Pastoral.

Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 23, 17 December 1874, Page 3

Pastoral.

I Branding Cattle,—lt has long been knowhto some owners of large, herds, that blptch brands can be effectually prevented by filingdown those portions of tha branding irons, .which, -form., the.the the semicircles,of such letters as B,P« and R join the upright line, so that theaa parts of tbe brands, do not the skin., The when newly imprinted > nave ; thus aii, appearance; similar„toVthose, painted, on. wool bales by means of brash and stencil plate,. andVhat. fc'tftifmied ," Funning;?', at the, corners is prevented. ; fi As the. brand heals, the blanks fill in, so th&fe jstg[mately appear;,i?ompleto. The portions need only be filed down to a distance pf two, eights of an inch, below the face of the letters, It cannot be too widely ( known that branding, irons made,of steel are in every respect, superior to those made of iron. They • retaiiLtne neat and do« noit .getdefaced jay scaling off. Of course;.the; letters and numerals only need be made of steel,.f^jwndles l ird.n/ .., ~ ~,,..',.-,

Enormous Fleece.— 7The enormous Califorhian fleece, whiqli. is said ,tdjweigh 51J lbs.,,.has, been, sent by the owner,.to the, editor pf ',tfaiß,« Live. Stock, Journal 1 asl ,a proof of .its : doubts having Been made in thai journal < as the) gift is, that when it is.proved byexanu^afioiLta^ one the, _ facr shall, be published- and the fleece exhibited in! the name of its owner. "' '

Does Sheepwashing Pay ?— li Old Colonial/ in the 'Weekly 1 News/ writes as follows on this subject:—"l think, even in the majority of cases, with labor at the price it now is, the balance of profit would be on the side of washed wool.; Teking all sorts of wool into consideration, and the different characters of the pastures upon which the sheep are fed, it may safely be estimated that unwashed wool, fleece for fleece, is at least one-third heavier than washed wool. In other words, a fleece from a long-woolied sheep, which would weigh 91b when ordinarily washed, would weigh at least 141b in its unwashed state. On sandy pastures and runs perhaps 121b would be the more correct figures for such an unwashed fleece. If the demand were good for unwashed wool at the sale at which it was offered, this unwashed fleece, if of good quality, might bring Is qer lb, or 12s for the fleece in its" unwashed condition. For the same wool in a washed state, the demand would be steadier, and the price in the present state of the market would probably be Is 6d per lb, or 13s 6di for the fleece. This would give a profit of Is 66. for the fleece, or an aggregate profit of .£l5O on a flock of 2,000 sheep for the trouble of washing the sheep before shearing them. But there are other considerations which the advocates for shearing in grease should pay attention to before coming to the conclusion that their plan is the most profitable. When wool is shorn in the .grease there is the extra expense of carting the wool to market or to a sea-port, which for all practical purposes is almost double that of washed wool. The practice of dumping, which has been carried on to such an extent within the last few years, is also against the unwashed fleece. When a bale of unwashed wool has been severely dumped before being put on shipboard, it will generally be found in a most unsightly condition when it reaches London, and the price for which it can be sold proportionately low. The colonial buyer of such a bale will have received such a lesson that he will not forget when the next wool season comes round, and the prices he will then give for unwashed wool will be such as to leave little profit to the farmer who sent such unwashed wool for salo. I would say—by all means wash your sheep before you shear them, unless your flocks are sufficiently numerous as to make it a profitable undertaking to erect a wool scouring plant upon your farm, in which case the washed wool, which would otherwise be sold for Is 6d per pound, might bring 2s. It is generally the most profitable course to adopt to send the wool to market in as good a condition as possible.

Tutu Poisoning. — The following letter appeared in the Auckland News : Sir,-—ln your paper of the 24th inst. is a letter asking for a cure for cattle poisoned by tutu or tupakihi. Whether this will be satisfactory to your correspondent or no I cannot say, but the manner in which they are treated in this locality is to bleed freely at the nose (by introducing a rough stick up the nostrils) ears, and tail. Tupakihi does not generally affect them unless they either drink after eating, or it rains, or in close damp weather, or they eat much of it on an empty belly. The poison has the same affect on them as strychnine on tbe human subject; the poor animal suffering from intense spasmodic action ; and there would, I think, be great difficulty in giving them; medicines, even if it was known what to give especially as they are generally attacked at a distance from home, and owing to the rapidity of its action. It is also considered beneficial to make them run as much as possible. A few days since I had a cow very bad with, it having been feeding by a swamp where it was plentiful, and at a considerable distance off. She was soon over the first fit, but had three more very distressing ones before I could get her home. In each case' I bled her by cutting her ears and pushing a stick up her nose... Afterwards* she had five more, each of which it seemed impossible she could get over. The same treatment was continued and the tail, also cut in several places. I- was also told that dashing a bucket of cold water in her face would be beneficial, which was tried, but as that checked the bleeding it was discontinued. We also ran her about till she could run no. longer. She eventually recovered but is much ! disfigured by the loss of the greater part of both ears, from the frequent > application of the knife. Rot in Sheep.—lt is between the dry and the wet state that the land produce^o^insheej^Jßutthereis nl^i^MHMffi tuHmHHHHHn v o wMBSB3ttBBBBBSm ■■■■■>! ■■^■■^^■■^BiHi^B^HHHH^^^m huflßnHlHßnHnßß

The Skin Trade.—MessrsT Windeler and Bowe's recent London circular contains the following information of special interest to flock owners and produce shippers:—" To show the magnitude of the skin trade we subjoin a statement of the import into England alone in 1873, viz. :—River Plate, 29,201 bales, containing about 3,500,000 skins ; Cape of Good Hope, 12,082 bales containing about 1,100,000 skins; Australia and New Zealand, 3678 bales, containing about 360,000 skins. River Plate skins are received in pressed and hooped bales weighing 900 to a lOOOlbs, containingfrom 9 to 11 dozens each, and. almost always in an unwashed state, with the heads and dunglocks trimmed off. The j skins are classed into Merino, No; 1, 2, 3, scabbed and torn ; they are folded | first lengthways and then doubled again, but before being baled the skins are cured as follows to prevent worms : After being stripped from the sheep the skins are stretched out to dry on ropes or wires in the open air, but screened from the sun to prevent the skin becoming brittle. When they are thoroughly dry the fleshy side is painted with a solution made as follows—SOlbs of arsenic and 28fcs soda are mixed with 50 gallons water, and boiled for j three hours until dissolved. One quart of this solution is then added to one gallon of water, and the mixture is then applied with a white-wash brush, so as just to damp the pelt. Skins should not be dried too quickly, or they will crack where folded, and as a, matter of choice it would be better not fold them at all. A similar method might be applied to Australian skins; but if any better plan is known we shall be glad to hear of it, and circulate it through the trade, as well as any other hints that may be useful,"