ON THE LAND.

Feilding Star, Volume 7, Issue 2145, 26 February 1929, Page 7

ON THE LAND.

NEWS, VIEWS AND COMMENTS. , Tito Roil go tea, Dairy Company is at X: resoumanuilauturtyig (between. 90 #nd 100 boxes of butter per day. The payout for January) supplies of butterl'at will be I/O for finest grade. The Makowliai Dairy Company reports that their manufacture at preton bis 23 export cheese daily. The payout for January supplies will be Is (id net. “The man who says ho has no time to record has mot a vestige 01. right to complain tl.fit dairy larining is amt paying, because' lie is obviously ignoring tin* foundation stone of bis business.” —Pannier and* Stockbreeder. Dairy factory -payouts in Taranaki for the January period have bben on. the basis of l s od to Is Od per lb. oi butterfat, and the 23 companies which have their- offices in New Plymouth have advanced to suppliers this week a total of ,12)0,086, 2s Od.

The, wliE'le Taranaki countryside is in. a very dry state at present, and, with the abundance of feed stnl .standing, farmers are fearful of fire. Last year ~w«-s almost as dry, but there was not the growth to contend with. Fire uti the present time would be a. serious matter as there is no saying where the conflagration would end if fanned by a, strong wind.

A representative of dairy farmers at Xuhak-a. told the .Minister of Public Works, the Hon. E. A. Ransom, that at. a meeting of farmers of the locality a practically unanimous decivon dyad been reached to urge the Government to continue the present half-hour of daylight saving, and to continue it'throughout the year. Opposition, however, was expressed to tlie former experiment of a full hour during the Summer months. There is tangiblo proof that the rabbit )is 'disappearing (says the Christchurch. Press). The evidence of our eye.s points fairly conculsively -that way, hut, avo lljfave faefc s in regal’d to the increased carrying capacity of properties compared Avith four or five years ago. The export figures of rabbit skins for the year provided proof. In 1926 just on 16 million skins Avere exported, and in 1928 12 million. ■

That there Ava s more Avork Availing to be done in tlie country district-, than aa’H'S actually being carried out Avas an opinion! expressed by the i’ inter of Publ'o. Works, the Hon. E W. Ransom, all Gisborne. Reference to the matter followed a statement that 30 men had found employment scrub-cutting in the back country, and Mr Ransom s nid that from Avhn.t he Lad .seen there avos much more work of a similar 1 nature that could profitably be gone on with, i With the increased prosperity of the farmer lie thought a great deal more Avork should be aA'ailable.

Although there is some slackening ;n the prices of . fat stock in Otago there is still a. fair amount of business being done. Many people are apt to think that the export trade absorbs practically the whole of the stock fattened in the Dominion, bul tihh-, is not so, as the hoteliers are responsible for a great number of fat stock than many people suppose. This being the case, the prices of fat stock are effected seriously by the weather conditions, and if .feed should happen to. be... dear in til* spring so will the price of beef and mutton soar, and ib does not follow that the fattener will be the only one pvlio Will benefit.’ ,

Under tiie influence of a spell of almost ideal 'conditions, harvesting is' general throughout South Canterbury. In fact, a run tilp’ough the country reveals that grain harvesting is now in full swing. There are .still a good many crops uncut—mostly wheat-—a. largo area in stook, some being carted in, and m not a few instances tiie mill is at work—mostly 'threshing from tiie stock. Naturally. the crops on the lighter lands came in first, and these it is that are now being threshed. This, no do ill) L, accounts for the reports of lower vlb'ich are now current. Generally speaking, farmers express themselves a.s being satisfied with the yield, which is quite up to expectations.

Just recently 1 have been painfully reminded of a theory which [ have long held theoretically hut sometimes lack the courage to put into practice . This theory is that it pays, every time, to kill or cull any cattle that fail to reach a reasonable standard of merit. The cattle that should come under thin category are

any cows with a tendency to tubercular trouble, uld. caws, im.'guln. breeders, kickers, tough'; milkers and poor producers, comments a writer in the Farmer and Stockbreeder. .1 am convinced we are all too prone to hang on to such animals far too long Avhen AA'e cannot get. ivliat we think they ought to be Avoi'th, Avhereas it would always pay to cut. any loss and s crap the scrubs. We coaid oiten get lid of two second-rate animals and replace them Avith one good one to considerable advantage, and mean in future to practise tit I. am preach'iig more closely than J have done in the past.

Good juices were realised lor stud ltomnty riiiiijj at the annual rain fair of the Mastertou Agricultural, and Padioral Society there being a, large attendance of buyers. Flock Romney rams met aaEllj. the best market lor years under keen competition. The highest prices of the sale tor studs Avas loUgns for a. ram sold on account of Mr Q. ’Donald, of Foatherston, the inircliaser being W. H. .hoick and Son, .Masterton . Another good price obtained for si ranE sold on account of Mr A. P. Southey, of Ma.sterton, which fetched 120gn5,., biyug purchased by D'algety and Co. This vendor's three ram,. made the satisfactory average of «'3givs. The six offered for Mr Q. Donald averaged 59 gns. The prices for flock Romneys ranged nji U> 20gns. The sale va _ ill he continued when flock stud SouthdoAvns flock stud Lincolns, and flock Corriedale’s will be offered.