Farming & Commercial

Feilding Star, Volume 8, Issue 2572, 3 May 1930, Page 7

Farming & Commercial

ON THE LAND NEWS. VIEWS AND COMMENTS Negotiations have now been completed for the amalgamation of tlic OrmoiiidviJile and Norse wood dairy factories. The merger w ill take place as from this week. From 61 applications, Mr R- Throne of the Capo Egmont Dairy Company, was selected by the directors of the Pa.pata.\va Dairy Company, to fijt the position of manager of the factory.

Latest statistics show' that the farm horse is holding its own in Canada., m spite of motors and tractors. Tie return in question gives tlio number of farm horse on June 30 last as 3,367,“187, or 93 more than in June, 1925.

As far a.s it at present known Fie only farmers’ excursion, to Otago and Southland this year will ho made by a large body of Hawke’s Hay farmers, who are due toi arrive in Dunedin on June 25, leaving agpin the next morning for Central Otago and Southland, and making a brief stay in Dunedin on their return on July 3.

A determined effort is to le made among New Zdtiland pig breeders to have the system adopted c.f grading bacon pigs and payment made, accord ingly. Under tlio present system they claim that too much is deducted off the price of well-fed pigs as against the animal fed -on skim milk only. Tllo wastage oil the former is not nearly so g eat as the latter, and th quality of the* bacon as much superior.

The other day, Mr Norman li iitlierford, of Mondip Hills, Canterbury, received a repeat order from Mr E. E. Bromuell, ban Francisco, for a special stud ram. This is ' lie fourth ram Mr Rutherford ha.s dispatched to this buyer, who conveys the information in his order that he is well plased with its predecessors. The rams are the first of the merino breed to be sent from New Zealand to San F r a lie i sco.

Tue importance, of the farming community in the Dominion may bo gauged from the following figures: In 1909 the total pastoral exports were 74.4 per cent, of the total exports of New Zealand. In 1928 tiie total had risen to 94.2 per cent., leaving 0 per cent, for other exports, which was made up by: Mining 1.3 per cent., agricultural “1.8 per icont., timber 1.1 per cent., and all other 1.0 per cent. Truly, the farmer is the backbone of the country.

A considerable area of brown top has been harvested in Southland this season, and the .seed obtained has been of good quality, but unfortunately the Americans are contemplating placing a .prohibitive duty on tins seed, which will deprive 1 lie New Zealand producers of one of their principal markets. Tlio duty proposed is Is 8d per lb, and it is understood that this is the result of an agitation by the farmers in the United States who grow red top for seed, •he sale ot which has been greatly hampered by the importation of New Zealandgrown brown top. Says a returned New Zealander: “liussi(a is a country where no great competition can be felt from such fabrics as artificial silk. Russia wants wool, and tli eresumption of trade relations opens up new fields, especially for New Zealand wool. Poland, too, with its population of 35,000,000 is crying for wool, and it only needs tile finances of the country to be laced on a sound footing for it to be como a customer for New Zealand. More settled conditions in eastern Europe will, undoubtedly, mean a corresponding improvement in. prices.” Farmers are not looking forward t<. the winter with a great deal of optimism (says the Wanganui Chronicle) The dry weather has had its effect on pastures and the land is caked hard. If the frosts develop in intensityearly the predictions are< ~hat the winter will be severe. It is probable, liow-. ever, that temperatures in May and Juno will be higher than i sual, and tlio grass will thus get a chance to come away before the biting days of August and September, the worst months of the year from the farmer’s point of view. Dr. D. L. Freemna, of i he Agrisuit ura l Department, 'who- is a believer in the efficacy of goats for satisfactorily holding te blackberry pest in cheek, states that a. number of wcedicides had proved successful in destroying te bramble-, but ihe quantities required to be used for* this purpose placed such a method of blackberry destruction beyond the economic limits of the farmer’s purse. Sub-division, rational fertilisation,

judicious stocking and the use of goats as followers appear tlio most satisfactory methods jet evolved of hplding tlio bramble in e'.ieck, he claims.

If is a tribute to the energy and initiative of tlio young men of South bOago, many of them fanners and graziers’ sons, that the South Otago Freezing Works Company has been able to take up an independent stand in regard to thei striking sjaugitermen, who this week sought le-iustato-inent. Some doubts were < xpressed at tliso 'beginning of the strike whether the volunteer labour that bad been recruited w ould bo able to ( °Pe w*;lh the export work involved at so busy a time, but it has been abundantly >i oved that tl’ie men who ; .re engaged on the boards at present aie more than equal to the task of keeping pace with the work, now that they have bad sufficient time to get into their stride.

Tiie Hoenheim system of 1 asturing is attracting vide attention. Of German origin, the system ha.s been successfully used in England, and experimented with in America. In the system the pasture is treated with 300 to 330011) of commercial fertiliser several times during the season. It is, therefore, expensive but 1 he increased milk yield must make it profitable or the system would not make the headway tfiat it has on the European Continent. The herd is divided into three classes: ’Flic heavy producers, the poorer producers, and dry cows and calves. The first class are first allowed on the new pasture and take the best off it. They are then moved to a fresh pasture, and then the vsecond lot of cows succeed them, and then the third. The pasture is then top worked, fertilised, and in a few r days tlio pasture is again, ready for use. In this way file cattle are being continually rotated from field to field and the pasture is •outinually renewed with ,fertiliser. It means many small fields on a farm.