STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2120, 11 October 1894, Page 7

STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

By Dkoveb. I

__. • Monthly : Clinton, Palmerston, and Winton. Periodically : Heriot, Kelso, and Kyebum.

[Commnnic»tlons of intereit to itookbrMden anil dealeru ar» cordially inTited. All oommunioations to reaoh WHnesi oßloe not later than Uondaj night,] At Bmnside last week there was a fairly large yarding of 204 head of fat cattle, but none of them were very prime, although most of them were fairly gcod beef. Butchers seemed rather slow in bidding, and a large portion of the cattle were gold to graziers and dealers, and no doubt we shall see them again at Burnside shortly. Prices at the previous week's sale had been fairly good, owing to the very small supply then yarded, but at this sale a reduction in price (value considered) of 30s was the order of the day. I suppose that this irregularity in the quanity yarded cannot be remedied, and if so the sales will continue to be very uneven and uncertain as to price. At present it is a regular lottery, and it strikes me th&t perhaps farmers like this state of affairs, as there is a tendency to a fondness for anything in the shape of a gamble all over the colony from the Government down to the boys and girls at school. The best bullocks in the yard went at about £10 ; ordinary, £8" to £9. A gcod many came from Central Otago, and from distant places, and I am sorry that they did not hit the previou 8 week's market, as then the supply was very small and the prices good in consequence. The market for fat sheep at Burnside seems at present to be over supplied. This at any rate has been-the case at the last two sales, and it seems to me that orices have fallen during

Weekly Stock Sales : Burnside, Wednesdays Invert Tgill, Tuesdays Ashburton, Tuesdays Addington, Wodnesd'ys Fortnightly: Balotatha, Fridays Goro, Tuesdays.

purposes I think that good-sized cows will prove the best in every way. It is s»fe to say that, speaking generally, cattle have deteriorated all round for some time past, and farmers wi ! l, I hope, fare the matter of reform in this respect withpromptness andeoei-gy. Mr Bruce, reporting on the cattle m the Palmerston district, sajs : " The advanced price bow ruling ought to encourage farmers to improve their b'eed. For butcher purposes the cattle in this district sre far too light and flesbless. Well-bred polled Angus or shorthorn crosses ought to pay handsomely." Mr David Ross, reporting from the Waikato district, saya : " The growing imporfcacce of the dairjiog industry has led to n ore care bting exercised io the breeding of cattle suitable for the purpose, and as a revult the breed of cattle, as also theirmilking capabilities will be much improved. The district has lately benefited by the importation of twohefers of the purest breed from Jersey to augme&t an already no'ed Jersey herd. The shorthorn breed is well represented among ths larger cattle raisers, and the polled Angus is beginning to claim a good deal of attention." The last portion of this report pleases me best, for although as a dairy cow the Jersey is perhaps unsurpassed, it is not, in my opinion, the breed likely to prove of most value in improving our stock ; and as the need of improvement is what I would desire to impivss on my farming friends, I advocate the use of shorthorn bulls, though I do not at all despise the polled Angus, as some of my friends find them excellent milkers, and no doubt as bsef-producing cattle they are a first-class breed.

Very little is doing in the store sheep market, although there have been a few sales of large crossbred ewes in lamb at up to 12s, these, bo doubt, being bought for their lambs, for which there seems to be -a more hopeful outlook than for the general run .of freezers. The la*e spring and general all-round backwardness of the grass no doubt has a considerable effect" In restricting business. *"' Even in Canterbury tha spring is very late — perhaps more so than even in the south here.

I have before alluded to the question of footroot, and as to whether it is contagious or not. I notice from Mr Gilruth's report that he considers it among the category of contagious diseases, and it would be presumption on my part to go against-so good an authority. Still, I am not convinced on tha subject yet, and

am of opinion that were the cause of its pretence in the shape of wet, ditty ground, removed, its contagiousness would be very slight. To show that there seems to be some difference on the point, I quote the following extract from correspondence in the. Ausbralian Pastoralists* Review : — • " I notice, I think in your August issue, an inquiry from a corespondent in reference to footros in sheep. I hold strongly to the opinion that it is nos contagious, and have put my opinion to a practical test. We have a good many lame sheep here in a wet season, and two winters since I bought 500 lame sheep from a station in the district. These were all lame, and had been culled out on that account. I had them brought home, dressed their feet, and turned them into a paddock with a thousand sound-footed wethero. Some of my neighbours held up their hands in horror and warned me that, iv a month, I would not|have a sheep able to staßd up. The reuilt, however, was quite different— in two months I had not a single lame sheep, and' thore" previously lame west to Horaebush as fats before Christmas. I have done the s*me since wi< ha smaller number, and "the result has always Veen the same. Fcotrofc, I contend, is entirely owing to the nature of the soil and the seasons, and on a Ifght loil with. an ordinary season there is not the least danger from putting lame sheep with Bound ones." In therpig market busint ss is maioly confined to stores and tuckers, and there I*s a good demand for these. Until the Intetmarine Supp'y Company *r some other company start the export business here there will be no steady market, but I have every reason to believe that the company will shortly operate here. Meant:me they are giving 3d psr lb at all railway stations. Mr J. D. Ritchie, secretary for agri< culture, reports thus on the p'g trade, and his remarks are well worthy of attention :—: — 11 The prose ect of a ready and constant outlet for fat pigs has induced many farmers to go more heartily into pig breeding-,* and I think I am stfe in estimating the increase duiiug the past year at fully 30 per cent. This is largely due to the operations of the Intermarine Supply . Company, who have~olre«dy opened a factory at Islington, near Chrietchurcli, for the manufacture of mess pork by a patent proce.s. They have other works in course of erection at Has& ing*. The price given is 3d per lb, and they «re prepared to take any number. " The value of stores has increased considerably, and, for those who , bare gone systematically into the business, should leaves satisfacto y return. T7nfo:tunate!y only a few can at once avail themselves of this rissr. Now that creameries and dairy factories are becoming more numerous, combined with the low prices fcr grain, the industry should receive a decided impetus. " In America pig rah ing is one of the farmers' main sources of revenue. The pigs are bred and nearly alwajs fattened on the best grass, and sometimes a small qiuntilyof givin is given to top off. The princ'pil grass grown is timothy with red clover, and the pigs are given the full range of tbe best paddocks, tp other stock beirg run with them. How different it i* with v«, where anything is considered good enough, and the apt sajing, *It is not fit for a pig to live in,' is only too often true. We have everything in our fat our for an enormous expansion of this industry. With grain at present prices, if fed to pigs the return per bushel should be at least; ,& half more in actual money, not reckoning anything for manurial value. •'■The t-t«l nu«.ber of pigH in tfce colony by last re 1 urns (April 1891) was — 222,555 ow&edby Europeans, and 86,259 owntd by Maoris ; total, 308,812." I hope that ere the Witners reaches its readers this week the Dairy'^Bill will have been passed. Some amendments have been made, the most important in my opinion being the insertion of the word "pore" before "mijk"in clause 2, line 4, page 2. This prevents grading or skimming, and makes oar "full cream" or "fall milk" cheese (as it really ought to bo called) wbat it purports to be. This alteration was urged by the National Dairy Association, and it has also been urged in this column and by many leading dairymen.

As to the dairy industry and its prospects, buyers seem sby at present. Some factories up north have sold their cheese at 4£d f o.b, with 3 per cent, shrinkage allowance. There seems to be a general opinion that owing to the Australian large output snd the increased Canadian and Homeoutputs prices nhwtbslower. In butter some factories have sold at 9d, but buyers most'y offer B^d. Of course, there are a large number of parties in want of cons'gnmen's, and they promise no end of good results, but I regret to note that neither for butter nor cheese are buyers operating tobrisklyas in past years. 1 am sorry for this, ea in my opinion' 'right-out sales are most suitable to many factories, at it etablea them to know where they are »nd what they can pay for milk, and there is no further risk, of loss /by damage in shipment, &c, &c. However, if buyers don't come forward factories and dairymen will have to consign and chcose for themselves the best of these wicked middle*

The agricultural report contains Mr Valentine's, and also Mr Sawer's, report on the dairying industry. I have not yet had time to digest these. Mr Sawer's report is practical, and deals with " something attempted, aomething done." Mr Valentine's contains nothing new, and is mainly taken up with matters that have been for years enforced and written about by your London correspondent and urged as rc m forms by the National Dairy Association and others. It is not, in my opinion, worth the trifle of £1250 which the Government have paid for Mr Valentine's visit to the colony. I shall perhaps give you some extracts from it shortly.

I shall reply to " Elockmaster's " and other correspondents' remarks next week. With reference to some remarks made on the price oE por k by the Port Molyneux correipondent of the Clu|ha Free Press I shall probably have something to «ay next week. Meantime I may mention that Mr J. R." Scott, agent for th« Interroarine Supply Company is always open to buy p'gs en truck at any railway station at 3d per lb, calculated on dead weight.

A contributor to the Tuapek« Times writes : — " A curious thing I have recently noticed is that farmers in theClutha district are going in with great energy this eeasoja for barley growing. lam told there is not a farmer in the prohibition district of Tapanui but .has put in a big crop of bar|ey, Wtafc I wonder, degf this indicate- ?t

of good butter. During the cream-ripening certain changes take place, some of which are known and can ba explained, and others which are at present beyond the reach of chemical knowledge. Science says that the composition of cream is essential) y the same as that of milk, only that it contains a larger amount of butter fat than milk. - Cream is said to be composed chiefly of globules of butter fat, of casein, milk sugar, and albamen. It also contains bacteria, yeasts, and moulds, which are the active agents in the ripening process. It is hard to say how these get into the milk, as they are not there ! when it comes from the cow. It is supposed that some come from the air; some from the hairs of the cow ; some from the dust of the byre; some from the hands of the milker ; some from the milk buckets and pans, and from various other sources of contamination. Even under careful and cleanly management chances of contamination are sufficient to stock the milk with an abundance of these bacteria, &c, under all circumstances. Dining the period of ripening these micro-organisms are growing and producing great changes in the cream. We know that bacteria are destructive agents, therefore we can understand that while they are growing in the cream they are likely to break down and separate some of the chemical compounds of the cream %nd reduce them to a condition of greater simplicity. As I have said, there are changes taking place in ripaning cream which science has not yet been able to understand or explain. We only know that some of the organisms act upon milk sugar, changing it into lactic acid ; we know, too, that sometimes butyric acid is. produced, and that sometimes ferments similar to rennet and trypsin make their appearance in ripening cream. Alcohol is also a common product to such an extent that it has been thought that the butter flavour is largely due to that product alone.

The dairy factories are now recommencing operations, and as the spring Good and advances the dairy cows wi 1 Bad Cons be coming into milk and the Compared, rattle of the milk-carts will

ba heard in the land. If the cows have been properly managed they

cow at the top of the list produced her butter at a cost of 7£d per lb, while the duffer's butter cost Is 9|d per lb. Thus again is the folly of keeping bad cows fully shown. The smallest weight of milk required for making lib of butter was found to be 211b, and the largest quantity 321b. The largest yield of butter was made by the cow at tha head of the list, so that her milk must have been rich as well aa abundant. In reference to this exhaustive test Professor Long trnly says the figures are suggestive and worth careful study.

In our favourable climate it is a wonder that

more attention is not devoted Bee-keeping, to beekeepirg. Of course to

go into the business on an extensive scale requires both time and skill to get an adequate return ; but that is no reason wby the busy bee should not be an adjunct to every farmhouse. Many people think that the old method with the straw hive or inverted box has claims on the farmer which the new system cannot put forward. It may, they admit, be crude, but it haß the advantage of being simple. The annual destruction of the bees as killed .with sulphur smoke in order to get their treasured store may be barbarous, but perhaps, they contend,, not so much of refined cruelty as allowing innumerable hives to go forth into the fields to find food and shelter on their own account, which would be the case if mort fa-m hives were In patent boxes. I must admit there is. something in chis line of argument;. Ido not underrate the patent box, by means of which the honeycomb can be removed us wanted, but the liability of bees so kept tc foul brood, unless the greatest care is exercised, and scientific skill applied, is a point which tells against the frame hive. In the old way anyone can look after a few boxes of bees, and the annual fumigation with burning sulphur is a good disinfec'ant for the boxes. Bat the straw hive is the ve:y best for bees kspt in the old way, as the hives can be burned as soon as the honey is taken. The disastrous effects of foul brood have caused most farmers to abandon beekeeping; but if all boxes once used were either thoroughly disinfected or scalded — or, better still, only new straw hives used — the bees would be more

the lasfc two weeks fully 2s per head oj what was previously the ruling price. Thesi low price 3 are due, I think, to the over supply and also to the fact that the London market doe 3 not at present warrant large prices. Thi quality of the sheep is perhaps hardly as gooc as it was some wesk* previously. The fact ol the whiter feed having now given out is also, lc doubt, causing some farmers to quit slocl that thf y might otherwise h&ve kept, especially h»d the graes not bepn so backward as it is al over this spring. The best crossbred wefcheiv brought abont 15s 6d to 16s ; ewes, 12* 6d tc 14s 6d ; light and ordinary, of which qualitj the market was very fu'l, 10s to 12a. * Marine wethers, mostly in poor condition, 4s to 9s. ( ' In sloce cuttle very little is doing, as good you»g stock or well-grown cattle are scarce, and In the second report of the Department ol Agriculture, which I have before me, the fact that proper attention to the breeding of goodsized cattle is not attended to is noted by most of ihe in*pectors. Mr J. D. Ritchie, chief secretary, says • "The problem of which is the ooost suitable all round breed remains nnsolved, »nd in a country like thia, where cattle have practically to be out summer and winter, anybhing too finely bred is unsuitable. We must look for something' that will produce beef as well as milk, and I am therefore of opinion that a ehorthorn ball from a good milking 3train is the most suitable sire." lam pleased ;o see tfcafe so good an authority as Mr J. D. Ritchie endorses the opinion I have already expressed in this column from time to time. There is a breed of red-polled cattle which are said to be a first-rate all-round breed, but I tim not aware th»t there are any in this country yet. There is now, I am sure, ample tcope For breeders to turn more attention to this matter. We have plenty of good Ayrshire breeders in this district, and I ho\ie to see a good many more shorthorn breeders, and 1 trust that agricultural societies will give every sncouragemeDt in this direction, for we do want a, great improvement in the breeding of our cattle, and must not run, as in the past, so much on the smaller breeds. Even for dairying