The Farmer

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 2124, 16 May 1922, Page 2

The Farmer

A Manawatu farmer dressed ten acres with 25 tons of cow yard mulch, and ten acres with five tons of artificial manure. Making full allowance for labour at 10/ per day, he saved £2O, and got manifestly better results with the former.

The Shannon Co-operative. Dairy Company has paid out £31,000 less to suppliers for the past ten months, than for the corresponding ten months of last year, despite the fact that there was an excess of 38 tons of butter manufactured than for the previous ten months.

The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency C 0.,. Ltd., Palmerston North, have received the following cablegram from their London house under date 12th instant: —Butter, New Zealand; 166/ to 172/ per cwt; more enquiry at the reduction. Cheese, 72/ to 86/ per cwt; poor demand.

The right to remove buttermilk from Newstead Co-operative Butler and Cheese Factory. Ltd. (Victoria). for a.period of three years, with the option of five years, was sold by public auction for £l6l per annum. When tenders were called recently the highest tender was £6O per annum.

The growing of peas in the District has proved to be a successful undertaking. A thrashing-mill owner has informed the 'Lake County Press" that his mill has already put through 2500 sacks of peas this season, the greater portion of which was grown in the Lower Shotover district, where the majority of the crops thrashed out exceptionally well. Messrs Adams Bros, of Earnslaw Station. Wakatlpu, obtained a yield of 40 bushels to the acre. Peas at present, are worth from 7/ to 7/6 a bushel.

Many people probably do not realise how highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease is. One Scottish outbreak is being talked about in this connection. The "Scottish Farmer" says:—A bullock took ill with what the owner thought was -wooden tongue.' He called in t,he veterinary surgeon, who confirmed the owner's suspicion, but shortly afterwards the animal developed foot-and-mouth disease. Tt was subsequently found that the. veterinary surgeon had come direct from a source of foot-and-mouth inspection when he examined the bullock for the original ailment.

There are many factors which cause the test of milk and cream to vary. For instance, evening's milk is richer than morning's milk, the extent, to which it varies. depending principally upon the difference in time elapsing between makings, the shorter the time the richer the milk. This would have a bearing on the rate of feed to separator. Temperature at which it is put through the separator also affects the percentage or butter fat in cream. Weather will affect it. and many other things. The variation given is quite normal Suppliers may satisfy themselves whether or not they are getting correct results by seeing their own cream tested, or by learning how to test the cream themselves.

An English writer says: —"Mean while the butchers are cleverly manipulating the. foot-and-mouth disease misfortune as a reason or increasing prices, although the Ministry of Agriculture has declared that, so tar. there is no reason why prices should be increased. The London butcher of to-dav is probably of a different stamp from those of thirty years ago. but Scottish cattle, breeders still recall how they were let down in the old davs when Canadian cattle were coming into this country. Many a Canadian runt was then palmed oft as prime Aberdeenshire on the London market. It was a paying game for the butcher, but alas! for the reputation of puir auld Scotland.'

The reason for drying cows is to give them a period of rest, so that they can recupe-ate or recover from the strain which the yielding of a large supply of milk has placed upon them, and also to enable them to better nourish the foetus. The cows which most benefit by the. rest—i.e., the deep-milking ones—are those which are the most difficult to dry, while those which need little or no ,-e«t usually taka French leave for a prettv long while. If a farmer aims at giving a three months' rest lo his cows and has obstinate milkers, he still has another six weeks in which to drv them off, and yet give them a six we?.ks' rest. Deep-milking cows which are kept in milk, year after year, without a rest at all, usually get worn out in a few years, owing to the great aid continuous strain on their constitution by the milk and the foetus.

At a meeting of the central council of :he Milk Recording Society. in England. held in the Agricultural Hall. Islington, it was announced that the 1920-21 award of the Silcock 500 Gns Gold Challenge Cup had been made in favour of Mr. Horace Hale. Worthing, Sussex, for the second year in succession. In all. 25 herds, owned by 20 competitors, were inspected. Five breeds were represented—British Friesian. Dairy Shorthorn, South Devon. Lincoln Red and Red Poll. British Fiiesians were first, second, and fourth; Lincoln Reds. sixth; South Devons. tenth and seventeenth; Rod Polls, sixteenth; and the remaining awards were taken by the Dairy Shorthorns. The winning herd scored 481 points out of a possible 500. The herd consists of 24 cows and 5 heifers. The average milk yield was 11,276.22.

An illustration of how long an animal may live without food or water is afforded bv a cow. the property of Mr. J. Juckson, of Oamp*vrtown. The cow had been lost for three weeks, and no trace whatever of her could be found, though thorough search was made. Ultimately a man working at a boxthorn hedge, heard a peculiar sound, and on going to investigate, found the mining animal. She had worked her way so far into the hedge that she could not be seen without pressing the limbs back; neither could she get out. She had had neither food nor water for three weeks, and was naturally very weak, though, judging merely by appearances, she did not seem to have lost a. great deal of condition. Food and water were carted to inr, and eventually she be-

came strong enough to get up, and is now running about the paddock apparently as well as before undergoing her unusual experience.

Quite an epidemic of club-root has appeared in some parts of Mataura Island, and quite recently Fields Instructor Alexander made an inspection of the affected areas. From investigations made he is satisfied that club-root has been in the district for some time past, each season getting worse as nothing was done to check the pest. Cows were turned on to crops containing club-rooted turnips, and they carried the spore to their camping places. This spore has been known to live for six years in pastures, so these farmers have a big task before them. It is Mr. • Alexander's intention to experiment: with buda kale, chow inollier. and lucerne, on the affected land next season, to find out whether by using these crops the winter supplementary fodder required fan be grown. Rome of the farmers wnose turnip crops are affected are finding themselves short of winter feed for their herds.

Ayrshire breeders will be interested to learn that an American writer says: —"The longevity of the Ayrshires as a breed is often commented on, but how many people, realise just to what age they can carry profitable production? A notable case in point is that of Havpcrlaiid Spicy Lass, owned by the Alta Crest Farms, in America, who last year in her thir-teen-year-old form produced under official test 17,1301 b milk and 7181 b fat, and not content with that she is at present milking over 701 b per day, testing 4.4 7 per cent, in her fourteen-year-old form. An even more notable case is that of i.Miy Stewart of Munie, bred by William Stewart and owned by E. W. van Tassel, of Washington, born in August. 1905, and who produced over 20001 b milk in the month of December. For the two days of the inspectors' visit Lor January she produced 139,41 b milk, testing 3.75 per cent., which surely is something of a record for a seven-teen-year-old cow.'' When is a purebred cow not a purebred? and when is a grade cow a 'purebred? The «> conundrums were wrestled with for some time at annual meeting of tlie Wairarapa P. and A. Society on Saturday. One member stated that anything that was not a purebred was a grade An answer to this was that those owning purebred stock, but which were not registered, could not exhibit them in Die purebred class. The failure to register made them grades for show and

sah- purposes. A member wished to know how many crosses were required with purebred bulls before the progeny became purebred. He expressed surprise when told by a prominent breeder that unless the cows had a pedigree the stock would never bo classed'as purebred. Another member was told there was nothing to prevent, an unregistered purebrerj competing in the show ring with a known grade animal and he considered this altogether unfair. The more the meeting grappled with tin. question the more confused it became and, after a suggestion that a special meeting be held to talk the subject out it was allowed to drop. PALMERSTON NORTH SKIN, HIDE AND TALLOAV SALE. Messrs Abraham and Williams, Ltd., report on their sale, held on 11th inst.: —We offered a large catalogue of all classes to a full attendance of buyers. Competition was keen, and everything sold readily. Oddments of wool again advanced Jd to id, hides sold on a par, calfskins Jd to Id dearer, tallow still firm. We quote: Wool —Crossbred medium and fine 6d to Bd, coarse 4id to 5Jd, rough and inferior 3d to 4d. pieces and crutchings l?d to 3ld. Sheepskins— Crossbred fine 5(1 to 53 d, coarse to medium 4d lo sd, rough and inferior 2d to 4d, salted 1/6 to 2/9 each. Hides—Ox heavy lid to ll?d, medium 93d to 10Jd, light 6d to 7cl; cow heavy 6fed. medium 5Jd to Ojtd, cut, slippy and Inferior 4d to Bsd. Calfskins —Best 13d to J3id. good 12d to 13d, stained lOd to 12d, cut and slippy sid to Sid. yearlings and kip 6Jd to fjjd. Tallow in casks to £24 10/ per ton, in tins to £23 per ton. Our next sale will be held on June Bth. POINTS TO KEEP IN MIND. Choose a breed and do not change it. Breed with correct type in mind. Study pedigrees for inherited characteristics, relative merit and value. Keep your stock free from disease. Develop the young animals and maintain the breeding animals by careful management and liberal feeding. Advertise better live stock in your district. When you have stock to sell, advertise judiciously. Exhibit at the A. and P. Association shows. Never, sell an animal of which you are doubtful. Remember that a satisfied purchaser is your best advertisement. RED POLLED CATTLE. THEIR DUAL PURPOSE QUALITIES.

In singing the praises of the red polled breed of cattle, the Victorian branch of the Red Polled Societysays:—"Milk is not everything, though >toi L.S.I), it may be made to appear as tlie farmer's only salvation. It is true as is now argued that the cow yielding 15.0001bs of milk or more a year brings in a few pounds more for the milk sold than does the 8-10,000 rod polls. Bui which of these two classes of cows jh the more profitable in the long run? Surely the answer must be the, 8-10.0001 b red poll cow. which lives long, breeds regularly, yields 4 to 6 per cent butterfat milk and costs far less to keep than heavier yielders with a lower butterfat percentage. Red poll cows averaging these yields neither want nor receive more than 41bs of concentrated food a day, and then only for a short time in the winter. Every practical farmer knows that cattle of this breed living till 17 years and more, never taken in at night, must be a far better paying proposition than cattle whose high yields are the result of close confinement, and In order to maintain thei'high averages are sometimes kept in at night, even In the summer, Red polls are now becoming very popular

amongst Australian dairymen, and it is very evident that those who fancy other breeds will have to buck up tinless they wish to sec other breeds left in both quantity and quality of their milk and butterfat production. FEEDING DAIRY CATTLE. EXPERIMENTS WITH CONCENTRATES. Experiments carried out from time to time at the Warrnambool High School farm regarding the feeding of dairy cattle are of considerable interest to the farming community. During 1921 the manager of tlie farm, Mr T. A. Brittlebank, made a test of the effect produced by feeding concentrates. For the purpose he selected an Ayrshire cow. Scottish Euss of Glen Brae. In 1920 without any concentrates, this particular animal gave 27891bs of milk, as recorded in the Government herd test figures. In 1921 she was fed on concentrates, and her milk yield for the year increased to 5261 lbs—a rise of 24721b5. The cow calved in March. 1921. A Start in the special feeding treat was made by giving her a small ration of mixed concentrates—bran and linseed meal ■ —which was gradually increased as (time went on, and it was noticed that as the allowance of concentrates went up, so did the milk yield. In April the cow produced 4001bs of milk, in May 5141b5, and in June 883 lbs. When the month of July was reached, the ration of bran ahd linseed meal was lOlba a day. but this was apparently more than the cow could digest, and she suffered from an attack of biliousness, with a consequent sharp reduction in the rjulk flow to 6511bs for the month. Concentrates were; cut out until the cow had regained her normal stale of health, when a fresh start was made with a small ration, gradually increasing it again, but keeping it well within the limits of safety, which previous experience had indicated. The August yield of milk was 7501b5. In September the ration of concentrates was again increased beyond what Hie cow was able to properly assimilate, and the milk (low for that month was only U6olbs. in October and November the ration of bran and linseed meal was kept just below the maximum mark for that particular animal, and during those months the cow yielded 8351bs and '7l libs of milk. The experience is particularly instructive, as showing not only (he enormously increased yield which is to be obtained from the craploymc/it of concentrated foods, but also tlie necessity for ascertaining the, maximum quantity which each animal ■is able profitably to make use: of, and not exceeding thai allowance.