STOCK DISEASES AND PESTS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXII, Issue LXII, 8 June 1912, Page 10 (Supplement)

STOCK DISEASES AND PESTS.

j Unfortunately, many stock diseases I are rife in tne dominion. nnax; 'a Known as "bush sickness" attacks-sneop and cattie in the country outlying iiotorua. The affected area extends over aboat a million acres. The stock develop a progressive anaemic condition, resulting iv death if the affected animals are not removed from the district. Contagious mammitis has given dairy farmers no end of trouble; and the worst feature about it is that all efforts to find a satisfactory curative treatment for the disease have been futile, despite exhaustive investigation at the Wallaceville laboratory. But experiments are now being carried on with a form of vaccine treatment which nas been elaborated. The borac acid treatment has been successful in certain instances, but, owing to the delicate nature of the udder tissues, this treatment often does more harm than good. Contagious abortion in dairy nerds is being gradually eliminated, although the disease has a habit of reappearing in herds which were thought to have been cleaned up. As in tnis Scate a form of sterility has followed in the wake of contagious abortion, for wnich irrigation with corrosive sublimate solution is recommended. Blackleg has wrought havoc amongst young stock in years gone by, but inoculation with vaccine has reduced the ravages ol this disease to a minimum. Last year no less than 65,000 caives were inoculated by officers of the Department. Tuberculosis investigation snows tuac this disease is on the increase, especially amongst pigs. The value of stock condemned for the year exceeded £58,000. The Department has recognised the necessity of adopting preventive measures against the continued increase of tuberculosis, and it has devised a system of pasteurising the skim milk and whey of factorieSj which are ci edited with being the greatest disseminators of the disease. The home separator is almost an unknown quantity in the dominion, as the farmers either send their milk to separating stations or cheese factories, and then take back skim milk or whey to feed their calves and pigs. This indiscriminate mixing of milk from hundreds of farms must have a tendency ' to spread the disease; hence the precautionary measures now being adopted. As in parts of this State, the sweetbriar and blackberry are giving landowners an anxious time, and the Department has commenced a poisonspraying campaign against them. Lantana and prickly pear also exist there, but they are regarded as harmless. Indeed, iv parts of New Zealand the prickly pear is regarded as a rarity iiiid is jealously cared for. Many varieties of weed and thistle also worry the agriculturists, and here, again, the Department is educating the farmejs to the advantage of using only clean seed. But the pest which is causing most anxiety to landowners is the grass-grub, which exists in millions, and is playing havoo with the artificial grasses and wheat and other crops of the dominion. The grub does most damage beneath the surface of the ground, attacking the roots of the grasses to such purpose as to destroy the grasses and crops attacked. Whilst we were in New Zealand a Royal Commission was investigating this pest, and hopes are entertained that a means oH combating the pest may be devised. i)r Cockayne, the Government Entomoiogist, informs me that the starling is doing good work by feeding on the i grubs, but the birds are not numerous enough to rid them of the grub. New Zealand possesses seven experimental farms and a laboratory at Wallaceville for bacteriological and pathologic research. Splendid work is being accomplished at the farms in the way of educating farmers to a proper system of land-drainage, rotation of crops, manunal top-dressing for dairy and sheep-grazing lands. An interesting experiment to dairy farmers was carried out at the Moumahaki farm. : whereby a test between the relative merits of maize, rape, and tares as dairy cow fodders was carried out. The result was overwhelming in favor of imaize. After maize, lucerne and vetches have proved themselves to be ; admirable fodders, and vetches have the advantage that a well-grown crop wiJ : -clean out weeds for a tuber crop to fol- : iow. Paspalum, so successful on oji ■own Northern rivers, has proved its value at the Ruakura farm, where it ; grew well through the hot, dry summer, ! stock eating it with great avidity. Ex- : periments have also shown that maii- \ golds make a fine winter fodder for : dairy stock; and heavy yields can be I 'obtained from a small acreage by using ■ farmyard manure. Undoubtedly, fine .' work is being done on these farms, and : the Scottish Commissioners, who visit- : ted them, were loud in their nraise of ! the educative value of these experi- : i,rent stations. ; The Australian who visits New Zealand is always impressed with the way ; iifcie New Zealanders improve their : Harms avboveally. Green hedges and ; green trees (mostly Pinus Insignis and : the English oak) greet one everywhere, . and the effect is decidely pleasing and !an strong contrast to the homes of j most Australian farmers. The Maori- , lander certainly works his farm to the ; best advantage, and, as a result, gets : -out of it the most that it is capable : 'of producing. And therein lies the i secret of his success. Their best dairyi ing land (probably Taranaki) is equal ■•■to carrying a cow to the acre per an- : :num, but to secure this result, 'intense I culture has to be adopted. Whereas I farmers on the Richmond and Tweed ; can do better than this with little or mo cultivation. The average carrying ■capacity of New Zealand dairying land is, according to the secretary to the .Department of Agriculture, one cow to ■2-f acres per annum, which is undoubtedly good. The writer has returned to Australia •convinced that the farmers of this •country would find it profitable to emulate the New Zealanders in many respects, particularly in regard to a more intense cultivation of the soil :suid the adoption of a proper system •of rotation of crops. The businesslike .methods of the New Zealanders in .horsebreeding are also to be commended to breeders in this country.