Page 4 Advertisements Column 2

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue 7397, 25 February 1902, Page 4

FARM AND DAIRY. * Advantage has been taken of the recent spell of fine weather to harvest the bulk of the oats, and as a rule the farmers seem to be well satisfied with the results. Root crops are looking very well throughout the district, and a consider, able area of late potatoes, turnips, mangolds, etc., testify to the suitability of the soil for cropping to advantage. Most of the factories and creameries report a falling off in the quantity of milk coming forward, but in most cases the tests show a corresponding rise. Tbe season has been a splendid one for feed, and has, so far, proved eminently satisfactory to the suppliers. Considerable loss and annoyance is being experienced by several farmers at the present time by the amount of sickness and mortality amongst the calves. The most prevalent disease seems to be " blackleg," the symptoms of which are an unusual swelling in the hind-quarters and legs, and as a rule the animal soon succumbs. One farmer lost four in two or three days — fine, early calves, five or six months old, and worth about 80s each. He was told by an inspector that there was no known cure, but was advised to remove the rest of his stock to another pasturage, and to keep the diseased ones right away from the others, The supply of milk to the Lowgarth Cheese Factory has kept up well during the season, the present output being about three-quarters of a ton per day. Turbines bid fair to supersede steam engines in a number of factories. Some, however, are keeping both, so as to have one as a '.' stand by " in case of accident. The Oaonui, Kaponga, and Kaupokonui Factories already have turbines, and the latter is having a second one installed, so as to be able to work the churns (which entail irregular power) by a different motor from that employed working the separators and freezing chamber. SCARCITY OF WATER. A local competent dairy authority suggests that a likely cause of the low tests that have been given for milk during the summer months is that of the prevailing scarcity of good water supplies. In one district, for instance, water for stock is so scarce that it is a very common sight to see the farmer carting it in milk cans for some considerable distance, in order to supply the wants of the dairy herd, — Manawatu Times. MONET IN DAIRYING. A farmer at fiunnythorpo, who has leased 40 acres of land for dairying purposes, and is milking eighteen cows, estimates that after paying £4S) for rent and another £40 for feed and incidentals he will have a net profit of £150 at the end of the year. This proves there is money in dairying. NEW SOUTH WALES STOCK., The chief inspector of stock for New South Wales has prepared a progress return of the horses, cattle, and sheep in New South Wales on January Ist. He estimates the horses at 445,595, a decrease of 3,217, as compared with the same date in 1901 ; tbe cattle at 1,860,352, an increase of 39,187 ; and the sheep at 41,356,133, an increase of 1,335,627. It is explained that the increase in sheep is much less than was I anticipated owing to the favourable | lambing reports received earlier in the year. REMUNERATIVE DAIRYING. One of Australia's rich men has, says a writer in the Masterton Times, since 1895 been trying to prove that dairying can be made a profitable business for the large landholder and capitaliat. Having the money to buy the best, it is not surprising that the gentleman, referred .to, Mr G. T. Chirnside, t»f Werribee Park, has got some distance on the journey. So far, we should say that ho easily holds the Australasian record for butter production, for nowhere else do we remember 'meeting with results equal to those obtained by him. Last year's figures lor eleven cows were 420115s comrnero'ial butter, which, at 9d per pound, gr'ives a cash return of £15 15s per coy/. The bulk of the herd was selected, in England, from such noted herds a's those of Lord Rothschild, W. McKen zie Beadley," Dr Herbert Watney, Mr Tj. Mutton, Mr S. Baxendale, Mr H. T£. Haward-Vyse, and others, while a number of the individuals -are Island-bred. Most of this herd was sele cted in England by Mr John Thornto»j, London, secretary of the English Jersey Cattle Society. HORSE BREEDING. It cannot be too clearly impressed upon the minds of all interested in tbe question of b orse-breeding, both for military and general purposes (says tbe Chief Govera'jaent Veterinarian in his annual report), that there is far too' great a proportion of unsound horses in the colony. The time is ripe for legislation being brought to bear on the matter, for it is little Ibbs than a public scandal that so many stallions suffering from undoubted hereditary unsouadness should be allowed to be tbe means of annually bringing into this world foals a large proportion o£ which in turn develop similar troubles, sometimes in an aggraj vated degree, and thereby prove a source of loss, instead of profit, to their owners. Another point demanding consideration by horse- owners ia the necessity for some method in bre eaing. At present, as far as light horses', are concerned, we have, with the exception of the thoroughbreds, no standard <class of horses ; and until horse-breediag is conducted on systematic and intelligent lines New Zealand can nevet hope to take her place among the na tions of the world as a producer of good horses. l > WASHING COWS' UDDERS. A writer in a Victorian paper Bays : — Any person wh o has had the opportunity of frequeni Iy seeing how the work of milking is performed must be aware that it is by no means uncommon for cows brought into the milking-shed with their udders ancl teats in an unclean condition to be milked without the parts being washed, and, furthermore, the attendant will .probably milk half-a-dozen cows before he thinks of removing the accumulated, filth from his hands. Vessels containing lukewarm water and soft cloths should be provided for the milkers, and before each cow is milked her udder should be washed clean and then rubbed with a dry, soft cloth. It may possibly be considered that such a course of procedure involves loss of time, but such is not the case. The washing with warm water, and subsequently rubbing with a soft clotfc, is so soothing to the animals that th© milk is " given down " as soon as the milking begins, a wait being thus ob'?iated. Every milker knows that wbjen milking is begun in the usual way s<ome little time elapses before the cow ie gives down " her milk, and there is a- period early- in the operation when: very little lacteal fluid is being obtained. If the course described is folio wed, the stoppage — for it really amounts to such—is done away with, and I»he time lost in washing the udder is more than compensated for by the rapidity with which the actual work of milking; can be done. A special feature in connection with conducting the milking in the manner suggested is