MANAWATU FARMS

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 299, 12 September 1921, Page 8

MANAWATU FARMS

IMPROVED FEED PROSPECTS DAIRYING IN FULL SWING From Our Own Correspondent.' Palmerston North, September 9. A considerable change for tho better has taken place throughout the whole district during tho past fortnight in farming prospects. The warmer weather prevailing with a few light showers at night has had the effect of putting more substance into the grass, and feed is daily becoming more plentiful, with the result that the cows are giving a better supply of milk than is generally the ease so early in the season, and the qualify is good. Many dairymen are utill augmenting their green feed with the hay and root crops they have left over with most satisfactory results, and most of the herds are in excellent condition. Store stocky too, is beginning to pick up and the coats of the younger' cattle look sleek, a sure sign that they are healthy. Tho dairy factories are in full swing, the majority making butter. Very many of them now have dual plants, and should butter prices become unsatisfactory and the market for cheese improve a number will probably swing over to cheese later in the season. Factory managers state that already flic results of' herd-testing are having a satisfactory effect on both the quantity and quality of tho milk coming forward, and a« it is more generally taken up the results should be even better. There can be no doubt that the season has been a most favourable one on the lower country, but on the higher lands which have been cleared of bush things are more backward. Satisfactory reports continue to be received as to the lambing, and as in most flocks the ewe» aro in good condition, it is not surprising to find the youngsters strong and healthy, while the percentage is particularly good.' The only thing required to improve the condition of sheepfarmers is a more healthy tone in the export meat and wool markets. Frozen Meat Prospects. At tho annual meeting of the Feilding Freezing Company the chairman drew a very dismal picture of the prospects for both beef and mutton, and almost ia the same breath announced that news had been received from Home that the prospects for beef were brighter. It is hoped that this is true, for .the country is flooded with fat cattle, and prices locally have dropped to such an extent that owners cannot sell except at a loss, while to freeze and consign to London at present prices means an almost certain loss. Many graziers who bought store cattle last year have had them fat for a considerable time, and now k:annot get as much as they naid for them. At a meeting of the Farmers’ Union on Thursday a question was asked as to why' Argentine beef was so much more in favour on the London market than tho New Zealand product. Mr.. Poison explained that the South Ameri- X can product was chilled and not frozen, and, therefore, reached the market in a much fresher condition that that which had been frozen. To a further question as to whether chilled beef could not bo sent from the Dominion, he replied that experiments had been tried in that direction . and had proved satisfactory. The drawback, however, was that to scud beef homo in a chilled state it required to be hung up and kept apart, so that it required at least four tinfes tho space that would be taken up if it were packed frozen in the holds. Tho extra, freight would bo ‘prohibitive.

A farmer interested in pigs asked at the same meeting why growers were only getting sd. per lb. for their pigs, while the factories were charging Is. 3d. and more for the product, which was being retailed at from Is. 6d.ito, Is. 9d. Several present expressed the opinion that something was wrong, and suggested that the only solution was co-op-erative factories. This remedy has been tried on several occasions, but when tho farmers found that they could get a penny per pound more for their product from ;priva(e concerns they deserted the co-operative factory, with ths result that they soon git into the hands of the bigger companies, and naturally prices soon came down asain. tighter Sheep. As the freezing companies are unable pt present to fix prices for tfie coming season, holders of sheep, more especially heavy-weight wethers and ewes, are m a quandary. It seems that the demand in the Homojnarkets in the immediate future will lie for sheep under 601 b., and for larmbs under 431 b. The British consumer appears to have Jost his taste for fat mutton, and as most of -the sheep grown in the North Island are of the coarser and heavier breeds, the growers here will naturally suffer more than South Island breeders, where lighter classes of sheep predominate. ■ There is a growing disposition here to go in for lighter crossing, for mutton purposes, and there is no doubt that there will be an improved demand for blackfaced rams during the coming season. A gentleman who has just returned from a tour of the Taranaki district states that quite a number of big farms which have in the past been used for grazing are now being cut up into areas sui-lable for dairying. In the Manawatu district, several places have already been cut up into fifty-acre blocks, and are now depending on milk-production. The late Mr. Duncan Fraser’s large farm in the Rangitikei district, and the wellknown Highden Estate, at ,Aw’ahuri,/ which have in the ]9ast been devoted to grazing, are also being cut up into fifty, acre blocks. Therd is a good demand, for grass seed; and rape is in request, but very little is offering. The demand for turnip seed at present is evidence that this Toot crop is being put in much earlier than usual. The Manawatu section of the Fanners’ Union, in order to encourage tho improvement of root growing amongst farmers, is establishing a series of competition for those products.