THE WEEK

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23302, 12 April 1941, Page 6

THE WEEK

AN EARLY WINTER The wintry blast of the mid-week and the covering of snow it gave to the ranges are taken in some quarters as presaging an early winter. The first week in April is certainly unseasonable for such a visitation, but the earliness increases \ the probability of a thaw clearing it. The snowclad ranges are a potent cause of frosts and cold weather on the Plains, which, again, is the regulating factor in growth. There has been a slowness in growth this last week compared to the few weeks preceding, when the warmer days and longer hours of sunshine gave a tremendous stimulus to pasture and green feed. Old residents in many districts, as a matter of fact, aver that this autumn, since the break of the drought, is one of the best in their experience. The winter, as a result, is being anticipated with much less misgiving than usual from a stock feed point of view. A remarkable recovery has been shown in the turnip crops, areas which appeared to be doomed a month or more ago developing exceptional growth, with the prospect of giving more feed than in a normally favourable winter. In some districts, however, the fly is reported to be at work. Rape has also had an extended lease of life and lambs are still in demand to finish it off. It is unfortunate that there is little incentive to fatten stock to heavy weights and so turn this abundance of feed into real meat. The condition of green feed should ensure the mating of ewes in the best conditions. It is probable that the "embargo” on old heavy ewes will result in the mating of many of this class, which ordinarily would have gone to the works. In such case there should be another good lambing, provided the winter does not take toll of the ancients. The spell of fine weather, following the heavy rains, has enabled tillage work to proceed apace, and probably cultivation for wheat is further ahead at this time of the year than has been the case for a very long period. Much heavy land could not be cultivated for wheat last season because of its saturated condition. In spite of the heavy rainfall to date this year there is little indication of a recurrence of this disability. The position that has developed in the mutton export industry is likely to encourage a number of farmers to wheat growing and to increase the acreage of others. “The talk’’ suoports this assumption, so that the 300,000 acres objective is nearer a probability than it has been for years. Farmers arc still speculating as to the cause of the price fixation of oats. Fortunately there is a good reserve of feed oat stacks in the province. THE NASSELLA PEST The concern with which farmers are viewing the invasion of the Nassella tussock into parts of North Canterbury is indicated by the number of farmers who are heard discussing the pest since the publication of the article on last Saturday’s farm page. The article revealed no new ground—it merely elaborated the opinions expressed at the public meeting held the preceding week which met Dr. H. H. Allen the botanist who has been investigating the incidence of the pest—and that apparently very thoroughly. Several farmers express the belief that they saw the intruder a number of years ago, but they never dreamed of associating it with the destructive habits which later knowledge_ shows that it possesses. In conversation with some farmers the writer learned that there are patches of the tussock established well outside the centre with which its name is mainly associated. One such case may be instanced. On a pastoral property, 40 miles away, a few plants were seen on the homestead block, and they were promptly rooted out. On one of the back blocks, however, a small colony of plants was found by the musterers to have established itself since the previous year, wtaen there was no sign of them. The assumption in this case is that the seed was carried by the sheep. Occasional plants have been seen very far afield, and whilst lack of knowledge was an excuse for no steps being taken to eradicate them such an excuse cannot be advanced to-day. There has been enough publicity about the tussock to put every landowner on the alert. If this is done there is no reason why the pest should not be kept within its present bounds. If it is not done a heap of trouble will be stored up for the future. One aspect that naturally mystifies farmers is the fact that it is only in the last few years that the tussock has come under notice, whilst the seed of if was imported to this country 30 to 40 years ago. This certainly is a pertinent question, but it should mot be overlooked that it is only six years since the tussock was first identified, and there is litle doubt that it was making headway long before then without much notice being taken of it. The seed is hard and apparently possesses a great power of delayed germination. Much of this seed has remained dormant awaiting a favourable opportunity to strike, and the cultivation of the soil provides one of these opportunities. The time for the discussing of these negative aspects, however, has long passed. The wind-borne propensities of Nassella tussock seed make no part of the country immune from its attentions, and so no farmer should delude himself into the idea that his farm is outside the radius of infection.

KILLING “ CAPITAL ” STOCK

Resentment has been expressed amongst farmers at the statement made by the Minister for Marketing during the debate in the House of Representatives that farmers in killing their old ewes were killing “capital” stock, the inference being that this was embarrassing the Government in dealing with the problem. Such a statement should scarcely be expected from a Minister who holds the portfolio of Agridulture, which position pre-sup-poses some knowledge of sheep farming. It has always been a recognised policy for farmers to quit their old ewes as far as possible and replace them with young ones. This is the only way in which the quality, the percentage, and the ability of flocks as a whole to withstand hard winters can be maintained and assured. It would be the height of bad farming for farmers to send all their ewe lambs to the works and continue to keep mating old ewes that had already passed the safety mating stage. It frequently happens that young ewes are too scarce or tdb dear to supply the needs of lamb raisers, who have no alternative but to mate their old ewes for another year or to enter the market and buy them. How this factor operates is seen autumn after autumn in the high prices secured for four and five-year ewes—the “one year” ewe—compared with two-tooths. Even in the last few weeks the steadily increasing cost of two-tooths on account of their scarcity has caused a sharp advance for bid ewes. The objective of all flock-owners is to keep to a reasonable minimum the proportion of old ewes in their flocks otherwise they are faced some' day with the necessity of largely replacing their breeding flocks. The killing of the old ewe is a routine farm practice, not a cashing of capital. It is worth recalling that some months ago the Hon.. Mr Nash quoted the heavy increase in sheep kilings last season, of which ewes formed a big proportion, as proof of how the counby wss responding to Govern-

favourable results, but the latest de velopment is a chlorine compound, now produced on a commercial scale for this purpose of impregnating ice. Recently, a fishing boat returned to Seattle, British Columbia, with her catch packed in "germicidal ice," being 11 days from the fishing grounds. The bacteriologist watching this trial shipment for the manufacturing company reported that the holds on opening up were perfectly odourless and 'that the bacterial count in the fish was but 1 per cent, of normal iced cargoes. The cost of this special ice is claimed to be only 30 per cent, in excess of ordinary ice, while the savings effected in better preservation are said to out-weigh considerably this extra initial cost. In view of the large quantities of frozen fish being sent to the United Kingdom, and on order from Canada, this new development may have far-reaching results.

MEAT EXPORT “RELIEF”

The nature of the "relief” the new meat proposals will give has come in the nature of a shock, and no little resentment, to farmers. The weight restriction imposed makes the so-called relief practically valueless to them, for the obvious reason that the 561b limit will exclude 80 to 90 per cent, of the sheep still on farmers’ hands, and which in ordinary circumstances would be sent to the works. In Southland, as an instance, it has been estimated that there are still 100,000 ewes to be sent to the works, and the killable proportion of this number under the new weight limits has been estimated at 5 per cent. The fixation of such a maximum as 501b, including the 41b “tolerance,” near the end of the season, when the bulk of the sheep have had fattening feed, is difficult to appreciate as an effort to solve the difficulty, when the first grade at the commencement of the season was 641b and under, and the second 721b and under, 8 and 161b more. The effect of the new limitation of weight was seen at the Addington market on Tuesday, when numerous pens of very light wethers, capable of carrying 15 to 201b more meat, and five or six pounds more wool if given a chance to fatten on the feed now available, were sold to export buyers at round about 20s to 225. If the wool aspect is to be taken into account there was a loss in such cases of five or six pounds of fine wool without any value being attached to the greater weight, and quality of the meat. In adjoining pens, on the other hand, big Romney wethers, carrying 201b more meat, were sold at round about 255. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that one object of the low weight limit is to provide cheap meat for the people, which authority expects will follow if the huge, quantity of it still on farmers’ hands is thrown on to a glutted market. In the meantime, the works may keep on killing store stock.

CHAMPION SHOW PONY RECORD LIST OF SUCCESSES The illustration on this page is that of a record holding show ring pony— Mr Thos. Gee’s The Merry Widow. The pony has appeared at all the important shows in New Zealand in the last few years, including Royals, and has put up the remarkable record of 85 first prizes, with 26 champion ribbons —two in saddle and two in harness at Royal Shows. It is doubtful if this record has been approached in the Dominion. ’Mr Gee, who owned The Merry Widow during her run of successes, recently competed with her at the Masterton show, where she secured first in her class and where he disposed of her to a local enthusiast.

All the Southland crop of 2400 acres of linen flax has been pulled. As a result of dry weather during the growing period about one-third of the crop was rejected for fibre through shortness of fibre. At. the Winton factory about 50 tons of material have been laid out for dew retting. The scutching machinery has now arrived at the factory and will be fitted up immediately. At the Otautau factory six tanks, each handling six tons of material, have been constructed and are almost ready for use. At this factory about 36 tons of straw will be retted every two and a half days. After this process the sheaves of fibre will be laid out to dry. Some crops, rejected for fibre, have given the growers a good return for seed alone. This seed is paid for at a higher rate than seed from accepted crops because the grower has the added expense of cutting and threshing the crop. The best return of seed alone so far has been 97 bags of seed threshed from 11 acres of crop. The grower receives payment at the rate of £35 a ton for pure seed. A southern paper, which publishes a “50 years ago” column, reported that at the local saleyards a splendid line of fat lambs sold at up to 11s 7d, and others at 8s to 9s. Fat ewes were better property. They sold at 10s 6d to 11s 6d. Some years before this, it may be added, the average price of fat lambs was 4s 6d to ss, and when one exporter came in and raised the price to 6s, fatteners considered that the industry was “saved.”