NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXV, Issue LXV, 6 September 1913, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

A sp_ecial stud Uardry ram, purchased by Mr J. T. Iviaslin, of Car--woola Station, N.S.W., at the recent 1 Sydney sheep sales, for 560 guineas, died shortly after shearing, though Tugged and housed.

Amongst the matters that the Hawke's Bay Laud. Board has in view for the coming summer season, states the Commissioner, is the preliminary work in connection with the cutting up «rf another 48,000 acres of the Tahora -block. He said the other day that they purposed getting the block explored to *cc what could be done with it —how much was suitable for settlement and tow it could be roaded. A rough scheme would be worked out for subdividing it.

Dairy farmers in Whixall, England, have a system of cow insurance that has been in existence for over seventy years., / and is now the largest registered cow insurance society in England and "Wales, At the end of last year there were. 298 -members, all being small holders. The scale of charges is as follows: —A member pays Is per cow as entrance fee, and is per quarter, that is at the rate of 4s per year as premium for each cow. For a calf the owner pays 6d entrance and Dd per quarter as premium. The society pays the value of each animal which dies • from disease or accident while under injshrance, subject to a maximum of £10 for a cow and £5 for a calf. No member t -is allowed to insure more than ten cows and six calves.

The Federal Government (says the Australasian) evidently means to set a, practical example in sheep-breeding to those farmers whom it is desirous of attracting to the Northern Territory. .A deal has just been completed between the head of the department and the proprietor of Avon Downs, on the JBarkly Tableland, for the purchase of 2000 young merino ewes and 50 merino Tarns. In selecting sheep from a flock which is thoroughly acclimatised, and "has long been established in those tropical latitudes, the Administrator ■ lias taken a wise step: but what the next and the several consecutive steps are to be nobody outside official circles *eems to know. Past experience in the coastal districts has shown that the wet climate turns good wool into coarse liair. but there are suitable areas for sheep further inland.

An article quoted from a Peru paper hy the International Institute of Agriculture states that there are very ' favorable circumstances for cattle breeding and fattening in the Sierra del Norte region of that country. The climate is mild, and rain is abundant, so that there is no difficulty in obtaining feed in the pastures all,the year round, while there is a rare exemption .from cattle diseases. The native cattle and less well formed than those of the coast region, where improvement has arisen from the use of imported bulls. One breeder in the Sierra del Norte. however, has import■eH some Herefords. The great difficulty is the distance from centres of population or railways. The breeding of sheep is less profitable than that of cattle, as the death rate is high, mainly from "staggers," while the liver fluke and the tick are troublesome.

Mr John Nixon, of Killinehy, has Teceived an order from the Queensland Agricultural College to supply it with five of his best Border Leicester ram lioqgets. The successes gained by Mr Nixon's sheep at the shows on the other side have no doubt influenced the College authorities in placing the order. ! Tho Ashburton correspon 'lent of the Press, in conversation with a wellinowu farmer in the Win ton district, was informed that in marked contrast to the exceptionally fine open winter experienced in Canterbury, many of the Southland farmers had had a very trying time of it. The frosts had been lay no means severe, but there, had Tieen a lot of wet. cold days, and the ■winter had been the very reverse of. a pood one. Sto"k, however, were looking well, though there were instances in which such was not the case. Large numbers of paddocks were very bare «f feed.

At the thirty-ninth annual ■ meeting •of the Shorthorn Society, held at the Royal Show at Bristol, the council reported that the past year had been one of great disappointment and anxiety to breeders.. With the exception of some -ten.days in June, the Argentine and •other foreign countries, as well as the colonies, had been closed to the importation of British cattle owing to the presence of foot-and-mouth disease, but in no single instance had an outbreak occurred in a pedigree herd. Owing to the effective measures taken by the Board of Agriculture for the suopres- , sion of the disease, the period of pro-. Mbition imposed by the. colonies had ieen shortened, and in consequence the export trade with them had been fairly brisk during the last few months. This -was particularly the case with regard to' South Africa, with which a very ' considerable trade had resulted. ; In moving the adoption of the report, Earl Manvers said their trade was leing .increased all over the world. They might certainly expect a good tim© so long as they kept a clean bill of health. Russia, he believed, would prove to be a new and very valuable market for British stock. A great deal too much (says an English writer) is made in text-books of the. ■present day in describing the points of an ideal dairy cow. The result is that ■when students go to market they can never succeed in finding the ideal type of animal. If, by some chance, thG .amateur buyer comes across an animal <of this class, he will in all probability he led into bidding a much higher price for it than the cow is really worth. Again, in the majority of markets I have visited the marketing of dairy stock seems to be carried out in a very haphazard fashion. Cows of all descriptions ■- are hustled quickly through the ring, and.the- good ones have to take their «hance with the very bad. Of course, it -rueans simply that one buyer must stake his' own judgment against that of a rival buye^y which, on the face of it, is only right anci proper.. AVhen purchasing newly-calved heifers one can gener■ally rely on their general health being satisfactory; but it is a fact that tho . "very shrewdest of purchasers may-bo deceived in cows that have had their tsecpiid or thh-d calf. Dairy farmers axe jnotgenerally willing to rid their herd of young cows unless for some fault, and it would certainly safeguard, all concerned l/i the deal if some form of guarantee <vere insisted uoon where prices ranging from £20 to £26 are paid for newly- • acalved animals.