FARM AND STATION

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21255, 29 August 1934, Page 7

FARM AND STATION

By "Straggler."

KOTESBYTHEWAY

THE WHEAT ACREAGE Information gathered from various sources indicates that the acreage of wheat for spring sowing has been reduced by the bad break in the weather. The sowings up to early August, according to carefully collected reports secured from widely-separated districts, represented nearly GO per cent, of last season's total. Soma leeway would j be made up during Ui<: good spell before the recent rains, but it is to be feared that the extensive programme for the month would be substantially curtailed by the bad weather. Intended spring sowings, I from estimates already collected, would have brought the total acreage to 85 per cent, of last season, but these "intended sowings" have now to be discounted. It is possible that Jumbuck variety may be sown until early in September, but Jumbuck will not stand up to winds in the summer like Tuscan, and ; there is mi element of risk created ; in that respect. However, as any rowings of Jumbuck would corn-: .prise only a paddock or so on each farm, and not the major part of the sowing. Ihe risk may not be re .garded very seriously. Last season The total area sown was returned as 294,000 acres, of which 23(5,000 acres were threshed. Possibly the area this season will be down to that of the years before the wheat duties came into force—approximately 230,000 acres. Appearances at present point to the early growth being exceptionally favourable, and with normal conditions in the summer a 33 bushel average should be well within the range of probability, This would give a gross return of approximately seven and a-half million bushels, and with the carryover from present stocks of about one and a-quarter million bushels the needs of the Dominion next season should be met, as there is always an annual importation of up to tliree-ciuarters of a million bushels.

MOISTURE IN WHEAT Ths discussion by Southland farmers on the excess moisture in Southland wheat, reported elsewhere on this page, provides something of a lesson to wheat growers generally. At the; Southland meet ing a reference was made to the unwisdom of threshing wheat out of the stook. When the practice is condemned in Canterbury, with its greater sunshine and approximately only HM. inches of rainfall compared with that of 35 niches in Southland, .stook threshing in the southern province is simply looking for trouble. The experience this season should suggest to farmers there that wheat growing would be better left to further north if ordinary farming precautions are ignored. It would be rather a hardship on Southland farmers if they had to rely on wheat as part of a rotational system, the same as in mo,;t parts of Canterbury. But the soil is strong enough i and the moisture sufficient to ensure a permanency to pastures that Canterbury farmers envy, and the land could be more profitably employed in the raising of lamb-fat-tening feed. For this purpose, indeed,' there is no part of the Dominion more suited. If the existence of teams on farms demands more tillage than is required for fattening feed, and wheat is selected as the outlet for this surplus power, : the policy <<t allowing the wheat to condition .in (he stack, or to stack the sacks so that the air can get round them, will be imperative. The market for Southland Wheat, otherwise, will be very re-Hh-icled. THE LAMBING The mam lambing on the Plains commences as a rule the first or second week: in September. It is fortunate that such is the case this year, instead of a fortnight or three weeks earlier, otherwise there would have been a serious loss The storm did cause a few individual losses, but farmers who arrange their early lambing tor August know the risks to be run, and generally have good shelter or cover of some sort. In the aggregate the mortality would be small, and unlikely to have any appreciable influence on the lamb crop as a whole. tt is interesting to note now that the Hawke's Bay lambing is more than, half over, that the expectations are for a high percentage—quite up to those of the two preceding seasons—when the returns

were exceptionally good. Twin lambs are stated to be remarkably both in the Southdown crossed flocks and the white faces. The results in some individual cases set new records for the properties concerned, and averages from the 110 to 120 mark for the later lambing flocks to the Southdowns are quite common. Sheepfarmers with many years of experience in the province state that they cannot remember a cleaner or a more prolific lambing. An illustration of the conditions on some properties is provided by the experience of a Hawke's Bay flatland farmer who runs a stud flock. On a recent morning, he found that 12 ewes had lambed overni.rjht, and dropped 23 lambs. The following day and night, 14 ewes lambed, dropped 25 lambs, and, during the third day and night, 18 ewes dropped 29 lambs. Thus, within the three days, 44 ewes had dropped 77 lambs. In another case, on a Roys Hill property, 208 ewes dropned 380 lambs, the total flock that has lambed to date on this property numbering 1220 ewes, with 500 ewes still to lamb.

SOUTHLAND | WHEAT j EXCESSIVE MOISTURE ! CONTENTWHEAT PURCHASE BOARD'S ACTION Concern regarding the disposal of the Southland wheat crop was expressed at the meeting of the Southland executive of the Farmers' Union on Friday, when letters from the Invercargill Grain Merchants' Association and the Wheat Purchasing Board were read, the tenor of the latter communication being that owing to excessive moisture content there was little prosrpect of much Southland wheat being passed for milling purposes this season. After discussion the whole question, which was regarded as urgent, was referred to the grain and seeds committee, with power to act. The secretary of the Invereargul Grain Merchants' Association wrote: "Our association has written to the Wheat Purchase Board complaining of the {Trader's treatment of Southland wheat this season. As a result a reply was received from the Wheat Purchase Board which does not seem to promise much help to Southland growers and I have been instructed to forward you the enclosed copy of its reply for the consideration of your executive." The letter from the Wheat Purchase Board was as follows:—"The board regrets that in view of last years experience with Southland wheat, it can-

not this season take any wheat that is out of condition and damp. I he board's grader has reported that this is the position with the wheat tendered to him last month 'July), fn opinion that has been confirmed by moisture tests carried, out by the Wheat Research Institute. The average moisture content of wheat grown in "our province last season taken over 48 lines was 16.5 per cent., while thi* year taken over 50 lines it is 17.5 per cent. From records in this office we have found four growers whose wheat has been tested both last year and this year and which we give hereunder:— 1933. IW4. Per cent Per cent. No I -.16 1!) No ! .. 16-3 17 - 5 vo " 16-2 18 - 2 No! 4 .. 16.4 17-8 "Last year, as a result of a protest from Southland against the graders adverse report it was decided to accept the best, of the wheat as an experiment to test- out your associations contention that Southland wheat carrying a larger percentage of moisture, han wheat grown elsewhere could be Sored without damage to he milling properties. Results proved that the wheat did not keep sweet and the bulk of it had to be quitted as good whole fowl wheat, and in this connexion the board was for'unate in hipping from Bluff, as not o0 per cent, of it owing to prevalence of mites, would 1 ave carried a good whole tow certificate if shipped from any other IS n?a n t?c? o of excessive, moisture content in this year's wheat is not on ueci-Uar to South! nd, but is being met uUh lo a large extent right rhroughou the South Island, and if Southland wheat falling outside the grade ieauirerncnls is to be accepted so must ?v"rv similar line in New Zealand. In nil wheat-growing countries it has been proved that wheat of more than 15 per Sen? moisture is unsafe for storage or transportation and the chances of deer oration ere very great when this nmount of more is present. The value

if wheat were taken whose average moisture registered 17.5 per cent. The board, therefore, regrets that it cannot instruct its grader to pass wheat as f.a.q. quality that will not comply with the description f.m. good dry condition, sound and sweet." Mr J. J. Crompton said that some of the samples were not milling wheat. It was a problem to know what Southland was going to do with its wheat. Of the 110,000 bushels coming in from this year's crop 30,000 might or might not be milled. If the moisture content were right a great deal of Southland wheat would measure up to Canterbury milling grade. Mr E. K. Sim said that the position as regards Southland wheat was most unsatisfactory, and it rather seemed that if the Wheat Purchase Board pursued its present policy the wheat growers of Southland would have to go out of business. He did not think it fair that the board should now refuse to pass wheat which previously had passed as good milling wheat. Mr Crompton, replying to the suggestion that Southland wheat growers would have to cease operations, said that the grain committee had that morning passed a resolution that the growers should be recommended not to thresh from the stook, but to leave the wheat in the stack until the moisture dried out. It was only the moisture content that caused Southland wheat to be disadvantageously graded. I T i the course of the discussion zcvI tf-'in members stressed the necessity of 'he wheat growers paying attention to the conditioning of the wheat. It was submitter* that in many cases of deI .grading the farmer himself was to i blame.

REGISTER OF SHEEP j BRANDS i i RAKAIA MOVEMENT At the annual meeting of the Rakaia Sale Yards Company the directors considered a proposal to have prepared a register of sheep brands for the Rakaia district. The secretary undertook to prepare a register of all the farmers in the Rakaia Road Board district, and he invites the co-operation of the farmers in completing the register. A CHAMPION MARE DOWNS BLACK ROSE Mr H. E. Cook, of Christchurch, has disposed of his champion Clydesdale mare, Downs Black Rose, to Mr J. M. Smith, of Kakanui, who will ship her to Melbourne for competition at the forthcoming show. Downs Black Rose is a mare of beautiful quality, and has never met defeat in the show ring. She is now rising seven years 'old—being foaled in November, 1927, by the imported Rosencraig, from Lady Stamp. Amongst her show ring

*ucce=ses are the championship ribbons at the Ellesmere and Canterbury Agricultural an J Pastoral Shows Clydesdale breeders will await with interest her entry into the contest with the best Australian Clydesdales. 1934 SHOW SEASON ROSTER OF DATES South Island Agricultural and pastoral shows have been arranged as under. Secretaries are invited to notify dates of their shows for inclusion in the list:— October IS—Ellesmere. October 24 and 25—Timaru. October 26 and 27— Marlborough. November I—Ashburton. November 2—Rangiora. November 8 and 9—Chnstchurch Metropolitan. November 13—Waimate. November 15 and 36—North Otago. November 16 and 17—Nelson. November 17— Courtenay. November 20—Banks Peninsula, at November^'and 21—Otago Metropolitan. November 22 and 23—Clutha. December 4 and s—Gore.5 —Gore. December 7—Wyndham. December 11, 12 and 13—Royal Society's Show at Invercargill. North Island October 17 and 18—Hawke's Bay. October 23 and 24—Poverty Bay. October 31, November 1 and 2 Manawatu at Palmerston North. November 14 and 15 —Egmont. November 21 and 22—Stratford. November 24 and 25—Carterton.

The killings of lamb and mutton at the thvee Southland freezing works last Kt-asoii totalled just on 1,200,000 carcase. Very few wethers were included, and the proportion of ewes was also very small.