FOR THE FARMER

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4806, 5 July 1939, Page 3

FOR THE FARMER

CHILLER CATTLE. PROVIDING WINTER FEED. VIEW OF A VISITOR FROM ARGENTINE. A recent visitor to the Waikato was Senor Alvear, of Argentina, who made a survey of farming methods in the Dominion. In an interview, Senor Alvear stated that the Argentine cattle men grew special crops for their cattle —green oats for winter feeding when the grass feed is purest, while lucerne was also used to a great extent as green feed in the spring and summer months. The result is that their cattle never suffer a setback and prime chilling types are available at three yaars. The Argentine visitor said that he believed that New Zealand farmers would have to work on similar lines to obtain the same success as that being obtained in the Argentine.

Of the 33,000,000 head of cattle run in the Argentine, he said, some 57 per cent. —approximately* 18,000,000 —were Shorthorns, 10 per cent. (3,200,000) Herefords, and 5 per cent. (1,600,000) Aberdeen Angus. Cross-breeding was not practised as the farmers found that type was better when their breeding operations were confined to sires and females of the same breed. Some 300 pedigree bulls were purchased on the average each year from England, some high prices being paid. Such purchases enabled the Argentine to maintain the strong position of the Argentine product and it seemed that New Zealand would have to spend more money on pedigree beef sires if she were to equal the Argentine product.

Criticism of Chillers

Senor Alvear stated in his opinion the chilled beef carcases he had seen in New Zealand were not chillers. At the least they were four years old and would not be valued very much in the Argentine. In discussing marketing methods, the Argentine visitor mentioned that he thought that the New Zealand system gave the producer a proportionately greater return for his produce. This was due to the fact that in the Argentine it was only of recent years that the producer had had much say, the big firms having controlled the position. For the past five years they had a meat board in the Argentine, and of all the cattle slaughtered in the republic one per cent, of the proceeds was put into the board’s funds. Of this 80 per cent, was used for the establishment of farmers’ meat works, in which the farmers were given shares and the remaining 20 per cent, being used for the board’s expenses. To-day the meat board, through these works, had a quota to supply 11 per cent, of the Argentine’s export. The recent cut of 10 per cent, applied to supplies mutton and lamb from foreign countries entering Great Britain did not affect Argentine men to any great extent as the bulk of the mutton and lamb produced in Argentina was consumed locally.

FOOTROT IN SHEEP. THE DANGER PERIOD. A WET WEATHER TROUBLE. REMEDIES AND PREVENTION. Footrot among sheep is a disease which may give endless trouble and expense if allowed to get out of hand. It should also be borne in mind that the weather which is being experienced now is conducive not only to an outbreak but to the spread of the infection. The trouble can be minimised greatly by regular inspection of flocks and treatment of affected sheep, and it can be almost totally avoided by a system of rotation of paddocks. The disease is most infectious, but, as the life of the germ that causes it is short, it can be combated successfully on the worst properties. Any paddock in which the grazing flock develops footrot should be spelled'for a period of 25 to 30 days, the affected sheep, after treatment, being turned into fresh pastures. If this system of rotation is followed the grazier has excellent chances of controlling the trouble, for the germ responsible usually dies in about 20 days. It should be possible to thus “ring the changes” with paddocks on every property. There is ample

compensation for any trouble the adoption 'of this rotation system causes.

The flock in which footrot has developed should be rounded up, and the sheep with bad feet culled out. These should be given special treatment in isolation in a small, but clean hospital paddock. The feet the balance should be inspected, and if at all overgrown should be trimmed.

Footbath Immersion

The feet of the whole flock should next be given a good footbath immersion in a bluestone or formalin solution. For this either 10 per cent, copper sulphate or 2 per cent, formalin mixed with water are suitable, but in any district with signs of yellow jaundice trouble the formalin treatment is safer, because some kinds of jaundice are connected with copper poisoning. Mixtures with an arsenic base are also available arm are effective. Instructions to avoid such dangers as poisoning of sheep dogs, are given with th-• mixture.

The time of immersion should, if possible, be not less than half an hour. This means that a foot-bath of good size must be available, and small lots of sheep treated at a time. A bath with a 50-sheep capacity is relatively cheap. A good plan is to allow this number to stand in the disinfectant while the feet of the next 50 are being trimmed. The good effects of the foot-bath will be minimised, if not entirely wasted, if the flock is allowed to travel over the same ground as that along which it was driven in, or are turned on to the same pasture. They should be provided with a fresh paddock, preferably one in which there have been no sheep for the previous month.

CORSE SEED WEEVIL. TRIALS IN CENTRAL OTAGO. VALUABLE MEANS OF CONTROL A supply of the gorse seed weevil, apion ulicis, was obtained from the Cawthron Institute and liberated on some two or three gorse bushes on February 7, 1931, on the banks of the Manuherikia River, Central Otago.

At the request of the Cawthron Institute, during the latter part of January, 1939, more than 1000 gorse pods were taken at random over an area of approximately half a mile from where the weevils were liberated, and sent to the Institute for examination. The result of this examination showed that the infestation amounted to 98.67 per cent.

From the figure quoted there is no doubt that the gorse seed weevil is a valuable insect for controlling or nullifying the production of seed from gorse. This opens up pleasant prospects of establishing the insect on the many thousands of miles of gorse hedges in New Zealand, thus controlling the production of seed and the invasion of gorse from hedges on to the land. Unfortunately the weevil does not restrict the growth or vitality of established plants, but lives on the seeds in the pod, consequently infested plants will combine to flourish, and after grubbing or burning growth will shoot from the dormant gorse seed lying in the ground and produced by the parent plant before the advent of the weevil. Even with the weevil well established this generation cannot expect to see much improvement from the work of the insect, although later generations will undoubtedly reap the benefit. It appears as if this insect requires dry or sunny conditions, as it is doing well in Nelson and Central Otago, but has been difficult to establish on the coastal area of Otago. Slate grey in colour and approximately Jin. in length, the insects can readily be observed on the floweringparts of the plants. Eggs are deposited in the immature pods, and as the pod and seeds grow so do the young weevils until the pod has ripened into a dark colour, and upon opening one has a pod of weevils and no seed.