NOTES FOR GRAZIER AND DEALER.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13910, 8 December 1910, Page 2

NOTES FOR GRAZIER AND DEALER.

("Weekly Press and Referee.")

More fodder conservation is practised now in pastoral Australia than ever before. On Collendina Estate, Corowa district, 2000 tons of ensilage havo been conserved in pits. This, with previous quantities put down, makes a total of about -10U1) tons of fodder ready tor ! droughty visitations. During a previous pinch upwards of £1000 was saved in fodder by Messrs Hay and iSons in h-"*'-ing a supply of ensilage on hand. They estimate that it costs not more than "is Cd per ton to conserve fodder under pit system, which opens up fresh and is relished by stock. The pits are put down (in selected s_H>ts in paddocks, sunk with scoops and ploughs. and sides are made to slant, as also the ends, so .is to permit the dray to be driven riyht into the hole. Only surplu., ::rn_:-:es are put down, and this is cut with mowers, and loaded into dray, over which is placed a special implement, which permits oi grass being bodily lifted from the dray into the pits. The _;rass is stacKed to within a couple of leet of the top, then covered with dirt, which.is built about "Jft higher than the surface, to allow for aril- subsidence that may occur. Fodder so conserved has opened up well after bc-in__ down for three or four years. The "Scottish Farmer"' gives the following information concerning the Clydesdale hoises recently purchased by Mr E. Short :—"Mr Ernest Shori, i l'arorangi. New Zealand, has recently ! purchased and shipped the big power- ■ tul Clydesdale stallion Lonsdale Again: 1 and the celebrated Cawdor Cup ch'im- ! pion mare Cedrie lVnr;s<;. Lonsdale i Airain was purchased from Mr John ! Kerr. I-cdhall, Wigton, and was got ;bv tho noted pri/a horse. Lord LonsI dale. Cedrie I'i'lUccss was purchased i from Mr W. M. Wood, Drawdykes ! Castle, Carlsle. the breeder of the i celebrated champion hors« lOvorlasting j Cedrie Prince •>' was bred by the lan IMr Thomas Smith, l'lacon Point, ami was "ot by the champion I'aron v, : Pride? out'of one <-f l!-j best Ccdr c ! mares bred In* tli.> ! : Colonel Hcl- ! loivnv. She gcir. ' '■:'.' prizes at ! Ayr," Kilmarnoc:.'. ri. 1 Clasgow, as | well as the Cawebr Cir> nl the Highland and Agricultural Society show. ! She was also tho dam of the noted prize filly by Marmion, which has been winning' for two years, ins! at Ayr. and the principal show.; in the Uordci district."' Thevare evidently getting short of heaw' draught horses at. Home as in New"Zealand. The "Live Stock Journal,*' remarks that the best type ot heavy geldings continue to be enrpurca lor by 'horse dealers. :o that it is evident the market is rot overstocked with that class of animal, therefore iarmcrs may turn their attention to their production. The number of low grade light horses on offer during the past twelve months has been very great owing to the changes which are continually being made in favour of horseless vehicles. That many of them are useful on a farm cannot bo denied, but it is only as slaves, whereas a Shire gelding is an asset which increases in value till it is six or seven years old, while a weighty mare which breeds does something towards paying the" rent. It is very necessary for farmers to select and'keep live stock which is both useful and saleable, the "Journal adds, and Shire horses certainly, come under this heading.

A Queensland cdntomnorary says:,— "Full details of tlic moat export of North Quccnshwul for the season 1!?10 are not vet to hand, hut approximately the stock treated at the tour works behind Town.ville and tho works at Bowen totals about 91,000 cattle and 13,000 sheen, nir.de up as follows: — Q.M.8.. Townsville, 44,500 cattle and 57,000 sheep: Alligator Creek, 52,000 cattle ; Bowen, ' 1500 cattle; Burdekin 'Meat Works, 800 cattle; Torrens Creek Meat Works, JSOO 'fettley 9400 sheen. The incrense oti Inst year is -about 3000 cattle and 8000 sheen. The total values of the stock treated, with all by-products, may he put down at oVer one million storlin_". : '

The".River Plate Review" mentions that an important new in shipping meat' from Argentina to ihe United Kingdom,is coming shortly into operation. It is that of the Nelson Steam Navigation Company, for whom four new vessels have been constructed, while six are in course of construction to complete the fleet of ten. These ships are i .ted with the latest improvements in refrigeration appliances, and it is stated that contracts have been entered into with the firms of Swift, Armour, and other packers for a weekly supply of meat for live years.

| in view of the fact that tho Australian Workers' Union and the i Pastoralists' Union aro at daggers draivn, says "Kanco" in the "Sydney Mail," and both seek to have the present shearing award altered in their favour, it is really a triumph to the principle of compulsory arbitration that the work of shearing should be proceeding so Satisfactorily. Tho old ' award has run out, hut the provisions lof tho Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Act ensure the observance I of the conditions of the old award until j a new one is made. In the days that | are past the -position would have been different, and we should" have been in the middle of a hitter struggle, | Avhich would have completely upset shearing operations, and possibly have exerted n clogging influence on tho wheels of progress. As it is, the bitter feeling between the parties has not been diminished one whit, but they are forced to settle their disputes in a constitutional way, and the shearing proceeds without interruption. The A.W.TI. demands a general rise to 25s in the shearing rate and increased pay for shed hands, cooks, pressers, etc., whilst the P.U. claims to be able to justify n reduction. The new award is not likely to be obtained in time to affect the present shearing, for when the case does come on there will be a mass of evidence and statistics produced by either side. Meanwhile the continued high level of avool values enables present rates to be paid without injury to the industry. Robert Bakewell was accustomed t> condense his views <m breeding matters into the briefest and most pithy form. At Dishley there is. or was. preserved a MS. book full of his sayings. Thus he gives his views on certain points in the ram: "The scrag should be thick and bowed like a swan, so that the drops from his nose may fall on his breast." He should have "an eye like a hawk and heel like a lark, head long and thin between tho eyes, ears thin and free from wool." Other sayings of Bakewell were: "Money wears but three lives." "Consume half the corn you grow with beasts, or lay out its price in cake," ''Eise with the lark, to bed with tho lamb."