THE WEEK

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26605, 15 December 1951, Page 5

THE WEEK

TWO DISAPPOINTMENTS Farmers have received two disappointments this week, in the South Island export meat schedule, and the new price for wheat. Not many farmers expected anything spectacular in the wheat price, but the increase announced was widely considered to have little other virtue than *its modesty. The authorities are in a difficult position with wheat. Obviously, if growers would not sow wheat last year, the additional shilling on the price will not be an inducement for this coming year, and there are signs that before long there may be severe difficulties in meeting the jJominion’s needs. Overseas producing countries will mostly have a smaller export surplus to offer to a world which needs an increased amount of wheat. It would be difficult to name a figure which would induce growers to come back to wheat, but anywhere from parity with Australian imports, about 16s, to £2 10s a bushel is being mentioned by farmers who once grew wheat as being necessary to attract them back to the crop. A lot of support is being given the suggestion that income from wheat should be allowed to go free of taxation, but would immediately raise similar requests from practically the wnoie of the rest of the community. A price somewhere about the import parity might have induced growers to look at wheat more favourably, and might, within a few years, have resulted in a useful increase in acreage. The meat schedule is in another category, and the Meat Board and the companies will have to talk fast to induce South Island farmers to believe that the three-farthings difference on lamb is justified, and that the 16d schedule is reasonable. A big fattener put forcibly the views of many when he said, “We all expected the companies to try to recover some of their losses on wool, but we didn’t expect them to recover the whole lot in three months.”

FARM INDUSTRY RESERVES

Money in farming reserve funds at July 31, 1951, amounted to £116,000,0()0, according to a publication, “The New Zealand Economy, 1939-1951,” recently issued by the Government. The table setting out the figures in the different funds shows that balances this year were as follows:—Dairy industry stabilisation account, £23,000,000; meat industry reserve account, £36,000,000; wool capital account, £19,000,000; wool contributory charge, £6,000,000; and wool retention money, £32,000,000. The wool capital account is New Zealand’s share of the profits from the Wool Disposal Commission. The table shows that in 1942, the meat industry reserve account, the only reserve account then in existence, had in it £750,000. At July 31, 1950, the total in all the accounts was £72,300,000. GRAZING AND SEEDS An advocate of a more complex mixture than rye-white when grazing and not seed production is in view, is Mr C. P. Whatman, of the Department of Agriculture, Ashburton. Mr Whatman was one of the judges of the county pasture competition this season, and when discussing with farmers his impressions of the competition pastures this week, he said: “We are judging a grazing pasture, and as such we must neglect other considerations such as small seeds production. I am not prepared to say that an ideal grazing pasture cannot be obtained with a simple mixture suitable for small seeds production but I do believe that, other things being equal, the more complex mixture sown with only grazing in view will be a better stock pasture. Hence I believe that, in the majority of cases, it should be this grazing mixture that should be sown. In other words, on the farm carrying 1000 ewes or more, it is a mistake to sow all or the majority of paddocks in the rye-white mixture on the off chance that small seeds will still play their most important part but in each case a decision should be made whether sheep are to be secondary to seeds or seeds to sheep.” ADDINGTON SALES The weekly sales at the Addington saleyards will end this year on Wednesday, December 19. The first sale in the New Year will be on Thursday, January 3. JETTING AGAINST FLY

Last summer and autumn were probably as bad for blowfly strike as any in the history of the province. The wet weather brought on fly early, and carried it on until the late autumn, and many farmers who had never been troubled with fly before found themselves with quite serious losses from fly. Jetting has been a standard practice in Australia, for many years, and the experience of last season has turned the minds of many Canterbury farmers to its possibilities here. There was therefore considerable interest in a demonstration of jetting, using DDT and BHC, at Spye, the property of the estate of W. K. McAlpine, on Tuesday, which was attended by about 60 Machines for jetting were demonstrated by Mr J. C. Crosbie, of the Department of Agriculture, and the chemicals were discussed by Mr W. S. Allan, M.Ag.Sc., of Cooper McDougall’s. The equipment for jetting included a shower dip specially fitted for jetting, a tractormounted crop spraying unit also specially adapted, a small petrol-driven unit, and a hand-operated pump.

Mr Allan, who has been conducting intensive research into fly strike in recent years, described the great amount of work that has been done in the United Kingdom and Australia, particularly, by his company, and by scientific institutions. He said that, apart from highly concentrated DDT or gammexane, there was no dip on the market which, when used at ordinary dipping strengths, would at a single dipping give prolonged protection against blowfly attack. Certain dips containing DDT or BHC could be used against fly, but usually in such strengths that the cost was too high, up to Is 3d a head. These dips used in a shower dip could again give protection for up to 12 weeks, but once more the cost was high, about 6d a head. “Unfortunately the peak blowfly incidence rarely coincides with the normal dipping period, and dipping is therefore not the answer,” he said. “The real answer is given by hand spraying or power jetting.” The farmer should jet as an emergency measure when fly strike began or, better, jet as a routine each year at the time strike usually began to appear. One jetting gave protection for five or six weeks, so that two jettings should carry the sheep through the period ot possible fly strike. Jetting cost about 2£d a head each time, and was cheaper than using dips. Sheep should be lightly sprayed along the back and sides with a fine mist spray, and then the crutch area saturated with a more powerful delivery. A quantity of 10 gallons of mixture was enough for 50 sheep. Mr Allan advocated certain precautions to minimise the possibilities of fly strike, and emphasised particularly crutching, and control of the length of the tail. As blowfly maggots would not develop dn a dry skin, crutching by itself would give two to three weeks’ protection from fly. Control of tail length was more important than many farmers realised, and most tails were cut too short. The ideal length was such that, after healing, the tail should just cover the tip of the vulva. This gave the necessary protection from staining with urine. Another point was that the healing period was longer in lambs with tails cut short and showed a much higher percentage of strikes in docking wounds,