THE RURAL WORLD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23362, 30 November 1937, Page 3

THE RURAL WORLD.

FARM AND STATION NEWS.

By Rusticus

Items of interest to those engaged In agricultural and pastoral pursuits, with a view to their publication in these columns, will be welcomed. They should be addressed to "Rusticus," Otago Daily Times, Dunedin.

SUMMER SHOW SEASON DATES FOR 1937-38 Agricultural and pastoral shows for the 1937-38 season have been arranged as follows: : December I.—Central Otago at Oma kau December 4.—Tokomairiro Farmers Club at Miltoa December 7 and B.—Gore. December 11*—Wyndham. December 11.—Owaka. December 14 and 15.—Southland a' Invercargill • .: December 17.—Maniototo at Ran lurly. December 18.—Otago Peninsula at Portobello. December 27.—Tuapeka. at Lawrence. 1938 January B.—Blueskin, at Waitati. January 15.—Waikouaiti. January 21.—Palmerston-Waihemo ai Palmerston. March 19.—Upper Clutha. at Pembroke. April 9.—Temuka and Geraldine. at Winch6st6r« April 18.—Mackenzie Highland Show ■at Fairlie. NEW ZEALAND WOOL SALES ROSTER FOR 1937-38 SEASON The following roster of New Zealand wool sales for the 1937-38 season is announced. It has been arranged by the New Zealand Wool Brokers' Association and the New Zealand Wool Buyers Association:

The April dates are tentative only, and are subject to alteration and/or cancellation, according to the quantity of wool offering. ".::!.",

NEWS FROM CLUBS

On November 10, at the Thornbury Club's meeting, a committee was formed to decorate a 4orry to represent the cjub'at' the Riverton Centenary celebrations. Mr Stephenson then gave a very interesting talk on wool rolling, classing and methods of baling. * ';• * * At the Druid's' Hall on November 13 the Lawrence Club was entertained by Mr J. M. Rose, who gave an account of his recent trip to England and the Continent. **■ * . The property of Mr George Stevenson (Dacre) was the scene of a good gathering of Young Farmers from the Woodlands Club, together with some older members of the farming community on November 17. The occasion was the. Woodlands Club Field Day. Opening speeches were made by Messrs G. Stevenson. and C. McKenzie. of Wright, Stephenson and Co. Mr McKenzie followed during the day with a talk on the preparation of the wool shed prior to shearing, and the handling of wool. He also gave a demonstration of skirting and rolling. Instruction in the care of machines and grinding of the combs and cutters was given by Mr H.'Turnbull. Shearing classes were conducted throughout the day on both machines and blades. The instructors were Mr H. Turnbull (machines) and Mr J. G. Smith (blades). Bloodless docking and castration of lambs was also demonstrated. . *-.,._ * . * On October .25 the Duntroon Club met and arrangements were made for a dance. Mr R. Stringer, of Oamaru, gave an interesting talk on " Gleanings from the Grasslands Conference." * * * The Canterbury Agricultural College Old Students' Association has again offered to provide a scholarship valued at 25 guineas (half the college fees) for a first year diploma student at Lincoln College. This scholarship is open to any member of the clubs in the South Island. In addition to this scholarship it is to have other scholarships made available to club members, and clubs will be notified in this connection in due course. In the meantime applications should be. made to the secretary. South Island Council Box 693. Dunedin. before December 20. The thanks of the clubs are due to the Lincoln Old Students' Association for their action in this matteT

Appreciative references were made in connection with the Department of Agriculture's display at the recent Otago A. and P. Show by the many members who inspected this exhibit. It is anticipated that a more comprehensive display will be made at the Winter Show, when special sessions for club members will be arranged. #. * * The following is a further article on pasture plants by Mr S. H. Saxby:— Goosegrass (Bromus mollis) is a common annual weed grass occurring in open pastures and waste places throughout New Zealand. It is most common in districts that experience a hot. dry summer, and on this account is frequently found in seed-producing districts where old pasture ryegrass is harvested. In parts of Hawke's Bay and Poverty Bay the presence of this grass is serious in ryegrass seed crops. Goosegrass is encouraged greatly when paddocks are shut up for ryegrass seed production year after year. Seed production, when carried out continually, weakens both the clover and the ryegrass in the pasture and consequently leaves an excellent opening in the sward for the ingress and increase of annual grasses such as goosegrass. Goosegrass ripens its seed a little earlier.than ryegrass, which results in much of its seed shedding before or during cutting. In Otago goosegrass is quite common In the drier areas. It has become serious only in some districts where ryegrass seed production is being carried out continuously on old pastures or on young pastures containing this grass. The seed of goosegrass is, in its natural condition, considerably broader than that of ryegrass, but if threshed too hard the sides of the seed are broken off. This results in the goosegrass seed being reduced to almost exactly the same shape, size, and weight as that of ryegrass. Because of this,

seed cleaners have great difficulty in cleaning lines that have been hard threshed.

The only way to control goosegrass in a pasture is to build up a good ryegrass and clover sward by judicious grazing and manuring. In the vegetative state goosegrass is somewhat similar to Yorkshire fog in that both have soft, velvety leaves. Goosegrass, however, has no purple veins at the base of the sheath, whereas they are prominent on Yorkshire fog.

PUREBRED SHEEP BREEDING OR BUYING WHAT SHOULD A FARMER DO? The following address, delivered oy Mr O. T. Evans, of the Hawarden Club under the auspices of the New Zealand Federation of Young Farmers' Clubs, contains some interesting and instructive observations on the subject of the buying or breeding of purebred sheep by an eminently successful breeder. The subject of this talk has been well fought out many times, but I do not intend to express a definite opinion upon so controversial a subject. - Firstly, the question of any farmer buying or breeding his ewes depends entirely on whether he is solely a sheep farmer and also on the size of the flock he normally runs. If the farmer in the case does depend on sheep for all his income, I think that the breeding of his own ewes will certainly be of benefit to him. He can, by careful selection and successive cullings, produce a type of ewe which is suited to his particular requirements and to his class of country. If he is depending mainly on the production of wool, that is to say that the farmer does not fattemghis own wether lambs, then the property is probably running a halfbred or Corriedale type of sheep. In this case it is most essential that the farmer procures good rams, selected for their wool and carcass, especially the latter point, as this means that his store wether lambs will command a ready sale. *' The ewe lambs can all be kept until after shearing, except perhaps in the case of a few obvious culls, which it is always wiser to discard. Some months after shearing the now twotooth ewes can be thoroughly culled. The same applies here as in the case of the rams—selection for the flock being done on the dual-purpose lines of wool and carcass.

The farmer who fattens his lambs, except for those he keeps for breeding, will proceed along much the same lines, except that he will concentrate almost entirely on the carcass of his selected,rams and ewes. ' THE MIXED FARMERS ; Now we conurito the multitude of mixed farmers, whom the question of buying or.,breeding;ewes: really concerns. There are many factors,, all of which help to determine which system produces the best results. Perhaps the biggest single factor is the size of the flock concerned. If the farmer is principally dependent on crops, and runs only a few sheep, say anything up to 100 ewes, merely as a sideline to the main object of his farming, then it, is practically certain that he will buy his ewes, as he would not have ,lhe time necessary to .ensure the successful breeding of his own flock. He can replenish- his flock from standard station lines of four-year-old ewes, which, in all probability, will have been culled as two-tooths, so that a nice, even line can be obtained. The only objections here are that a farmer buying ewes from year to year very seldom obtains the same line of sheep, with the result that his wool clip will suffer in the matter of evenness in the type of wool. This will prevent his reaching the higher prices, as the buyers do not come to recognise the clip, as being the same quality every year.

Also, four-year-old ewes bought off hill country do not do very well for 12 months if they are run on fairly heavy land. Another point against the small flock owner breeding his own ewes is that the percentage of lambs that he obtains from his two-tooth ewes will not be nearly so high as that from the older ones, and since he is running the sheep as a sideline he cannot afford to have dry ewes giving no return except for their wool for two years, more especially if they are of the fat lamb breeding type, where the wool is of only a secondary consideration. LOWERING THE STANDARD

Then, again, there are numerous farmers who run a slightly larger number of sheep, and some of these periodically keep a number of ewe lambs to build up their flocks, after the fat lamb buyer has been through the whole line of lambs. The practice definitely tends to lower the standard of the flock as the fat lamb buyer takes all the prime ewe lambs that have fattened quickly on their mothers, leaving the ones that have not done so well, and it is from these that the farmer selects the lambs which he intends to keep. Now a little thought will show that a ewe lamb that has fattened quickly on its mother has a far better chance of producing a similar type with quick-fattening propensities than the poorer lamb that has not fattened on its mother. MORTALITY IN YOUNG STOCK

A great bugbear that the smaller or mixed farmer has to contend with when breeding his own ewes Is the mortality among lambs and hoggets which has developed to an alarming extent during recent years. There are numerous diseases, some of which can be cured or prevented with considerable trouble and expense, but there are also many about which very little is known, and losses from these are on the up grade every year. This factor affects the farmer very seriously indeed, as in a particularly bad year he may have a death rate of 10, 15, or even up to 20 per cent, in his hoggets This means that the ewes that >-ave nroduced lambs which have died as 9 result of these diseases have a nonproductive year, and th-: farmer will have had a complete loss, whereas if he was using his breeding ewes to produce fat lambs only, the lambs would 'have been sent to the freezing works before the most dangerous period, which comes after weaning time. On the other hand, a farmer breeding his own ewes finds that young sheep once at the two-tooth stage are easier to keep in good condition than older ewes, that is to say, ewes over five years old. They will resist setbacks such as droughts, and gain in condition much more quickly after such a setback. Then, of course, there is the tarmer who wishes to concentrate on a special type of sheep, or some particular cross, and the only way he can do this is by breeding his own ewes, but this case is the exception rather than the rule. A case illustrating this is that of a farmer crossing Ryeland rams with Corriedale or half-bred ewes, and putting the resulting ewe lambs back to Corriedale rams again, with very excellent results indeed. OFTEN LOSE MONEY

Many mixed farmers, who at various times endeavour to chase the high market value of fat lambs, by buying breeding ewes during a year when fat lamb, or, for that matter, wool, is at a level well above normal find that this practice is not to be recommended, as they very often lose money in their efforts to make more. The reason for this is that by next year the price of lamb or wool may haye dropped very considerably and the returns gained are out of all proportion to the high prices paid for the ewes, A very good illustration of the changing from the sheep to wheat, and vice versa, was

given some weeks ago, where figures were quoted showing the swing-over which fluctuated according to the value of sheep and wheat. In one particularly good year for wool and meat the wheat acreage sown was almost half that for ihe year when wool and meat were much lower. To sum up the whole thing, it appears, with exceptions, of course, that S farmer with anything under 500 ewes is better to buy his ewes, as the trouble of breeding would not repay him. Anything over 500 ewes it is optional, but there is quite a lot in the favour of breeding ewes when the number of sheep run warrants it.

Centre. Opening time. 1937. Napier 9 a.m. December 3 Wellington 9 ajn. December 8 Christchurch 9 a.m. December 13 Timaru 8 a.m. Decembei 17 Dunedin 9 a.m. December 21 1938 January 10 Wellington 9 a.m. Napier 9 a.m. January 15 Wanganui 9 a.m January 20 Auckland 8 a.m. Januarv 24 Christchurch 9 a.m. January 31 Invercargill 9 a.m. February 4 Dunedin 9 a.m. February 9 Wellington 9 a.m February 16 Napier 9 a.m. February 21 Wanganui 2.30 or 4 p.m. February 25 Christchurch 9 a.m. March 3 Timaru 9 am March 7 Invercargill 2 p.m, March 11 Dunedin 9 a.m. March 16 Wellington 9 a.m, March 22 Auckland 9 a.m, March 26 Wanganui 9 a.m, March 30 Napier 9 a.m. April I Christchurch 9 a.m. April 8 Dunedin 2 p.m. April 12 and/or 9 a.m, April 13 Wellington 9 ajn. April 22