THE RURAL WORLD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23637, 22 October 1938, Page 3

THE RURAL WORLD

FARM AND STATION NEWS

By RUSTICUS.

Item* of interest to those engaged in agricultural and pastoral pursuit*, with a view to their publication in these columns, will be welcomed. They should be addressed to Rusticue, Otago Daily Times, Dunodio.

1938-39 WOOL SEASON ROSTER OF SALE DATES The following roster of sale uates tor the 1938-39 season has been drawn up by the New Zealand Wool Committee;— November 26 t 9 a.m.). —Auckland. December 2 (9 a.m.).—Napier. December 7 (9 a.m.).— Wellington December 12 (9 a.m.). —Christchurch December 16 18 a.m.).—Timaru. December 20 (9 a.m.).— Dunedin Januarv 9 (9 a.m.). Wellington. January 14 t 9 a.m.).— Napier January 19 '9 a.m.).—Wanganui January 24 (9 a.m.).—Auckland January 30 (9 a.m.).—Christchurch February 3 (2 p.m.).-Invercargill February 8 (0 a.m.).—Dunedin. February 15 (9 a.m.).— Wellington February 20 (9 a.m.).—Napier February 24 (2.30 p.m.).-WangauuL March 3 (9 a.m.) -Christchurch March 7 (8 a.m.).—Timara March 11 <2 p.m.).-Invercargill March 10 (9 a.m.) Dunedin. March 23 (9 a.m.).-Wellingtoa March 27 (9 a.m.).—Auckland. March 30 (2.30 p.m.).-Wanganui April 3 (9 a.m.).—Napier April 14 (9 a.m.) -Christchurch. April 19 (9 a.m.).—Dunedin. April 24 (9 a.m.).—Wellingtoa 1938-39 SHOW SEASON ROSTER OF DATES Summer shows have been arranged for the 1938-39 season as follows: October 28 and 29.—Timaru. November 10 and 11.; —Canterbury Metropolitan, at Addington. November 16.—Waimate November 16.—Kelso. November 18 and 19. —North Otago, at Oamaru. November 19. —Talerl. November 22 and 23. —Otago Metropolitan, at Tahuna Park. November 25. Clutha and Matau. at Balclutha. November 26.—Winton. _ , December 3.—Tokomamro Farmers Club, at Milton. December 6 and 7.—Gore. December 10.—Wyndham. December 13 and 14. —Southland, at December 16.—Manlototo. at Ranturly December 17.—Otago Peninsula, at Portobello , , December 27.—Tuapeka, at Lawrence. 1939 January 14.—WaitatL January 21.—Waikouaiti. January 27.—Palmerston-Waihemo. at Palmerston. March 18.—Mount Benger, at Miller’s April 8 10.—Strath -Taieri at Middlemarch. , , , . April 10.—Mackenzie Highland, at Fairlie. When Wool Prices Were High Old records found amid musky dustcovered files indicate that the world s record price for wool is held by Australia. On the basis of present-day values it seems likely to stand for all time. Established in the good old days of 1827 8.R., the figure is 196 d, or 16s 4d a lb. An Australian commentator pointed out that the B.R. stood for Before Rayon, sceptically pointing out that the price was paid away back in the days before modem civilisation came, with its bounteous benefits to the woolgrower, such benefits as “bearing" the market staple fibre, artificial wool, the blowfly, and taxation. New Zealand Chilled Beef Butchers in the retail trade in Great Britain are showing more confidence nowadays in New Zealand s chilled beef and have set up a continual demand for it. Increased supplies during the past year have been absorbed without trouble. , Although this business is well established now, prices for the New Zealand article are not within one penny a pound of the best Argentine chilled beef. However, it is as well to remember when making comparisons that the Argentine has been in the chilled beef trade for more than 30 years, two of which were largely confined to experimental shipments. Export Lambs Producing export lambs is a specialist’s business. As soon as a lamb reaches the stage where it will dress 281 b or 381 b. it should be despatched to market. Over-fat lambs lose the compactness and attractiveness of their quarters and the demand for them Is limited comnared with that for export types. If a breeder is In doubt whether his lambs are readv for export, it is advisable to catch a few typical lambs and weigh them, The dressed weight is approximately 50 per cent, of the live weight of a prime sucker lamb. Actually a lamb will dress a little better than 50 per cent., but due allowance must be made for loss of weight in transit. Experiments have shown that the loss over various distances is about 7 per cent., or approximately 21b of flesh weight. Marketing of Lambs

Following are some important “ don'ts ” with respect to the marketing of fat lambs:—

1. Don’t yard the lambs earlier than necessary.

2. Don’t knock the animals about during drafting. 3. Don’t drove them to the trucks alone: it is advisable always to put in with them 20 or 30 ewes to prevent them from “ breaking.” 4. Don’t truck them when they are overheated or thirsty.

5. Don’t overload the trucks. 6. Don’t use a stick when loading, 7. Don’t use a dog that will bite. 8. Don’t touch or handle a lamb in any way unless It is absolutely necessary, always remembering that bruises mean loss of nrice.

Bull for Waimahaka Stud Messrs Alex. Holms and Sons' famous Waimahaka Hereford Stud, the oldest in the South Island, and one of the oldest in the Dominion, is developing both types of the breed, the horned and the polled. In connection with the latter, importations of both male and female stock have been made both from the United States and Canada. This year it has been found necessary to purchase another young polled sire, as the first crop of polled' heifers bred in the stud are now ready for mating. After a careful inspection of various studs, Mr Alex Holms recently made a selection of a sire, the bull chosen being a yearling bred in Miss Bessie Donald’s Papatahi Stud in the Wairarapa. This bull. Papatahi Cutler 25th, who was purchased through the agency of Messrs Wright. Stephenson and Co Ltd., is a member of this season’s show team, and delivery is not to be taken until after the season’s major shows are passed, as it is expected that Cutlei 25th will be a very hard bull to defeat. He is a very thick, compactly made bull, evenly proportioned, and stands’* well on short legs. He has the typical sire's head and eye, a deep, full chest level top, and exceptionally good hindquarters, being splendidly filled in the twist and well let down. Cutler 25th

has practically a perfect coat and colour, and his deep covering of flesh handles beautifully. He is one of the best bulls sired by Dale Cutler Junior (imp.), who is proving to be one of the best sires yet imported. Cutler 25th is from the Gay Princess tribe, which was one of the best families developed by the late James McKenzie. It was from his noted stud that all the foundation females for the Papatahi Stud were secured, and it is interesting to recall that Mr Holms had in earlier years also secured sires from the old McKenzie herd, so in his latest purchase in so far as the maternal line is concerned, he Is keeping to blood lines already proved at Waimahaka. Last year a new sire for the horned herd was also introduced at Waimahaka. as Mr Holms then selected a sire bred by Messrs Hutchinson Bros., of Gisborne.

Clydesdale Colt from Hampden Tire iiay ol j. ieniy oreeaer Mr J. T. Paul, of upotiki, has just acquired an outstanding Clydesdale coll irom the South island. This is the rising four-year-old dark bay coll ingiemere Gay Lad. A very attractive looking horse. Ingiemere Gay Lad promises to develop into a horse ol great power and weight. He already stands 17 hands high. Up to the present he has not been shown, but, as he has the right class of bone, his hair is of grand quality and he has the true action of a high-class Clydesdale, he should make a name for himself in the show rings. His full-sister, which is still owned by the breeder, Mr David Caldwell, of Edendale, has not yet been beaten and Mr Caldwell is said to have refused 500gns for her. Ingiemere Gay Lad was purchased for Mr Paul through the agency of Messrs Wright. Stephenson and Co., Ltd., from the present owners, Messrs Nicolson Bros, of Hampden, Otago. He is a very wellbred horse, as he is a son of that great breeding horse, Scotland’s Superb (imp.), while his dam, Ingiemere Rosebud, Is by another very successful imported breeding sire, Myroe Footprint. Mares by the latter horse are proving wonderful matrons in the South, it being generally conceded that they rank in this respect with the daughters of the great Baron Bold. In addition to being from a most successful colonial family. Ingiemere Gay Lad carries the very best of imnorted blood, his grandam, Ingiemere Jess, being by another very successful imported sire in Silver Crest. As all his line have been noted workers as well as grand breeding stock, the importation of this young stallion into the Bay of Plenty should prove a very decided acquisition.

Care of Implements Where farmers have mechanised their daily operations all the more importance becomes attached to the overhauling of their plant. The work should be regular and thorough. Only by this means can they reduce their depreciation costs, and in these days of mounting costs In all directions any avenue for “pruning” is of vital importance. Unless the farmer takes full account of the machinery he has at his disposal, checks up on It regularly and sees to it that it is carefully housed when not in use, he will soon find that it does not give its full efficiency; nor will he be able to rely on it for the seasonal jobs without hold-ups. A delay in harvesting through the failure of the machinery employed for instance. results in greater labour costs in addition to the cost of repairs. Depreciation through natural causes is great enough, without allowing it to build up through carelessness.

Points in the Sire Just as with other classes of live stock so with dairy animals are there points which should be watched closely. Among those that should be stressed in the selection of the herd sire are:—

1. First and foremost comes Individuality, plus a pedigree that lacks nothing to be desired for six generations. 2. A bull that has pronounced masculinity protruding right out of him.

3. A head that carries breed character, short, wide between the eyes, with the eye itself very prominent. 4. A real broad muzzle with wide open nostril. 5. A good topline, a good underline. 6. A well-mounted neck vein, with a wide, thick loin, well covered, hook bones that are well bedded and hard to detect, such an animal seldom leavang thing to be desired in the way of filling between the hooks and the tail.

7, A good, square set of outtocks that are Both wide and deep, that hang straight from the tail head to the point of hock and carry well down to the twist.

8. A rib that is well sprung, a point that it essential to a strong constitution, and evenness of filling behind the shoulders, something that a great many individuals in all breeds lack. 9. A set of four good pillars, possessing a quantity of bone that shows Quality, and so set under him at each corner that he can. when on the walk in show or pasture, style a ton body of perfect ease. NO SENTIMENT ANIMAL HUSBANDRY PURELY A BUSINESS CARRIED ON FOR PROFIT SELECTING PROGENY Live stock husbandry is not a matter of sentiment, it is a business, like any other, carried on for profit, and the object of the breeder is to raise animals which will give the highest money return for the food they consume. In these few words one writer years ago cryptically summed up the big business of breeding. With the passage of years there has been definitely no change in the position

Sheep are perhaps the most plastic of all our domestic animals in the hands of a skilful breeder, and a leading characteristic in any well-bred flock is uniformly in type, the lack of which is evidence of a want of system in selection and culling. Selection does not begin and end with the buying of expensive sires, but rather in close study of _ blood lines and individual merit. It is a mistake to attempt to build up a high-class flock if the owner selects rams from several different breeders in turn. This action will only lead to the forces of heredity influencing the progeny to such an extent as to mar the possibility of anything approaching uniformity in wool and carcass. No breeder of live stock has ever been successful without having clearing in mind an ideal standard of excellence which they steadily aim to attain. A writer on this question as far back as 1880 stated: “ To such extreme perfection has the improvement of the animal been carried that one is lost in admiration at the skill of those who work out such alterations. It would seem as if they had chalked out on a wall a form perfect in itself and then had given it existence." This is evidence that years back it was realiised by at least some that there exists an art in breeding. Close on half a century has passed since those lines were written, and to-day many farmers are not much further ahead. Those who realise the definite desirability of working towards an ideal have made progress; those who have not have failed to make headway. Fine judgment used in choosing the sires can do much towards bringing about uniformity in a flock. Rigid culling must, however, go hand in hand with judgment, and this is where many breeders fail by striving after number instead of excellence in quality and constitution. No matter what the parents may be, the old axiom that “ like begets like ” does not always hold good, and the safest course is to follow Nature’s plan of allowing only the survival of the fittest to reproduce their kind. Maintain the general standard not only by using high-class sires from the same lines of blood, but by consistent elimination of animals of either sex which fail to measure up to the ideal aimed at. It should be borne in mind that it is much easier to breed out one pronounced defect than to get rid of general all-round mediocrity and also that the character of the whole flock is of more importance from the breeder’s standpoint than that of any Individual animal. The practical breeder knows that his chief power of improving his flock lies in selection —patient, persistent selection, Nature’s fundamental nrinciple underlying all improvement. Good care in management and good selection for what is aimed at sum up the whole art of breeding, and with these with time and patience almost anything in reason can be accomplished. SPEEDING-UP FARM PURSUITS TRACTORS EMPLOYED FARMING CHARACTERISTICS UNDERGO CHANGE While there remain Jobs for the farm horse to perform, tractors to-day are a firmly established part of the farm equipment, more especially on larger properties. Large tracts of land have to be turned over each year for cropping throughout the Dominion and the crops have to be handled and harvested. In these days of mechanisation and a demand for speed in primary pursuits, just as in other industries, it is not surprising to find that radical alterations have taken place in the characteristics of farming over the past two or three decades. Agricultural tractors have been in use to a slight extent, and with variable success, from about 1910 onwards. Their general adoption, however, was given a fillip by the war, and in the succeedingyears their use became very general. Thus wrote Mr F. R. Callaghan. officer in charge of the Plant Research Bureau, dealing with the subject in an interesting manner in “Agricultural Organisation in New Zealand.”

Their advantages in improving the utilisation of land have already been referred to, and these can be more or less attributed to the single factor of their being able to provide a greater tractive power than was possible with horses, unless the latter were coupled together in numbers, which made the size of the team somewhat difficult to control.

The advantages accruing from the use of tractors were principally shown up in the operations of ploughing and harvesting. In ploughing it was possible to break up soil pans which had been formed by long years of ploughing to certain comparatively shallow depths, the tractor giving the additional power which was necessary for this operation. Furthermore, the speed with which the operation was done was a distinct advantage in almost all classes of soil, in that it allowed of a long exposure to the weathering influences of the atmosphere. This was marked in the case of the stiffish clay where rapidity of action was essential to gain the advantages which endure for a brief period when the moisture content of these soils was at an optimum for ready cultivation.

In many cases tractors were worked in double shifts during the stress of the season. Tractors of the caterpillar type also served a very useful purpose for the considerable reclamation of swamp soils which has proceeded during the present century. The caterpillar tractor could be utilised on land of boggy nature, and the power which such Implements could develop enabled the turning of furrows of such a size as very rapidly smothered the weed growth. The successful reclamation of large swamp areas was due, in great nart. to the advent of caterpillar tractors. Though oil tractors have been used for harrowing, drilling and other operations where the simultaneous use of several imnlements was feasible, in general their use in this respect has not been extensive, and reliance is still largely put on the horse team for this class of farm work. DOMINION WOOL ITS CHANGED CHARACTER INFLUENCE OF REFRIGERATION There can be no more striking indication of the change brought about bv the development of refrigerated transport in the character of the New Zealand wool clip than a comparison of recent sheep statistics with those for 1882 when 90 ner cent, of the Dominion’s 13 000,000 sheep were merinos To-day only 3 per cent of the sheep population of 31.000.000 are merinos, and only 2 per cent, of the total weight of wool produced is merino. The preponderance of long wool orossbred sheep in itself demonstrates the importance placed bv the New Zealand farmers on the production of lamb and mutton and because of the nature of the country this must always continue to have a predominating influence on the class of wool produced. Due to the British public’s preference during post-war years for smaller carcasses and ioints of mutton and lamb, the New Zealand sheep farmer has had to alter his breeding policy to suit the demand and during recent years the character of the clip has undergone a steady change from medium to fine crossbred There has been an increasing tendency to use fine woolled rams in place of the larger framed coarse woolled Lincolns, which either mated with Lin coin or Romnev 'ewes used to produce the deep preparing crossbred wools which in years gone bv were a feature if the New Zealand clip. To-day the North Island crossbred •lip is bulk 46/30’s. whereas some years ago 40/44’s predominated and deep 36/40’s were comparatively freauent In the South Island where halfbreds and Corriedale comprise the bulk of Hn flocks ,v >e din is rftost.lv 50 / 56’s. and even on the heavy fattening land. Southdown rams for the production of quick-maturing lambs are being used to an increasing extent, and the Romney crossbred clip is steadily growing finer.

PEDIGREE BLOOD IN LIVE STOCK AN ESSENTIAL FACTOR CLEAR IDEA OF BEST TYPES NECESSARY NOTED BREEDER’S VIEW Any breeder of any kind of living thing must have a definite idea as to what he wants to breed if any success is to be attained, writes the wellknown Red Poll breeder Sir Merrik Burrell in The Times. So the wise man chooses both the parents as near as possible to the type he has in his mind’s eye. This may be nearly sufficient for success if he is breeding some very simple thing in the lower orders of life, but it is very likely to lead to disappointment in complex animals like our domesticated ones, unless he has knowledge of the antecedents which caused those two parents to look as they do. If he knows that for several generations back the ancestors on both sides have been of the type, of possessed of the qualities, he needs, then he can be confident that the progeny will reproduce them, within reasonable limits. In order that this knowledge should be available, breeders years ago banded themselves into societies, established herd, stud, and flock books, decreed what foundation animals should be registered in those books, and have their progeny registered in succeeding generations and their performances put on record. Armed with the information thus available, breeders have evolved radually all the many wonderful pedigree breeds of which this country is so proud, from the race horse to the pig. It must be emphasised that a pedigree should indicate to the breeder not merely a collection of names, but a record of performance and of families with their particular characteristics. which are known to the student of the breeding of any particular kind of animal. It is well known that the more generations of a certain type an animal 'ias in its ancestry the more likelv it >s to reproduce them. Hence the yalue of pedigree stock. “Pedigree” is merelv an assurance that an_ animal will reproduce progeny like itself if mated with another registered in the mme book, and nothing more. Also when mated with a mongrel the type of the “pedigree” aninial —the animal with the many generations of ancestors o. like type—dominates that of the mongrel, which may have a variety of ancestors