FARM AND STATION NEWS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19697, 26 January 1926, Page 4

FARM AND STATION NEWS.

By Rtrsncrs

FORTHCOMING SHOWS. 1926. January 27. —Tapanui. February 16, 17, 18. 19.—Masterton. March 17. —Lake County. March 25.—Geraldine. Aoril s.—Mackenzie. When Hawke’s Bay farmers come to Otago looking for sheep there must be some good studs in the province. During the last week, two flockmasters from the northern province have been investigating the Corriedale on its native heath, and have been greatly impressed by their observations. They were surprised at the land and conditions to be found here, though they were not a little mystified by the methods employed in many studs. Their opinion is that tne Corriedale will soon be the most popular breed in New Zealand. • * * • One of the victims of the land boom a couple of years ago was a returned soldier, who sold a suburban property in Wanganui for £IOCO, which money he invested in a farm, paying for it £65 an acre. As he was unable to meet his liabilities, the farm was sold over his head and at the meeting of the Wanganui-Waitotara Patriotic Association an application was received from him for temporary help. ****-■ Dairy farmers along- this coast have been particularly busy during the last week, full advantage having been taken of the fine weather to save hay crops. . Paddocks thatwere closed late in the season appear to have yielded the greater weight, the growth of clovers and trefoils having been much more luxuriant during the past month. Many crops that were saved early were mostly top growth. * • * * Once again Poverty Bay farmers with ewss to sell (says the Gisborne Herald) are looking to the Addington market to see whether they will be able to dispose of them profitably there. The Herald continues on: It will be remembered that during last season close on 100,000 Poverty Bay ewes , were sent away to the south, very fair prices being received for the majority of the shipments. The indications this season, however, arc not so. good, and the present prices ruling at Addington would hardly justify big lots being sent away, * * * • Dairy farmers in the Tauranga district, in common with others throughout the province, have suffered from the prolonged dry spell, but the lucerne crops have done well this season and will prove of material assistance in keeping up the milk flow. Waihi Plains settlors might with advantage devote attention to the growth of this valuable fodder plant, which is claimed by experienced farmers to bo practically equal to bran as a milk producer. » * * • On- Friday night welcome rain fell in North Otago, but there was not sufficient. Acres and acres of good feed have been dying and burping up alarmingly of late, and gnaziers have been longing for a general fall, which is absolutely necessary to the district. The rainstorm of the week-end appears to have passed, and fanners will again be. looking anxiously at the heavens and longing to see them open and deluge their parched pastures. • * • « The existence of milk records assists tho herd owner in selecting the heifer calves from his best milkers to be retained for coming into tho herd three years hence. But milk records are invaluable in the selection of a bull. Like begets like, and we know that the father and mother exert an approximately equal influence on the dairy qualities of the offspring. Seeing that tho bull that fathers the herd has some 50 sons and daughters in the course of the year, whereas the cow only has one or two, it follow* that the bull is far more important then any individual cow. A bull that is to be useful to the dairy farmer must carry a guarantee not only as regards the outward appearance and tho constitution of. his offspring, but also as regards their milking ability. * ♦ * * The last summer show fixture for the present season will be held at Tapanui tomorrow, when the local Farmers’ Club’s annual fixture should attract a good deal of attention. The show usually provides an interesting number of exhibits in all classes, and as there are plenty of sources from which exhibitors can draw, this year’s day out for the purebred stock should prove at least as good as those of former years. A lot of work has been put into the event this year, and the omcials have not been disappointed with the response to their can- . vassing for entries. * •» * * The growth of grass in the pastures in the Walmafe district is such that the Stock are quite unable to keep it down, and farmers ere welcoming the warmer weather which is hardening the feed up. In some cases the sheep were beginning to scour, but this trouble has now (disappeared. After a very trying winter the cowmen are getting some of their own back, and the local factory is working at full pressure to cope with the flow of cream. * * * * The International Crop Report and Agricultural Statistics for November, published by the International Institute of Agriculture, contains the following notes on the world’s output of linseed. The 1023 output is, within the limits of the known estimates, the greatest which has ever been recorded, and is notably above that of 1913, Which held the record with 72 million centals. All the continents contribute to this result, but the greatest contribution comes from Argentina, where the first estimates exceed by more than 20 per cent, the record crop of 1020. •*■ * • The prospects for winter food supplies this year are very promising. Luxuriant growth has been so general of late that it has been found difficult to feed off pastures quickly enough, with the result that many more stacks of hay and ensilage are to be seen. While the good weather lasts this preparation for winter will be carried out extensively, as the soft, succulent pastures produced by equable conditions lend themselves admirably for winter fodder. This is a fault in the right direction. There can never be too much preparation for the off season. # * * * “Milking on shares is a fool game, as far as the owner is concerned,” confided a Taranaki dairy farmer to a representative of the News the other day. The indignant owner went on to explain. A share milker took no interest in the cows, the machines, or anything else. If cows required attention, they were given short shrift. If the plant were out of gear, it was not looked after. Leave it to the boss —it is his job to cows and plants up to efficient standard.” The fcoss, therefore, lost every time. The only effective way of- carrying on was for the share milkers to supply the plant and his own cows, the owner supplying the farm. # , , It is reported from North Auckland that in a three days’ tour of the small space of country between Maungaturoto and Hikurangi buyers secured no fewer than 600 pigs ready for the butcher. As the price paid was 5Jd a pound at the scale, the buyer’s visit means that £2OOO rash has beei, distributed among the farmers. The majority of the pigs will he utilised for home consumption. About 25 per cent, will be sent to Sydney as frozen pork. Although regarded merely as a side line, pig raising figures materially in the money-making possibilities of the Far North” , # * Cfops in Otago generally are looking healthy enough, though they are a good bit shorter than is usual at this season Too much wet Weather on end has caused this slow' growth, but a continuation of the past few weeke of warm weather, with an occasional light and refreshing rainfall, should improve matters greatly. At present the general hope is that fodder supplies will hold till the end of next mouth. In the northern districts graziers are a little less optimistic, as conditions have been cloudy akth to . drought lor a .while.

fltemt of interest t* those engaged in agricnltnnl and pastoral pursuits, with a view to their publication in these columns, will bo weleonred. They should be addiessed to “ Rustlcus,” Otago Dally Times, Dunedin.]