" nearly 1000 head. The reduction of the water rate to Montreal to 41 cents, makes the rate on grain carriage from Fort William to Liverpool, via Montreal, 8.13 cents per bushel, compared with 8.52 cents via Buffalo and New York. The Canadiar companies have all their May spa**e booked, and Montreal is expected to become the leading ooean port for outbound grain. As to which is the "largest sheep station in Australia tho question, says a writer in the "Sydney Mail," is somewhat difficult to answer, because id is not always possible to ascertain what number of sheep a holding i!s carrying. Then, again, some of the runs are carried on in conjunction with other runs. A. a start, it may be said that at Wellshot and Coombe- ! Martin, in tho Ilfracombe district, ■ Central Queensland, it is expect-d j that just under a quarter of a million | I of sheep will be shorn in July and i ! August. The figures are almost nn- i | possible to grasp. With favourable ; weather the shearing of these sheep ! will occupy forty shearers and forty i rouseabouts for at leafii seven weeks. I Toorale station, in the -Bourke district, New- South Wales, will shear something like 150,000 sheep, and the well-known Goondoobluie station .vill havo over 120,000 sheep. In tbo north-west portion of the State there are some big sheeo stations, such as Pugra, with 102.000 sheep; Gooriropa, in the Wanaaring district, with over H0.000; Boonooina. jn the Brewarrina district, with 92,000: Quantamhone in the s-ame locality, with 86.000; Gnrley, in the Morse district, with 112,000; Dunumbral, in the Collarenebri district, with 88,000. Stations with rO.OOO or more arc Mungie Bundle, Edgeroi. LUnillo, Currangundt Babeate (Walgett). Yarrawin, Till Till, Manfred, Wirrah, Oreel. Tarwong, Overflow, North - anco, Canaliy, Gunnible, Weilmoringle, and othei-s. • Up in Queensland there are ai.**o some very large pastoral holdings in addition to those mentioned. Isis Downs and Avington, in the Ilfra--1 combe district, for instance, have 180 000 sheep for this season,. Corona , Downs in tho Longreach district aud iAfton Downs, on the northern raalway, v.ill each have 125,000 sheep. rl f' | da in the Aramae district, and Rockwood, in the Hnghenden district, and ' Cambridge L*owns in the Richmond district, heat these with l&9iC. (sheep each. Others with 100,000

sheep each aro Katandra, Aramac. Dagworth. Portland Downs H-TO.OfO). V.'arbreccan (110,000). Wo.st.and_ .md -Marathon. .Many have over ".0.000 sheep. This list is by no means exhaustive, for there are many stations in other parts of the two States mentioned which can eclipse some of the figure,, quoted. The par'-iculars givi-n. however, afford some indication of- the * stent, of some oi the pastoral holdings and the big interests involved. It is calculated that tbe wool from each sheep miclit average from •">« to 7s per year, and on this basis it can be soon what immense sinus are returned by the stations to those who possess them, r.nd to the mon who do the shearing - that is. in the fat years. One can readily understand nl?:> the enoiinoiis j looses that occurred in the drouc'it rears.

According to Principal Pewar, of the .Royal (Dick) Veterinary Colics**.. "Hnti_.fi purebred bonis won*, stinking in tho nostrils of tho civilised world." -**t a meeting of tho North of England Veterinary Medical Association, *t Newcastle, tho learned Principal put forward a strong plea for tho yets, and the tuberculin test. He said :— Tho Government should step in -md try and save breeders from themselves —try and do something to arrest the progress of this terrible scourge. Had tuberculin been welcomed mid used as a friend by farmers and breeders., a great deal might have been done towards arresting the disease. But it was received with apathy and indifference, and by many with 'ill-concealed antipathy. Thoy had tried to iind fault -with it, to "pick holes in its results, and to discredit it in every possible way. The*- did not like it. It was too straight. It told them without fear and hesitation what they would much rather not have known. It is very 'unfortunate, as most of these men exercised a very considerable nfluence in the agricultural world, anther© was no doubt -whatever that if ever tuberculosis had to be successfully tackled it would not be uy taking .11 the reactors in this scourge, but by beginning at our own rural districts, nt the individual farms, where the animals were hred and reared. It was a comparatively simple business there. Further on the Principal said:—the Argentine Government had just been on the point of excluding every animal from Great Britain on account of tuberculosis. They wero keeping them in quarantine at their own expense until their own veterinary surgeons could make euro they were not tuberculous. That was what onr breeders hud brought us to—that, our purebred herds -wore stinking in the nostrils of the civilised world. Tuberculin, ;f they knew how to work it, and wero allowed their own way of using it, was an absolute diagnosticator.

; Commenting; upon Principal Dewar'-. I remarks, the "North British Agriculturist" says:—"Can it really he that i 'our purebred herds were stinking In | the nostrils of the civilised world' on account of them being so rotten with tuberculosis? Aud can it lie that t.nt home-breeders and also the foreign buyers who were competing so strongly ! for shorthorns at Birmingham nd Perth the other week at prices- ranging up to 1000 guineas each, were iot 'civilised' in respect that they did not notice that offensive odour given off by the animals? Aa a matter of fact a Great proportion of the bulls sold nt Perth were sold with a certificate that they had passed thc test and come out clear, while of the shorthorns sold at Birmingham last week the great majority of the hulls sold were fio certi : fied—in. fact their 'temperature charts were -published in the catalogue underneath their pedierocs. Surely, therefore, it is a great mistake to sny tha. breeders are not doing all that -.an possibly be done to stamp out this ■'Teat whito plague.' " . Professor' Watt; of the Sydney Lmversitv, told, a good stcry of wool experts 'at. the recent sheep and wool department function nl the Technical College. The Transvaal Government had -until- recently a young sheep and wool expert from New South Wales, bur. the Boers rather resented Ins youth, and'thought they knew ns much us h«. At a show the expeft was judge. One old Boer entered in the samcc_a_*3 two merino lamb**-twins—in which neither ho nor his neighbour could see any difference. The, expert gave one a first prize and left one unplaced, whereat the Boer demanded an explanation, and the expert was sent for. Meanwhile the old Boer removed the blue ribbon from the one lamb and placed it on the other. When the expert arrived ho was asked why he gave the first prize to that particular lamb. It was only when the young New South Welshman handled the lamb and told them the ribbon was on the wrong lamb that the Boers wore satisfied ho knew something about sheep. In passing, Professor Watt mentioned that this expert having resigned, thc Transvaal Government sent to Australia for another, and a New South Wales man — Mr Mallinson—had been chosen.

Details of the live stock statistics of the United States for the current year show that in number 6f horses on farms Illinois 7 stands first with 1,655,000, followed pretty closely by lowa and Texas. Only three other States have as many as a million horses., namely. Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri. Texas has moro than twice as many mules as any other State, 702,000, Missouri alone having nearly half that number. New York State "has 1,771.000 milch cows, lowa being second and Wisconsin third, while Illinois, Pennsylvania, Texas and Minnesota also have over a million. Texas heads tho list for other cattle with 7,131,000. lowa makes a had second with 3,611,000, whilo Kansas has 3,260,000, and Nebraska 3,040,000. Then there is a great drop to _~ 165,000 for Missouri, after which Illinois, Oklahoma. Colorado, South Dakota, Minnesota, "Wisconsin, California and Indiana follow iv the order given, each having over a million. For sheep Wyoming is a. good first with 7,316,000, while Montana has 5,747,000, New Mexico 4,729,000, Idaho 4,248.000, . Ohio 3,203,000 and Utah 3,177,000. Oregon, California and Michigan have over two millions each. lowa is a long way first for nigs with 6,485,000, Illinois being second with 3,772.000. Texas third with 3.205,000 and Nebraska fourth with 3,201,000. The "Transvaal Agricultural Journal" for January gives a report of a speech delivered by Lord Mcthuen, Acting Governor of the Colony, on the occasion of the annual sole of. live stcck bred by tbe Department of Agriculture. His Excellency urged the farmers of tho Transvaal to go in for breeding horses suitable for thc army. In the time of thc Indian Mutiny, ho said, •5500 horees were shipped to India from Cape Colony, and proved among the best ever sent to that country. Since that timo, he added, the closs of horses in South Africa had deteriorated to a : very great extent, and this lowering of type wa.s still going on. The way to recover lost ground in this connection, he concluded, waa to take care to use only fetallkms of substance and not wcrdy thoroughbreds. Replying to questions in the House of Commons recently, Sir E. Strachey said that further information respecting the freodom of the Argentine Republic from foot-and-mouth disesee had been received, and wa.s now engaging the consideration of tho Board of Agriculture. He would communicate with the hon. members as soon as a definite decision was arrived at. As to the removal of the restrictions npnti the importation of live cattle for slaughter, representations had been made to the Board of Agriculture by the Argentine Government in favour of the removal of the restrictions, and before the Board consented to such removal care would be taken to ascertain that the disease had been stamped out in Argentina. The official report from which the figures given above are taken also states the number of the several classes of live stock in the world, so far as statistics are available,' vast areas in South

America. Asia and Africa not being represented. Tho incomplete total tor cattle is ■ 43O,O0O.H0». British India stands iirst in this connection **yit!i 91,000,000, inch-din*, buffaloes. •"£ closest following fisurea are ,o,oO(l.(R.iti for the United" States, 36.000,000 [or Russia, about 30.000.000 each for Argentina and Brawl. :*o.ot>o,ooo for Germain-, 18.000.000 for Austria-Hungary, 14,000.106 for France, and 12.000.O"Mi for tbo United Kingdom. Tho other incomplete totals an* .-^(VM.O.OOO sheep, 100.00rt.000 nigs. .t-*i.(HV».(»!)0 horses. 7,r>0<..000 mules. 8,(VH).0-)0 to 5.,000,000 a.ssos. and nearly 100,000.000 goats. It is always interesting (remark..

•The Field"! to compare the merit, of the leading sires of <itiy breed as reflected by the snores,-, of their offspring in public exhibitions or performances. The list of winning fires at the Shire Honse Society's show recently is for the f-mrth time'in sucocfsion -headed by that remarkable horse 1/orkinc.e Forest King, the number of prize and reserve animals Minding to his credit being twenty-five. The signiticance of this record may judged from the fact that his nearest rivals, Tatton Friar and Myth wood Kingmaker, could claim only live animals each, while the throe promising young horses Childwick Champion, Tatton Dray King, and Ilolker Menestrel 11. were represented by four a.iimals each, nnd the three noted sires Diinsmore Jameson, I-ockingo Manners .the sire of Lockin.ce Forest King), and Uirdsall Menestrel contributed three each; in nil, eighty-one sires were represented. Tho estriiordiiiaiy record of 1/Ockinge Forest King makes it all the mere regrettable tliat tho foals of 1910 will be tho last of his progeny.

After being absent for n good many years, buffalo meat mado its reapI>earanoe in the New York markets at the end of January. It consisted of the carcases of four bull buffaloes, and retailed quickly at 3s per llj. The foil.hides were offered at £200 each lor robes, and were quickly bought at this price. It is eaid that a quarter of a century ago good buffalo robes could be purchased at £5 apiece. One-year-old rams have boon proved in America as not so prolific as those two or three years old.. Ewes also average a lorger percentage of increase in lambs after they reach full maturity at three years of age until after they arc six years old, when the rate of increase, diminishes. The amount of service required of the ram in breeding Ims an influence on the percentage of increase in offspring of the ewes that produce lambs.

Tho latest sensation in reference to the high cost'of living hi tho United States has been caused by a statement in the "New York World" to the effect that American beef 'sells by retail in London at 4'd to o.d per lb, less than its price in New York. For example,, the price of ribs in London is said to be only Od per lb, as compared with lid and 12_d in Xew York. If prime ribs be meant, the London price quoted is doubtful. But if lid be tho lowest price of ribs in New York, it is clear that American beef is at least as cheap in London, and this is curious enough. Unless shippers have been losing money lately it is obvious that New York retailers exacfra higher profit then is charged by London butchers, or that the great packers charge inordinate prices for carcases sent to thc former.

An important announcement recently made in connection with cattle-breed-ing in Rhodesia is that the Liobig Meat Extract Company, on the advice of their experts, have bought 400,000 acrce' of ranching land in the country, and have acquired thc option of buying up to 2,000,000 acres. This enterprise cannot fail to stimulate the cattle industry in Rhodesia, and lead to a greatly increased demand for pedigree bulls from thc United Kingdom tor grading up the native herds.