FARMS AND FARMERS

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 November 1930, Page 8

FARMS AND FARMERS

ITEMS OF INTEREST

(By

“Rouseabout”)

HAYMAKING IN DECEMBER. Haymaking becomes general in most districts during this month. It is important to cut and stack the hap crop at the proper time; not only do the finer grasses and clovers come away better, but the earlier the crop is removed the better will be the after* mathi the fields thus getting a good pasture covering before the hot weather usually sets in. The best time to cut the grass for hay is when it is in the maximum flowering stage, the time when the anthers are protruding between the chaff-scales. At this stage the weight of herbage is at about the maximum, and the nutrient mateiial is uniformly distributed. If the cutting is left until a late stage, the stems become woody and indigestible, and much of the nutrient material passes from the stalks and leaves into the developing seeds. When the crop has been cut, it should not be allowed to get too dry, but is best raked up into rows or cocks. Gradual drying will thus take place, and this is much better than leaving the crop spread over the ground to be baked by too-rapid drying, says the "New Zealand Dairyman”.

Leguminous crops, such as clovers, vetches and lucerne, require more making than grasses and suffer more from prolonged handling. To save these crops for hay in good condition, it is a good plan to gather them into big cocks about the second day after cutting and to leave them in these for about a fortnight before stacking; in all probability the hay will sweat fairly considerably in the cocks, but this does not matter much, as they are comparatively small in size, and is much better than over-heating taking place in the stack. In the case of cereal crops intended for hay, the time to cut the crop is when the straw is still green and the grain is just getting into the dough stage. ‘ Special crops of a mixed cereal and legume, such as oats and peas or oats and vetches, when grown for hay, must be cut at the proper time and not allowed to approach the ripening stage before being cut. The correct time to cut these crops is when the peas and vetches are in full flower, at which period the oats should be in the early milk stage. NATIONAL MARK CHEESE. A National Mark Scheme for cheese was propounded for the first time at the Ministry of Agriculture’s marketing demonstratipn at Manchester. The eligibility of any lot of cheese for the Mark will turn, first of all, on the guarantee of the maker that the cheese is made from milk with all its cream, says "The Farmer and Stock Breeder.”

Provision is made for makers to give this guarantee in a simple and effective manner. The idea is that approved makers be issued with small plaques of coloured casein (itself made from milk.) Such a plaque would be set in the bottom of the mould into which the curd is placed for pressing, so that it is actually embodied in the rind of the cheese. The plaques would bear a key to the week of manufacture and would be numbered serially so that every cheese would be traceable to the maker. Associations of cheesemakers, it is hoped, will eventually be formed to take over the distribution of the makers’ guarantee plaques. Because even the best of new cheese may develop faults before it is finally sold, the grading, it is suggested, will have to be done while the cheese is in the factors’ hands. It is therefore proposed that approved factors shall be entrusted with the grading (under a certain amount of supervision) of the cheese according to its flavour, texture, colour, body and appearance, the cheese to be graded within fourteen days of sale to a retailer. The Markets Branch of the Ministry has in view two grades for National Mark cheese—“ Selected” and “Selected Mature.” To be classed as mature a cheese must have been made not less than three months.

The Mark itself will consist of a brand indelibly impressed on the exterior of the cheese by a special petrolheated branding set. It will be such as to permit the cheese-cloth to be removed. leaving the brand still visible on the rind. To mark cheese so that every retail portion- can be identified as National Marie cheese is not considered practicable. The scheme, however, is reckoned as going far to enable the retail grocer to buy with very much greater confidence than is possible at the present time. FARMERS’ FINANCIAL NEEDS. The opinion that the Government and not the investing public should be responsible for providing finance for farmers was expressed by the chairman of the Wairarapa Hural Intermediate Credits Association, Mr A. Ross, when addressing the annual meeting of the association at Masterton.

“I think it will be readily granted that farmers of all classes are in for a bad time, and that the machinery of the Rural Intermediate Credit Association will have full scope for its usefulness,” he said. “A generous supply of farmers’ finance will be the most important problem facing the Government and people of New Zealand. No doubt the immediate future will try out to the utmost this new avenue fanners’ finance. Will it stand the test? Will it be able to keep up production? Will it keep the Ijftid from deteriorating? Yes; but on two conditions —firstly, that the Government and not the investing public be responsible for providing the. money, and secondly, that a more sympathetic and generous administration of the Act be given.

“The value of live stock, especially feheep', has fallen so low that many would-be borrowers cannot get sufficient to pay off existing liabilities on the present percentage of advance allowed by the Act,” Mr Ross continued. ,“ll seems to me that when values are so low they are a very much better lending security than when values are at the peak and would justify a greater percentage of advance. A danger to the farmer in the near future is that of sacrificing his stock to meet his obligations and when the rise in prices comes, as it undoubtedly will, be caught short and will not be able to participate in the benefit to the

fullest extent. Another bad feature is that understood means land going back and production decreasing, with detriment to everybody in New Zealand.”

IMPORTATION OF STOCK. SHOULD EMBARGO BE REMOVED? The lifting of the embargo on the importation of stock from Great Britain has been urged occasionally in recent times, especially since the establishment of the quarantine station for the certification of disease-free stock for export at the East India Dock London. It is argued that the purpose of the embargo—the prevention of the introduction of foot-and mouth disease into New Zealand is adequately’ served by the precautionaiy measures taken by the London quarantine authorities. The guarantee of such responsible bodies as the Empire Marketing Board, the Royal Agriculture 1 Society of England, and the British Ministiy of Agriculture is behind the quarantine scheme. Stock exported under its regulations must come from areas which have been free from foot-and-mouth disease for a stipulated period. The period of detention which must be undergone in London is several . days longer than the incubation period of the disease. In addition, there would be the long sea voyage to give increased security from infection here, while quarantine regulations at this end would provide extra protection. Yet, in spite of safeguards as apparently adequate as these, the demand for the lifting of import restrictions has come from a remarkably small proportion of our breeders. The great majority of New’ Zealanders are uncompromisingly opposed to any’ easing, let alone lifting, of the existing ban on importations. Nor is , their attitude hard to understand. It may’ seem to indicate a lack of confidence in the highly-accredited sponsors of the quarantine scheme. Such is not the case, however. The opposition is inspired only by a realisation that New Zealand’s primary industries hold too vital a position in her economic structure to permit any risk, no matter how remote, of their dislocation. And the infection of her herds and flocks with foot-and-mouth disease would mean more than dislocation. It would mean virtual, if only temporary, extinction, says the “Auckland Herald.”

Perhaps New Zealand would be more willing to follow the lead of other countries in accepting English stud stocks under the quarantine scheme, were England herself to show a prolonged period of freedom from the scourge which once played such havoc among her live stock. But the Homeland, unfortunately, has been subject and apparently continues to be subject to sporadic, almost persistent, outbreaks of the trouble. Last month it was announced that “the existence of foot-and-mouth disease was confirmed by ythe Ministry of Agriculture at Holbeck, Leeds,” and that the statement was understood to refer to two cases of the disease in pigs. The October issue of the Journal of the British by the Ministry of Agriculture at indicates that the position is more serious than the first intimation showed. The outbreak referred to occurred on September 6. Next day, two further cases were confirmed in the same locality, these recurrences taking place within nine months of the previous confirmation on December 23, 1929. On September 15 last, two further outbreaks were confirmed at Pirbright, Surrey, while on September 20, a new centre of disease was discovered at Beesdale, Stokesley, Yorkshire. The usual restrictions on stock movements were applied to an area of approximately fifteen miles round the infected premises at each centre of disease, while an Order issued subsequently, gave the Ministry of Agriculture power to treat with serum animals that had been in contact with stock infected with foot-and-mouth disease.

SEEKING THE CAUSE. The steps taken to combat outbreaks of the disease seem to be fairly thorough. But to New Zealand eyes they appear very much like closing the stable door after the horse has gone. There is some definite cause for the periodical outbreaks and to we people who are sometimes accused of a finnicky carefulness in our efforts to save our own live stock from similar experience, it seems that that cause is not sought with the thoroughness with which its results are combated. Until this is done and a satisfactorily long period of immunity from disease is enjoyed by English stock, the Dominion’s policy in respect of the import ban must be continued. It may be that opposition to the lifting of the embargo will continue as long as trading policy in Britain does not place prohibitions on imports from countries in which foot-and-mOuth disease has not been effectively coped with, the apparent significance of such a step being illustrated by the fact that the United States have been free from the foot-and-mouth scourge ever since they banned meat and allied products from the heavily-infested Argentine. .

It is worth recalling some statements made last year by Mr J. 0. Powley, superintending inspector of the veterinary department of the Ministry of Agriculture, before the National Veterinary Medical Association Congress at Ayr. Among other things he mentioned that, contrary to the common impression, the virus of foot-and-mouth disease was not easily destroyed in hay or soil. It had lived 25 to 30 days, and virus kept on hay and bran at atmospheric vapour pressure had remained alive two to five months. When this was combined with the astonishing fact that experimentally the disease could be produced with the virus diluted one in 10,000,000, one could he said, realise the difficulty in eradicating it.

Mr Powley further dealt with the modes of entry of the virus into Britain, and it is this phase in which New Zealand is interested. The question, he said, was hard to solve, but Continental pig carcases, imported to be converted into so-called Ayrshire bacon, had been conclusively proved to convey the disease. In Lancashire, there had been clear circumstantial