FARM and DAIRY

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 30 January 1926, Page 13

FARM and DAIRY

Dairy companies round South Tara.laiii ml report u threat revival as the .esuit ot tne excellent rains since Christmas and the generally favourable conditions prevailing during the iast four or five weeks, ft has served not only to stop the fall in supply which had set in strongly, but actually to set in motion an upward move which nas held well. The position has improved vastly since December 31. All report being down to a varying extent from two per cent or somewhat more up to the end of December, compared with last year, but they are all confident that January’s favourable conditions will not only make that up, but are pretty certain to show an actual increase. And as one leading dairy factory secretary put it, it will probably be an increase on an increase, that is, a return ahead of, the great figures recorded for 1924, which were the best shown up to that date.

Talking of one of the new schemes set on foot recently in connection with grading of dairy produce, Mr J. O’Dea, chief grader of Wellington, said it was desired to get the standard of grading uniform at all ports. He was going round them all with that object in view to ensure that this should he clone, and that dairy produce of equal quality should not he given different grading through being graded differently because there was a difference of opinion amongst the various graders.

Good advice was given hv Mr J. D. Brown, of Kuku (Levin) when speaking at the factory managers’ conference on Wednesday. He said that the farmer was told to cull his cows, but that alone, he added, would not give him a good herd, and he must feed his herd and breed his herd. It was a combined effort that would give him the best results, and it was so also in the factory. They must combine a good raw supply with the ability to make a good finished product. and then an effective organisation controlling the marketing. That would give the best results.

Instruction on the farms would, said a speaker at the factory managers’ conference, obviate the manufacture of a vast amount of second-grade cheese.

At Patea Freezing Works they are having a brisk time, and stock is coming forward freely. At present it. is taken mostly on consignment, principally sheep and lambs, hut the company i 6 buying a certain proportion of < attie. The Home markets are at present fairly good, and are reported to he improving.

At the Levin Show is held an annual champion butter-fat competition, and this year —held on Tuesday last the winner, Mr L. J. Griffiths’ cow Oakland Ray, scored within a small fraction of "the possible, 99.4 out of a maximum of 100. It was a great record. The winner was bred by the owners, and has put up excellent figures. She is by a famous bull, Rah llTe Ranter, and the quality of his progeny is proved also by the fact that a granddaughter, Trethella’s Sunlight, two years ago as a three-year-old gained the department’s silver medal under test, giving 13,7261 b of milk, with 733.291 bof butter-fat. She is owned by Mr J. D. Brown, of Kuku (near Levin).

The South Auckland Dairy Association at a general meeting recently affirmed a general support of the policy of the Control Board, and urged that no amending legislation be passed until the board’s policy had been given a fair trial. .

A litter of piglets on a farm near Ngaere lost their mother when they were only a few days old. and are being brought up on the bottle. They are flourishing admirably, and are proving most amenable to the foster mother scheme.

“The price of land is much higher in New Zealand than in the Old Country,” said a British bowler to a representative of the North Otago Times. ‘‘Land that is sold for £7O and £BO an acre in this Dominion could he purchased for £3O or £4O an acre in the Old Country.”

Dairy farmers throughout the Rangitikei district heartily endorse the suggestion made at the last Power Board meeting to reduce the cost of power for running milking plants. For some time the high running costs and the frequent stoppages have made some farmers wish they had never turned over to electricity, and the news of reduced cost and the assurance of fewer stoppages in the future is indeed gratifying. Tt is understood that power from Mangahao will he available in the near future.

Lucerne growers at the Stanhope Estate are experiencing a busy season. Since October 1. 14,000 store sheep have arrived by rail at the station, and 16.500 fats have been despatched.

Scottish Hope, a two-year-old Clydesdale colt, bred by Mr Murdoch, has been shipped to New Zealand by Messrs Montgomery and Co.

A handsome bequest of about- £25,000 has been made to the governors of the West of Scotland Agricultural College by Mr Colin Thomson. of Auchendrane. The revenue from this sum will he used for research in agriculture, with a view to increasing the prodne--1 ivity of the soil and the revenues from stock breeding. Dairying and all connected .therewith will have a large nart in the scheme. Nothing on so large a scale has hitherto come the way of an agricultural institute in Scotland.

An illustration appears in the Sootiish Farmer of October 17 showing a British Friesian cow in Brandon, Ontario. along with her four calves. All are doing well.

JERSEY’S LITTLE ARMY. Daily produce is that which is most associated with Jersey Island, but another feature of special interest is the I’ova l Jersey Light Infantry, stated to he our oldest armed force, which was recently presented with new colour*. Jersey’s militia is a very numerous and efficient force, in which every man between the -ages of seventeen and sixty-five is bound to serve. Strangers, after a year’s residence, are equal'v liable to be called up. Regiments are formed according to the districts. To each regiment a few mounted troopers and a company or brigade of artillery are attached. The whole force is furnished with arms and c’othing by the British Government, but only adjutants and drill sergeants receive any pay.

SUCCESSFTTL MANURING. KXI > K RIM ENT 1X THF, FA RM. 'litt* *eeret oi success in manuring lies in the farmer’s own trials, carried out on his own fields; therefore keep experimenting. At the same time, start right: use more of the fertiliser that is giving the tiest results o:i vour land, so far as you know at present. Work to find out the quantity per acre of this manure that gives the most profitable results, and the best month of the year for applying it to the pasture. When you discover how much of this fertiliser will give you the biggest profit per minimum of outlay, and you adopt that quantity as your standard cor dressing for the particular crop or pasture on which it has been used, you will be in line to get the greatest returns from your manuring. A great deal of money may be expended on fertilisers and still results not come up to expectations or lie anything like what they should be. If there is one cause which contributes to this condition, it is lack of drainage. No mattei what crops are sown or what manure is app'ied to badly drained land, results are limited by the condition of the soil. Unless drainage, where- necessary, is done, the land can not produce i’ul l crops. A) nter lying near the surface in undrained land prevents plants sending down their roots deeply in th<> soil. Crops have, therefore, a less hulk ot si-i' wherein to forage for food, hence a less wealth of plant to draw upon and convert into crop. Undrained land favours the accumulation within it of substances which are harmin' to vegetation. Owing to soil ventilation being deficient in undrained land, the conversion of the less available plant food into readily nssimiiab'e forms is hindered. Crops grown in inadequately drained land are placed at insurmountable disadvantage from the time of sowing the seed until the harvesting of a poor yield. Fertilisers app'ied to these crops cannot he utilised to the full advantage and are often wasted. Drainage is the first essential, and after that, manures.

NOTES BY THE WAY