FARMING TOPICS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1775, 14 March 1906, Page 62

FARMING TOPICS.

AN INOCULATION SCANDAL. If any argument was needed in favour of the establishment of a proper veterinary department, it is furnished by the present outbreak of blackleg in the Taranaki district. Judging by the reports from the district there is this year the unusual mortality, not from the disease itself, but from inoculation of calves with the virus, and a dispute is raging ivhether the virus or the inoculators are responsible. It may be said, first of all, that the inoculation of calves last year was not satisfactory. If inoculation does not protect against the disease, it is worse than useless, because the chances are it is only bringing down the condition of the calves. Last year’s inoculation was in many cases a mere farce, the oalves taking the disease afterwards and succumbing. This year the department took proper measures to ensure efficacious vaccination. Instructions were obtained from Professor Salmon, head of the United States Bureau of Animal Health, and the Veterinary Division ureoared at Wallaceville laboratory

enough of tho virus for all requirements. This virus was, needless to say, stronger than the preparations used last year. It was strong enough to ensure protection against the disease for an animal that had once been properly vaccinated, but even then it should net have caused any considerable mortality if properly applied. But there is mortality, and this is the point that is causing the trouble. There wore allegations that vaocine had gone putrid before being used, and consignments of the virus that were declared to be bad were sent back to Wallaceville for examination. Experiments wore there made by inoculating guinea pigs, and tho results showed the virus to he quite good, and all it was represented to be. This leaves only one explanation, namely, that the vaocine was improperly administered. The vaccination of an animal requires, just as much as the vaccination of a child, to be carried cut by skilled persons. If a calf is not in a healthy condition, if it has been recently castrated, 01- suffers from any skin disease, there is serious danger in applying the virus. These are matters which would only occur, as a rule, to tho trained veterinarian. The stock inspector with limited veterinary knowledge, and feeling the necessity of getting through his work as expeditiously as possible, could not be expected to take proper safeguards. The omission would not, perhaps, lie a serious matter vlion vaccines used wore as weak as those which did .duty in Taranaki last year, but with a virus of sufficient strength to protect the animal against a further attack, the slightest laxity might make all the difference. In New Zealand we have a Veterinary Department controlled by such men as Mr Gilruth and Mr Rcakes, whose reputation is in tho hands of men who, perhaps, have no knowledge whatever of veterinary work. Although Mr Gilruth has no control over the stock inspectors, his reputation is, to a great extent, in their keeping. Though it is not possible to take lor granted all the stories which are appearing in the country press about the mortality after vaccination, there is good reason to conclude that the percentage is largely due to ignorance. There is some significance, at any rate, in a few cases quoted by the “ liaw-cra Star.” At Ivlangaw hero road sixty calves died out of 400 treated, or ic per cent. ; at Rawhitiroa, 100 died out of 800 treated, or 124 per cent. Then Captain Young, one of the department’s veterinarians, inoculated 400 at Fraser road, and only twenty are said to have died, or 5 per cent. Five per cent, of deaths is not a great price to pay for immunity from disease. The department’s report on the matter will be looked forward to with interest.

“BABY BEEF.” The practice of bringing dairy cattle into profit at too early an age—a practice unfortunately common in some of our dairying districts—cannot be too strongly condemned; and yet it is difficult to see how the line if? to be drawn when dairying and beef-making are carried on together. The growing of babybeef is oil all fours with the production of early lamb ; and it can scarcely bo condemned since the animals whose constitutions are undermined by forcing are not used for breeding purposes, but go to the butchers as soon as the forcing has? reached the right stage. Unfortunately, however, there is so much dual purpose breeding in New Zealand that the dairy cow as often as not has her constitution undermined by being bred from before she is defcr tlv matured. Referring more particularly, however, to the production of baby beef, it must be remembered that the amount of feed required for a given gain is less in young than in old animals; hence the desirability, if beef is the object, of commencing to force at an early age. In many of the Western States of America this question lias received careful consideration. Scrubs are left out of the question. Taking wellj-bred cattle, the practice now adopted is to bring the cows in in the autumn, so that the calves can be fed on skim milk and grain until the spring pastures are green; then they can be turned out with a daily grain ration. When the pasture runs out again in the autumn the calves are forced on hay and grain to the age of sixteen and seventeen months. In New Hampshire the total cost of bringing animals to good market condition at that age is set down at about £6. In Michigan the early maturing breeds, if pushed from the start, can be sold at best profit at twelve months. Colorado seven to ten months old animals are foroed for six months on corn, oats, sugar beets, and hay. The experience of lowa, Nebraska, and Minnesota favours dairying and beef production hand in hand. Shorthorns give good returns in milk, and their steers make good beef. Milk having been withdrawn from the ration, corn gives better results than gluten meal bran, and linseed meal. A ration of lucerne, corn meal and oats has been founo give good results for beef. One , ac has been thoroughly demonstrated. 1 Minnesota, lowa, Utah, and oma<la, viz., that after weaning calves may De maintained on a good growth ration or

hay silage and common farm grains, and then forced so as to be in market condition at from one to two yean old.

MILK TESTS AT KAKARAMEA. Although an attempt has been made at Riverdale, says the “Hawora Star,” to introduce a system of testing individual herds it does not seem to have made so much progress there as at Kakaramea. And even at Kakarjnma farmers as a body appear to be strangely apathetic regarding a scheme v Inch, presents itself to a theorist being especially advantageous. In Kakaramea an attempt was at first made to charge the factory suppliers so much for each test, but that was found not to work at all. A few enthusiasts ucurred the expense, but tho majority was content to drift along in the old -way. When this method finally proved itself to be unsatisfactory it was resolved to charge practically all the expense to the factory, and i"Ui mppHers would necessarily pay 1 ?Jiare whether they availed themselves of the scheme or not. Stall even this was found to be not altogether satisfactory. Again there wore a few who took advantage of the facilities offered, and profited themselves by it, but the others remained careless or indifferent to its benefits. As tho pc-sitiou presents itself to the writer, there is only one method by which the output from the Kakaramea district can be increased, and that is by keeping tho most profitable cows. Already the l?nd has been closely settled upon, and it is unlikely that it will for many yeare to come have more country under cows than it has at present. That being the case, there is only one thing to be done, namely, to increase the productiveness of the individual members of th-o herd. And so far as can be seen at present the only way of doing that is to weed out the inferior cattle and replace them with better. It is obviously bad business to keep three cows grazing on a farm when two highergrade animals eating lees, would yield an equal return in butter fat. Yet that is what many dairymen in Taj-a-naki are doing to-day. And the only way to tell whether «a cow is worth keeping or not is to submit her produce to regular tests. It is obvious that one test would bo insufficient, as on a particular day the yield might happen to bo affected by any circumstance. The test should bo made, say, once a month, throughout the season.

CATTLE INSURANCE. At tlie annual meeting of the Addington Cattle Insurance Fund subscribers it was stated that the number of cattle which liad passed through the fund showed an increase of 2000 on the previous year, arid the proportion eondamned had decreased by 6 per cent. It had been discovered that a largo number of cattle purchased outside the Addington market was being passed through the abattoir uninsured, with probable loss to the fund. The figures for three months showed that tho number would ho over 2000 per annum. It was therefore resolved that the inspector should attend the abattoir when required. The financial result for the past twelve months showed a profit of £157 0s Id, and this, added to the existing capital, brought the total to £387 2s 6d.