STOCK & GRAZING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2111, 9 August 1894, Page 7

STOCK & GRAZING NOTES.

By Dhoveb.

Weekly Stock Sales : Monthly : Burnside, Wednesdays Clinton, Palmerston, rnverc rgill, Tuesdays an |j Winton. Ashburton, Tuesdays Addington, Wedne3d'yß " Periodically : Fortnightly: Heriot, K<= T^o, and KyeBalclutha, Fridays U-..-H. Gore, Tuesdays. [Communications of interest U> stockbreeders and dealers are cordially imited. All jommanlcatlona to reaoh Witness offio* □ot later than Monday night,] A very nice lot of fat cattle were yarded at Burnside last week, and out of the 156 head to hand, more than half were in prime condition, but owing to the quantity being ratber large prices were not so good as the quality of the cattle would have led one to expect. The best bullocks brought from £9 to £12 ; prime fat cows from £8 to £9 ; light weights of good beef from £6 10s to £7. The demand from town butchers, owing, I 'suppose, to the prevailing dulness and hard-up-ness of the community, is not great, and anything like an over-supply in the yards has a very marked effect in lowering prices. As I am of opinion that . prices will considerably improve, I think that farmers should be in no hurry with their fat stock. The continued wet weather and the sloppy condition of the turnip fields no doubt has forced, and continues to force, farmers to quit their stock sooner than they otherwise would do.

The demand for dairy cattle continues brisk all ove' 1 , and both in Canterbury and Otago good milking heifers command from £6 to £7, and good quality dairy cows calving early command up to £9.

Both in the yards and at country sales a lot of dairy cattle are offered, but these, for the most part are of inferior quality, being usually culls. Buyers may reckon that their purchases of dairy cattle at £3 to £4 are not of much a' count. At some of the clearing sales of stock this was very noticeable, th=j owners having, 1 should say, sold the good stock at good, prices

to their neighbours, their places being taken with culls from th • neighbourhood generally.

In st jre cattle just at present, owing to the bad we it her, little or nothing is doing.

In fat sheep at Burnside yards 2577 looked a large entry last week, but owing to the quality being good there was a deal of buying for freezing, and this helped to keep prices at a satisfactory level for really prime mutton. Other so.ts, however, sold at low rates; and the c. latter so m to suit the town batchers in the^j dull times. Prime .she- p brought from 14s fo as high as 16s 6d, the average for { rime fi\ ezer's being about 15s ; inferior and medium mutton, from 8s to 12s,

Iv store sheep ver/ little is doing, and owing to the wet weai h r all over there has been a considerable wastpge in v inter feed, wlrch will doubtless have its effect. It will be s -me time befote there can be much spring feed, and un il th- n there cannot be a gre t d al doing in s ore sheep.

Brother Jonathan has not yet put through that tariff bill allowing the entry of wool free of duty. Every effort is being m.de by the large and influential protected industries to prevent its becoming law, protection being far worse than even the proverbial horse leech, to get rid of. Th^t America will ultimately rid herself of this pernicious principle I am perfectly sure, even at the price of rebellion and much trouble and possibly civil war. It is to be hoped that we shall soon hear that the maiter is settled. Meantime our fruitgrowers will be short-sighted if they lend their aid to fastening more pro ection on this country by advocating duties on fruir. All farmers in Ne# Zealand should in their own interests be honest, right-out free traders, for even in the matter of self-interest, apart from moral ty, tLe'r position ia New Zealand is exactly the reverse of farmers in the old country. In j.igs the principal business at both Burnside and at Addingtou is in suckers and. stores, and thes j , I should say, command rates extremely prod! able to breeders, baconers and porkers bringing about 3sd p.. rib. The horse market begins to show more signs of life, there being a fair demand for strong youDg draught and spring cart horses. Prices of b,oth sheep and cattle in Canterbury seem to be just a little better than those prevailing in Otago. The Addington fat stock market has been lately rather poor in quality,

and the business there not by any means lively, I most of the fat sheep offered being "rejects" from the freezing work*, and as long as these are cheap they suit the butchers, as trade in Christchurch is no doubt as dull as in Dunedin, and cheap meat as well as cheap everything else is a necessity with most town householders at present. The only line there seems to be much briskness in at Addington is good dairy cattle, which bring prices ranging between £6 to £9. Some good crossbred toggets at Addington brought from 8s 6d to 10s 6d, and two-tooths from lls 6d to 12s 6d ; and it looks as if prices may improve later. The "Woolly Festival" is an interesting record of the Sydney stud sheep sales, and contains a lot of interesting matter oa sheep-breediug by "Globe Trotter," of the Sydney Stock and Station Journal. . From it I sec that the average prices given in this column some time ago were fairly accurate. There was, of curse, a little speechifying after the gales, and Messrs Overton, Bojle, and Pattillo made some interesting remarks. They were aU oxceediogly modest in this respect (especially as they are well qualified to speak), merely giving their own experiences in New Zealand, and not in any way attempting to tefich their Australian grandmothers how to suck eggs or breed freezers. The Australian no doubt thinks he knows all about that now, and no doubt he will know more in a year or two by, in some cases, deary bought experience. Although so many sheep may not go to next yeat's fair, I ajn of opinion that a good trade in longwool rams has been mit i *ted, and that many flockowners there will be now in a position to judge of the New Zealand sheep best; suited to their requirements, and will order di-ect, thus saving much expense.

The friends of the English farmer are ever on the alert to find some fault with New Zealand mutton. It seem* to bo no/f recognised by the English press when writing on the subject that for years the careful English householder has been eating New Zealand lamb and mutton, bel : eving it to be prime Scotch or Welsh ; and now that its reputation is becoming more.estab-

lished, and people are asking for New Zealand meit, oth' r methods to counteracts popularity must be found by those interested in Englishgrown mutton I *m sorry for the English farmers, and hope that as they come to see that New Zealand means to keep at it, both in dairy produce and in meat, they will in in vny cases transfer their ene gy and ability to this side of the world, and come out to Maoriland. Every inducement ought to be given such men to settle in our tuirlst. Wo need them, and there is ample room for them.

The latest idea for unpopularis'ng New Zealand mutt mi is the hook scare, and the Fishing Gazette a short time ago published the full, true, and particular details of this hook or gambrel, as th y call it, and also gave an illustration of the dreadful horror ; and in the same gaz tte of May 19, the fol'owing j.assage occu-s : —

"It never rains but it pours ! " " The Campbells > re coming ! " are old quotations. The last new one is "The Gambrels are coming." We recently related the narrow escape from serious inju-y of Mr Walker and Mr Hobljn's si ter t r - rough eating New Zealand mutton. Tbis week wo hear that Mr J. H Chukeel has had a similar experience. "While at dinner,"* he says, "I got hooked, and excliimed, Hallo ! ' What, another gambrel ! ' li tie thinking it m'ght be ; but was surprised to find it identical with the illustration in your Gaz tte, the o ly difference beaig the slight addition of a r ng on the shank of the hook, having the appeu'ance o the ' eye ' of a leather label." We have iv our possession this dangerous little morceav, and should s'rongly recommend a watchful vigil ince during the coming "green pea and amb >eason " that your butcher does not send you New Zealand mutton with a L.bel attached, "Made in England." Tte th rd time enerally " does it." This is the third ti-re slid it is a case of "hooks and eye-=."

The name Chukecl suggests a joke, but I refrain, as the matter is of a somewhat painful character. It appears that a small hook with label attached is inserted right in the very slr<nk of the nsutton by some of our meat-freeze ing companies, and our English friends mast be very hungry and possibly rather -greedy if they have to eat that bit. From the quotatioa mad~ above, however, it seems an open question as to whether the label and hook under review was in crt -d in New Zealand by the meat exporter, as a New Zealand mark, or by the enterprising English butcher marking our mutton as " grown in England." The importance of New Zealand meat being marked is

being more fully demonstrated every day, and so I shall await with interest the result of the experiments now being made with Dawsou's patent labels and others. Meantime these hooks had better be stopped, or New Zealand mutton may polish off Mr Gladstone or Lord Rosebery, and a 1 though that wou'd L be a grand " ad." for New Zealand mutton, we should, for the time at least, regret it.

Last week you published from the Lytfcelton Times a most interesting article, being an interview with Mr A. Vecht, of t^c Int-rmarine Supply Company, our great New Zealand pig man. May his shadow never grow less, and may the energy and ability with which he has for the pasi two years preached the importance and benefits to be derived from the establishment of the pork industry on a proper basis be' rewarded with a plentiful tupply of material for his export trade. I hope a'l farmers will read the article in question, and I want them also to read the following letter, written by' Mr Lacelles, a leading Victorian agriculturist, to the editor of the Argus : —

FEEDING PIGS ON WHEAT. (To the Editor of the A-gus.)

Sir, — I am now in a posi ion to give resu'ts from fattening 186 pigs oi wheat. As they formed part of 358 stores purchased in the Warrnambooi market by Mr J. Archibald on my account, the remainder now being fattened, I csn only give proportion of feed used, and presumably the balance may nt turn out so well, as'amongsi them would.be th n oeM bad-doers. I have taken paui3 to see that the " pig .account has been debited with every item of expenditure, and am so satisfied with results obtained that I have erected permanent and more convenient enclosures, with several sheltered pens in which to top off the forward pigs. In my present experiment the pigs all ran together in a 10-acre well-watered enclosure.

Mr J. C. Ilutton, the well-known baconcurer, who inspected and agreed to purchase all my consignments, gave me many valuable hint' 3 , and pointed out; that with pigs running about tfce hams did not develop as they would do if penned up. Then again i 6i 6 has been a disadvantage for small and large pigs to feed together, naturally the former being very much ' ' elbowed " out of the troughs. At first raw wheat was merely thrown on the bare ground, involving a certain amount of waste. After a week or two

wheat was steeped in cold water and put in'o wooden troughs. Now my manager cohs'ders it a great economy to crush the wheat, which for the fu'ure will be done, and the pigs graded as to size and kept in separate enclosures.

In addition to the wheat — which although water-damaged was charged at the full ma-k t price for sound, la 6d por bushel -the refuse of winnowers and haystaoks was given in the first few weeks, bu'i fu 1 values were debited. Statement of account stands as follows :—: — Expenditure

This shows that even at 2s a bushel it pays to feed pigs, and that we can regard that price as a " bedrock" one on the farm, and which no. grower should sell below. I am so satisfied that I mean to enter largely into the breeding of pigs, so a* to do away with the present necessity of purchasing scores at so distant a market as Warmamboo l . I think most people a ill agree with me that £13 14s 5d n an excessive charge by the R.ilway department for one truck from Hopetouu to Melbourne, a distance, via Geelong, of 279 miles, especially when the sameidenticaj truck loaded with sheep would ouly cost £9 3s. The additional weight of a truck of pigs would only be trifling, so extra haulage should not be considered as worth a 50 per cent increase in freight. Even with an offer to reload the trucks which came from Warrnambool with fa ( s from Melbourne I could only obtain a rebate of 10s on the' £13 14s sd, and I preferred to keep my grievance to accepting so inadequate a reduction.

The question of future prices for pigs must be considered. For wheat-fed pigs, 3d per lb in Melbourne seems a moderate price, and I am told that a Mr Vecht, in New Zealand, is the

patentee of a new process for curing pigs, and that in that colony he is prepared to purchase up-country in unlimited quantities at 3d per lb. With the development of the industry here, I darosay Mr Vecht would be prepared also to establish works in this colony. Trusting the information given may be of value to the farming interest,— l am, &c , _ , E. A. Lascelles. Lake Corrong, Hopetoun, July 11.

You will notice that Mr Lascelles makes out that (allowing pigs in Melbourne at 3d per lb deid weight, Bnd after paying 3s 9d per head railage to Melbourne, and commission) the " bedrock" price of wheat is 2s per bushel on his farm, 269 miles from. 3fclbourne ! In New Zealand Mr Vecht offers 3d per lb at any railway station, there being thus no railage to pay and no commission, consequently the bedrock price of wbeat should ba nearer 3s than 2s, it' properly used, on any New Zealand farm. I saw Mr Vecht the other day andshowed him Mr Lascelles's letter, and made a note of Mr Vecbt's remarks thereupon, and hero they are :— He says that the letter is a very ablo one, practical, and quite correct, but that Mr Hutton's advice to Mr La celle* is not altogether rigbt. As to hams not developing through pigs running about, Mr Vecht is of opinion tl:at tie running a' out prevents pig< making fat before they have made muscle. The best bams are from pigs tfcat have a good run. The fact that wild pigs are poor" in the hindquarters is not due to their running about, but to too early interbreeding, and, therefore, degeneration. A sty-ktpt boar, notwithstanding its being penned up, is always po r in ham development. Mr Vecht advocates self-feeding troughs, the same as those used for sheep, to be filled as required and put out in the pig paddock near a pool of water. This, method will prove a great saving of labour and trouble, and will be found very effective. Mr Vecht advocates running pigs as far preferable to stying, ani he also quotes Mr Jobn Qrigg, of Long Beach, who. says it pays to feed pigs on wheat at 3s per bushel.

The new Dairy Industry Act, to be brought before Parliament shortly, which I am g^d to hear you are publishing in extenso in this issue, demands the attention of all farmers. I have not had time to study it yet, but next week shall, I hope, have something to say on the matter. The bill on the whole is a good one, and though some farmers may think it rather stringent, it is for the benefit of all, and no honest farmer having his own and the country's interest at heart will, I tbiink, object to it. All should lend their aid in putting the dairy industry in New Zealand on as good a footing as in Victoria, and to myHmind this is what the New Zealand [are aiming at, and it behoves usj all to look at the bill without political bias, and also to be willing to bear with some of its provisions, which, though they may so^m hard upon us, are conceived in the interests of all. Farmers should write to the editor of the Witness, making any suggestions they may feel inclined on it, as the bill is one that deeply concerns a very large portion of the farming community.

17U pigs purchased Warrnambool on March 1 and LSB on March 10, averaging under 10a [ have taken the highest priced of these to represent the !)4 marketed on May 17, and 92 on June 23, making them average 13s 6d per head .. £126 5 9 Proportion of feud given to these 91 and 92 p g» for 11 and 16 weekjs respectively, charging wheat at Is Gd per bushel 58 16 0 Proportion man's time, with use "of horse and dray, at £2 5s per week ... 14 14 0 Rail freight from Warrnambool ... ■13 10 0 sundry expenses, trucking, tfc. . ... 3 5 6 incidental expenses, interest, proportion of death rate, supervision, use of yards, Ac, say 10 0 0 and £226 11 3 Vlay 17-94 piß, 12,3331b. 3d £154 3 3 rune 23-92 pigs, 11,9911b, 3d 149 17 9 304 1 0 Less rail freight to Melbourne, £27 8d lOd ; commission on sale, £7 12s ... 35 010 269 0 2 Profit £42 8 11