HORSES FOR AUSTRALIA,

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 769, 18 March 1910, Page 8

HORSES FOR AUSTRALIA,

EXPORT OF DRAUGHTS. :V.' Ne fewer; than'. thirty-six draught horse's : were shipped, from Wellington to Victoria Yesterday - by, the Moeraki.V Twenty-one •of- these are three to seven-year-old mares 'arid geldings'which Mr; W>: M'Gaffin, of •-Hastings,, is : .taking over for-sale in Mel- -. [bourne. They are a fine lot of horses, «nd Mr.-M'Gaffin stated yesterday; to :a poMunox representative that'for one,pair ihe had been offered £100 in Hawke's Bay, while for. another mare he' had refused' £61. He: expected this latter animal to (bring in fully £100 on the other side. Next'week-his brother is to take over la'further : shipment of 24 horses. It is . ! ilr. M'Gaffih's intention to. visit New .jSoulh Wales, where draughts are at present in strong demand, and if the'outttbok is sufficiently favourable he may get /together .'a' shipment of anything up to la. hundred horses; for Sydney.. •!-'■:• Mr;.. R:' D. Knight, the well-known [breeder of Longburn, has been busily enjgaged in: filling Australian orders for isomo time; past, and yesterday sent away (fifteen ■': mares, two to four-year-olds, to ja customer: in Ballarat. Last week Mr. [Knight shipped between : twenty and thirty houses to Melbourne, but his.largiest consignment this season was on I'ebTuary 3 when fifty-two horses were sent racross, seven- being stallions: ■■■'-. ■;The demand from Australia is stated fto be due to the extension of wheatgrowing in Victoria and .New South Wales, farmers requiring good staunch ,/horses of a, type'not at present too plen(tifulin the States. In this week's "Ausjtralasian" a New South Wales scribe ■writes as follows on the position in his (State:- .',••.' / ' :,- '

,' '"A stud, book for draught horses is Ivery much needed, in "New South Wales. /Although there has been evidence of improvement jn the horses in : recent years, fthis State is years behind Victoria and ( Kew Zealand in respect to the'producition of draughts of good, modern type. 'Some fine horses are seen on, a few of.the : wheat farms in'. the southern districts;, ,and in nearly every case these havc.-bcoV [brought over from another State, or bred' Ihere by farmers who came to New South "Wales to" secure land. The general ■ run •of. draughts' here is extremely uneven. '.Most are, of course, fit to do some class •ofwork, but, as a rule, there are differences in the weights and breeding of the /horses in a team which are heartbreaking to a-good driver. Numbers of stalilipns' without any character,' showing no true'draught breeding, are still patron-ised,-.and often well-bred mares are'ijred :to ■ these unsatisfactory sires: Pedigrees 'are manufactured wholesale; in fact, pedigree counts for very little with" the ':-owners 'of mares, because 'there aro no .established lines of breeding. If the iname of a horso which haswon a cham.pion prize at a Sydney show, or has sired a.few well-known horses, appears in a pedigree,; it carries "some weight, but there being no stud book, any owner may work any notable animal into the /pedigree of, his horse. Compulsory r'egis/tr'ation of all stallions will certainly.be advocated'by the conference-in Sydney at .•Easten but the delegates-might also do ' something towards establishing a stud book for.draughts." .Asked.how ho.was finding the demand m New Zealand for draughts Mr Knight .eaid yesterday, that things were at present decidedly on the dull side up cou'u■itry.' ■; •'■ •

'■ A .good-deal of loss" is being experienced by dairy farmers in I'overtv Bay owing: to the stock being blown by tho Tich' growth of feed. A, the weather becomes colder, and there is more, moisture in.the grass, tho danger increases, and much trouble is entailed in guarding agaijist it. One settler at Ormond lost tiro valuable cows on' Monday night, and other "settlers have had difficulty in saving cows affected-