THE WEATHER AND OTHER MAHERS

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6551, 7 March 1928, Page 10

THE WEATHER AND OTHER MAHERS

News from Outside What Soft of Winter. “A further indication of the class of weather we are likely to experience In the coming winter is forecasted by that lately experienced in the Northern Hemisphere,” writes a contributtor to the New Zealand 'Herald.' Not tor many years lias such a severe ter been experienced on tho Continent, in England, and in North America. It may not necessarily follow, ol course, that we in New Zealand will experience an equally hard winter, but the fact that our seasons seem to correspond in character with those experienced immediately previously in the northern hemisphere has been remarked on by those who have kept weather records over a number of years. Nothing Doing.

There was a new postmaster at Puddleton, and he was not having a very happy time. Moat of the farmers living in the neighbourhood were in the habit of calling for their letters and the unfortunate postmaster found himself besieged by a crowd of burly, bawling men, all demanding letters at the same time. One man strode in even more burly than the rest ,and shouted: ‘‘Have you any letters for Mike Howe?” "For whom?” snapped the perspiring official. ‘‘Mine Howe, I said!”? bawled the farmer louder than ever, “Don t you know your job, or , can’t you talk English? Have you any letters for Mike Howe?” The postmaster took off his glasses. “No, I have not,” he said. "Neither for your cow nor anyone clse’s.” 100 Pier Cent. Purebred.

An official bull count for the Union County, Kentucky, as reported to the U.S.A. Department of Agriculture, shows thit tho grade and scrub bull have been entirely eliminated in that country, the figures being:-—Purebred 140, grade bulls, 0, scrub, 0. Let It Bain. Sufficient rain to feed autumn growth for the rest of the season may well bo worth £2,000,000 to Auckland farmers, says an experienced land man. (reports the Auckland Star). If top-dressing on tho pastures that were to be so treated was already on that might be reckoned as a further £500,000 gained, as against later top-dress-ing that missed the rain. And if. again, the rain is enough to soften the clay soils enough for ploughing and getting in tho fodder crops, wo can put down at least another £500,000 saved. We had begun to have visions of lean herds dying in hundreds this coming winter. But now perhaps not I am getting icady to write down fiS, OOO,OOO on the profit side. Let it rain some more.

Feeding Concentrates, Much has been written In the press lately concerning the value of supplementing of the grass food of dairy cows with concentrates of various kinds. The experience of a Dyervdle settler should, in the circumstances, prove interesting, writes a Wairarapa correspondent. In the early part of the milking season he commenced to feed some of his herd on a concentrate ration of 211 b. of crushed oats and 1 lb. of concentrates per day. Of the twenty-six cows and heifers which ho tested, ten of the cows and live of the heifers were fed on concentrated food, and four heifers and seven cowa on grass. The two groups of cows were picked out of the group average for last season as nearly equal as possible. The results were: 10 fed cows average for period tested, 58.75; seven unfed cows, 43.C5; difference, 15.10. Five heifers for same period, 3i.61, unfed heifers, 23.70; difference, 7.91.

Menace of the Culls. Mr Keith Muray, tester to the Narracan Shire Association, (Vic.) speaking of herd testing, said that various methods were being adopted to better conditions in the industry, but farmers were realising more and more that they must help themselves. With high interest rates, income tax, shire rates, etc., farmers could not afford to keep dud cattle. Only recently a dairyman in the local testing association had sold a cow which was unprofitable, and another local farmer who did not test his cows, had purchased the cow in the open sale ring. With the increased popularity of testing there would bo a far greater percentage of rejects thus sold, and the man who was not alive to the position would be forced off the land. The time was past when testing was regarded as a fad. It was a businesa necessity, but still not recognised as such by very many dairymen. Where Farmers are Prosperous, i People talk about the farmer being hard up. Ho is nothing of the kind.” said Mr J. S. Fisher, president of th® Waikato Central A. and P. Associa-

tion, at the official opening of the Show the other day. “The farmer is a prosperous man in a prosperous country.” He mentioned the prompt payment of rates in this county as proof of his statement. Fighting Ticks. Measures taken to fight the outbreak of the cattle tick menace in Poverty Bay district have been highly successful, according to an announcement made last Thursday by Mr D. M. Ross senior stock inspector at Gisborne, who stated that practically no ticks had been noticed in the infected area during the past few weeks (relates the Times). This result is a tribute to the work of the Department, which has been carefully watching the position and conducting spraying operations on the stock in the infested area and also on all beasts leaving that area. The outbreak has been confined to dairy herds, run cattle Showing no signs of infestation. Farmers and drovers have co-operated with the Department in very commendable fashion, thus rendering the restriction of the outbreak all the easier. Australia Seventh. Australia is seventh in the list of cattle-holding countries. British India heads the list, and the United States is second, Argentina is fourth, Germany fifth, France sixth, and Great Britain eighth. Big Producers. Over the first twelve years of the Victorian Government herd tests, twelve records of over 6001 b of butterfat were maradc in 273 days’ period. Four of these big records were made by Friesians, Last year 95 cows of the Friesian breed, which were over three years old at the date of freshening, took part in the test, and 12 cows and heifers exceeded the 6001 b of butter-fat mark. Their yield shows an average of 6731 b of butterfat per head for the nine months’ term. The milk production of these big cows was phenomenal under test, making an average yield of 1970 gallons per cow for each test term, or a daily yield averaging well over 7 gallons per day for tho 39 weeks. At the close of their respective test terms nearly all these cows were producing largo quantities of milk. On the last day they averaged over 41 gallons of milk per head, a yield which on most farms would be considered big figures in the “flush” period.