Farming Facts and Fancies

Northland Age, Volume IX, Issue 16, 28 November 1939, Page 2

Farming Facts and Fancies

Millions of caterpillars invaded i Lincolnshire and caused widespread damage. In one place they crawled in a mass 20 feet up a church tower. * * * It is estimated that there are more than four million and a half colonies of bees in the Unite*! States, producing 160 to 215 million pounds of honey every year. * ft ft Butter production in the world is estimated at I!,.100.(>00 tons yearly, and cheese one million tons. Says the annual report of the Hairy Board: “Dairying is losing its popularity as one of the essential industries of the Dominion. The higher wages and shorter hours, with the consequent greater leisure, in other avenues of employment mean that not only is labour difficult to procure, but that dairy farmers themselves are being led seriously to consider turning their attention to other classes of farming.” ft ft ft The people of Australia use half a pint of milk a day, about 156 gallons of milk every year, 917 million gallons are used to produce butter, and 43 million gallons for cheese-making. Butter production in Australia for the year ended June 30 was 4.090.233 cwt„ an increase of 249.000 cwt.. on the previous year. Queensland took first place with 1,378.766 cwt., and Tasmania last with 80,163 cwt. Condensed and powdered milk used 25 million gallons. * * * In Gisborne nad East Coast districts lambs docked averaged 82 per cent this season as against 80 per cent last. South African dairy companies are tackling the problem of overlapping carting collections so as to save petrol supplies. ft It ft British imports of butter from Baltic countries last year were: Lithuania 228,111 cwt., Latvia 399,899 cwt., Estonia 183,159 cwt., Poland 199,073 cwt. * * * At the Golden Gate Sheep Show at San Francisco a special prize in the Suffolk section was a Suffolk ram presented by the Suffolk Sheep Society of England. This ram won the championship at the Windsor Royal Show. * * * Bloating is very prevalent among cows in Rangitaiki Plains dairy herds, one farmer losing four out of his herd I of 40 in one week. Others have lost j more than a tenth of their cows from this cause. According to an ancient Chinese sage: “The peach, if one is able to eat it enough times, will save the body from corruption till the end of the world.” The number of times, however, is not specified. This, of course, is from America. At threshing time a horse on a farm switched its tail at a fly. The tail ! was caught in the thresher and tom

off. The machine was so badly damaged that threshing had to be suspended for repairs. The fly escaped. ft ft * The winter in Canterbury was one of the longest and coldest known for years and cows on many farms are in poor condition, giving low milk yields. Most farmers exhausted their stock of hay long before sufficient feed came on. ☆ ☆ ☆ The Tamworth pig that won the first prize and championship at the Hawkes Bay Show was bought as a weaner for £3 3/-. It was put up for sale recently with its litter of seven and realised £54 1/6. ■er ft it Australia is enjoying the best season for twenty years, anil with the prospect of bumper crops and a war market the farmers are in a very cheerful mood. ft ft ft Graziers in the Mackay (Queensland) district have offered 50 horses suitable for military work to the Commonwealth Government as a patriotic gift. ft ft ft Steps are being taken to produce the greatest harvest Britain has ever known for next year. ft ft ft Supplies of meat, says the British Food Ministry, are ample, but customers should take what they can get if they cannot always get the cuts they want. ft ft The wool clip of the United States is estimated this year at 375,699.000 lbs. This is 3,700,000 more than last year. ft ft ft Shorthorns in Scotland sold in 1938 by auction realised just over £43,000 for 623 head. The 1937 figures were £44,000 for 631 head.