THE WEEK

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26509, 25 August 1951, Page 5

THE WEEK

EW3S LOSING LAMBS

A widespread difficulty this season has been that ewes are slipping their lambs about a fortnight before lambing. Losses have not generally been disastrous, but have been common enough to cause many farmers serious concern. Typical losses reported so far are 48 lambs from 700 ewes, 35 lambs from 450 ewes, and 48 lambs from 1100 ewes. Losses have been occurring in Hawkes Bay, the Gisborne area, the Wairarapa, Marlborough, and North and Mid-Canterbury, and many explanations have been offered by farmers to account for the trouble. One theory suggests that the ewes were too tat in the autumn, and another that the wet and miserable winter in some districts was the cause. Veterinary club and Government veterinarians are at present very active in investigating the disease, and though they nave not positively identified it yet, there are strong indications that it is a bacterial disease well known in Scotland and throughout Europe. The disease has probably been in New Zealand for a long time, but has reached serious proportions only this season. There were a number of reports of the disease in the North Island last year, but nothing like the number that have occurred this year, or over so wide an area. A team of workers at Wallaceville is at present conducting an intensive investigation into the disease, and has so far identified three organisms which which may have a connexion with it. It is not known so far whether any of these organisms is the same as the organism known to cause trouble in Europe. The possibility of the disease being in some way connected with sterility in rams is also being looked into, but the question is at present very much in the air, and there there is no knowledge of how it spreads. So far, veterinarians know of no method of dealing with the trouble. The ewes do not at once seem to be very much affected, but as they probably retain the cleanings, they begin to go back in condition in time. The disease has not been known, locally at least, for long enough to say what effects it leaves in. the ewes. In the meantime, it is a worrying and costly business for farmers. The veterinarians are hoping that their intensive investigations may lead to the development of a vaccine which will be effective. NEW ROLE FOR OPOSSUMS A Fernside farmer who has been having trouble with his ewes slipping their lambs, believes that opossums mav have something to do with it. He noticed small bits of wool scattered about the paddock in which the ewes were running, and kept a watch on the flock. In the middle of one afternoon, about 3 o’clock, he saw a black opossum jumping on to the backs of the ewes, which were of course terrified, and scattered about the paddock. The opossum appeared to be playing, and was so intent on the game that the farmer was able to approach within a few yards of it. The dogs caught it, and the farmer killed it. The opossum was an adult, and in good condition. INCREASED PRODUCTION Dairy production in the Westland Co-operative Dairy Company’s district, which stretches from round Hokitika down to Ross, has increased by 50 per cent, since the end of the war, according to the annual report of the directors for the 1950-51 season. The company’s outturn of butter for the season was 758 tons, an increase of 35 tons on the record output last year. There are 171 suppliers. “The most satisfactory feature is the steady and sustained increase in output over recent years,” the report of the chairman, Mr Mark Wallace, says. “The directors have no doubt that this tendency will continue as more efficient methods of pasture management and control are applied to an ever increasing acreage, and as the increased use of modern mechanical appliances demonstrates the possibilities attaching to thousands of yet undeveloped acres; a task otherwise beyond the resources and equipment of the individual landowner. It will be the company’s constant policy and endeavour to assist where it can those whose enterprise and labour is thus applied.” FOOD SUBSIDIES IN BRITAIN The decision of the British Ministry of Food to hold commodity food subsidies to £410,000.000 for the year, evoked the following critical response from the influential “Farmer and Stock-Breeder” which suggests that within that figure there is scope for “limitless jugglery”:—“The Ministry’s estimated trading losses are really ‘planned’ losses,” the magazine says, "because retail prices are fixed and consumption, in most cases, is controlled by rationing. This, in itself, allows a large measure of manipulation, but it is the relationship between commodities which provides the most disturbing feature of the- subsidy system. Thus, by charging housewives more for tea, the Ministry can put bacon in the shops at a lower price, regardless of changes in production costs and the prices ruling in world markets. Again, the Ministry’s swollen income from skin-wool and hides can be used to keep down the price of bread, rather than that of meat. Under such a system the producer may search in vain for the market value of his products. And the price tickets of the grocer and butcher must cause bewilderment to the confused consumer who can buy subsidised. rationed, British gammon at 3s per lb or imported, unrationed, unsubsidised ham at 10s per lb. It is absurd to tell a farmer that he gets more per lb for his fat pig than the housewife pays for bacon and that the situation is justified because the retail price of sugar is going up. It would be equally difficult to explain to a consumer that she must pay more for meat to keep down a rise in the price of eggs. But all is not subsidy in this accountant’s paradise. The Ministry intends to make a profit on trading in certain commodities, and this is as surely a form of indirect taxation as the duty on cigarettes. In the long term this economic jugglery, motivated by political expediency, can undermine and destroy the whole concept of the value of food to the nation. The Government should attempt to explain its food policy to the people before it becomes completely incomprehensible. And the real value of each food product should be increasingly reflected in farm and retail prices.” PENINSULA DAIRYING The three Peninsula dairy companies, at Barry’s Bay. Takamatua, and Wairewa, in the season just concluded turned out 697 tons of cheese, an increase of 101 tons over the amount in the 1949-50 season. Pay-outs ranged from 30.243 d per lb to 31.490 d per lb against 28.02 d to 29.039 d last season. Total sales from the three factories, which are supplied by 69 farmers, were £99,772 for the season. POTATOES NEEDED URGENTLY The Central Ward Committee of the Potato Growers’ Association met yesterday to discuss the supply position in view of the statement of the shipping offices that insufficient potatoes were coming forward to fill cargo space available. The committee decided to urge growers to go on with grading as a matter of urgency, and to inform their merchants of any I graded potatoes they might have on ihand ready for shipment.