GLEANINGS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8363, 25 February 1913, Page 2

GLEANINGS

Dairy farmers in the Masterton district complain that the .dry spell of weather experienced during, the past number of weeks has had a very had effect on the milk supply, and the outlook for a record season is not so bright as in the beginning of the season. There are 226 South Island farmers co-operating with the department in the conduct of field experiments this season. Altogether 8739 experiments will bo conducted on southern farms. 1 During the last six months of 1912 the British Government spent in compensation in oonsequenoo of foot-and-mouth disease in England and Wales a sum approximating £52,000. Many farmers do not know whether their cows are being worked profitably or not; many say it is too muon trouble to keep records, and that they do hot pay for the time spent over them. On the other hand,,every farmer who has’ tested his cows and bmiifd the unprofitable ones knows that it does pay and that it is very little trouble, it is blind policy to simply total up the proceeds at the end of tho season and divide the result by the-number of cows; it gives no idea whatever of tho possibilities of a herd. The question has been asked whether it pays to give high prices for fat cattle, such, as were sold at the Solway show. Mr Fairey, of Nelson, wno judged this class, bought one of the highest, priced animals, and expressed the opinion that It always pays to givo bigprices for animals o! such quality as , werj sold at Solway. Perhaps one.of the most important questions a dairyman can ask himself is, “In tho matter of breeding sro I Adopting the heat means of bunding a high-class herd?" One thing is voiy certain—you cannot afford to buy scrub bulla at so many shillings per leg. When you have made an independent fortune you can afford to indulge yourselves in that direction, but not before. "Whether you have to beg, borrow, or steal him, procure » high-bred sire from a well-known milking strain, and you are on the direct road to success. I am not advocating any special breed—that is for the farmer to decide; but I do advise, onoe a breed has been chosen, to stick to it through thick and thin. —Primrose McConnell.