NOTES BY THE WAY

Hawera Star, Volume L, 29 November 1930, Page 11

NOTES BY THE WAY

Pastures in. the various districts' are good, d'eslpit'e the- unfavourable conditions prevailing and' the continued pre valen'ee of cold -winds from .ivcisit and south. Most farmers have a fair 'supply of grass in the paddocks and generally stock look well, t'he result of careful treatment andl good! feeding during -winter andl early spring. It is 'a'mlazing to see the huge quantities of ensilage made "which has taken the place of a lo't of the root crops previously grown. There is no doubt a marked change ig coming over the various districts in! thiisi respect. (Ffarmers ate realising more and more' the value of ensilagei and l the need to economise in the labour required in root growing. There is too the fact that, besides using up the surplus pasturage in, the strong growing period of the year, it, saves tho risk of noxious weeds spreading over the land. Ini this respect strenuous efforts are being' mladlO to tcomlbat the ragwort pesit and 1 very large quantities of .odium have been, andl are Toeing still purchased iby farmers in various areas. A feature which is already having ,a marked effect; in, the, destruction of the weed and will have more and more as the seasons progress. Farmers are busy all over t.he district with their ensilage making. Visitors to t'he Wha.kamiara School on: TueS 1 - day were interested seeing a- loader at. work on a neighbouring farm. The amount of labour and time-saving by the use of the 'mechanical method was most marked.

’Whakamara 'School, besides making such a tine entry of calves in the club’s competitions, has made a start in the root growing competitions and 1 has; three plots preparing for judging. 'This will be the first time the work has been done n't. this school. Farmers agree that the present season has been a difficult one for calves, with the cold and jwefc that have prevailed in such, a tantalising and continuous way. The fatet that calves generally look well is a tribute to the care, and attention bestowed upon them. Tt is an evidence of real animal husbandry. Tho well-known Jersey sire, Sybil’s Oxford Noble, which died last year, has proved ' one of the best colonial bred bulls ever reared 1 in the Dominion. This year all the winning calves at the Hawera Show were sired by this bull. Mis stock are proving all the time and his death, was a distinict loss 1 to the district. From a farmer’s point of view, says the ‘ ’Southland Times.” the week has been most unfavourable. Wet, stormy and generally wintry conditions' have prevailed and! there has been no improvement in the general situat-icth. The season has been greatly delayed' and feed is still short. '“‘Cheese is very rich, not only in protein and fat, but also in calcium and phosphorus, since these elements in milk are largely in combination in or With the casein and so are coneentrated with the 'casein in the process of cheesemaking. The iron-proteini compound'sl of the milk are also retained' in the cheese.”—Dr. 11. C. .Sherman, Professor Food iChemistry, .Columbia University.

Shearing all over the cTistri'et has 'been and still is seriously held up as the result of the continuance of rain. Thei 'conditions' are going to make • it very hard for them t’O' complete the work in the season generally allotted for this portion of 'the •sheepfarimers •’ operation® and, it. will be very lato unless a change occurs. Thcj great problem of the ba'con-pig producer of to-day is to breed a strain of animal which will be not alone of the correct bacon l type, but also economical in the conversion of food into pig meat.

“In the modern cow ,we liajve a wonderful equipped little factory for the manufacture of the most perfect food known to mandkind,” said Mr. G. F. Shirley in an. address to the Illawarra Conference of the New South Wales Agricultural Bureau. “Is it, therefore, not reasonable that we, like the other manufacturers, should sit clown and study out the very smallest items of our cow’s milk-making equipment? It does seem a pity that the inefficient working of one or two parts should cause production to fall under, say, 10 months, or that the lack of good fuel—or food —should prevent her from ever showing her absolute full capacity.” The Commonwealth Statistician (Mr 0. H. Wickensf estimates that the Australian wheat harvest will amount to 215,000,000 bushels. This would he a record for Australia, the previous record being in 1915-16, when 179,000,000 bushels were harvested. The area expected to he harvested for grain is 18,167,000 acres, which exceeds the record of the previous year by more than 3,255,000 acres. The anticipated yield is 11.83 bushels an acre. For the 10 years ended 1929-30 it was 12 bushels. Mr. Winkers estimates of the acreages and yields of the various States are: New South Wales, 5,190.000 acres, 72,000,000 bushels: Victoria., 4,620,000 acres, 55,-500,000 bushels; Queensland, 300,000 acres, 4,500,000 bushels; South Australia, 4,100,000 acres, 33,000,000 bushels; Wesetern Australia, 3,950,000 acres, 49,500,000 bushels; Tasmania, 17,000 acres, 500,000 bushels.