STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2130, 20 December 1894, Page 43

STOCK AND G RAZING NOTES.

By Dkoveb.

Weekly Stock Sales : Burnßide, Wednesdays Invorcrrgill, Tuesdays Ashburton, Tuesdays Addington, Wcdnesd'ys Monthly: Clinton, Palmerston, and Winton.

Fortnightly: Balclutha, Fridays Gore, Tuend.iyH. Oainaru, Junction Yards, Tuesdays. Periodically : Heriot, Kelso, and Kyebura.

[Communications of lutorcst to stockbreeders and ileiileri (ire enrillnlh imiteil. All joniiuuuicßtious to rcaoli Witucss oilico not later th.iv .Monday night,} Thri-e was ag*in a large yarding of cattle at Bumside last wtek, but out of the 224 head yarded I should say that onlj 50 were what one might call beef, the balaure being only store cattlp. There was brisk bidding for good beef, aud lest reilm-d up to £10 17s 6d. The majority, however, even of tho best in theyardt only brought from £8 to £9. It koks a< if prime beef was by no means too plentiful, and I don't Ilrnk there is much chance of luim-rs in the south beinp grcaMy interest d personally just at present in the cxperimmts now goii'g on in the «xpnrb of I've fat- calt'c to Gr<a'< Bri am. Vic'ora his made anot 1 er expat imenfc »ith a shipm< nt of some 50 head, and the re-ult will be looked forward to with interest even in New Zealand, and perhaps ifc would be worth the while of some of our enterprisirg New Zealand grazierß to comHr.e and m»k>3 up a trial shipment. Of course at first these experiments cannot be expected to prove remunerative, as the freight and expense* on sm .li lo's will be heavy, but if onre tbe question of landing the cattle in prime condition is settled, larger lots in steamers more adapted for fche trade could, I should think, be carried ut much moro moderate rates, and the day may not be far distant whtu New Zealand farmers may be gltd of mch an outlet. | At present I should say that the North It-land is more interested in this matter than the South, as the supjplj of fat cattle there is gene-

of over Is per lipad, and a greit poi tion of the sheep worn turned out unsold. I doi.'fc see any chance of improvement iv the market un'il f razing starts again, and even if th&t is <o be carried on briskly enough to do any good it fecins to me that those interested in fa*/ s'O'k, ribber as graziers or agent*, will Lave to bear a hand, and Cj-mc forward with guarantees of sock for freezing and shipment, aa the ov^r-speculaiion- which in times past haß enablfd farm-rs to sell sh^ep at big prices is probably a thuig of the past— for financial and ot-ber c< nsideratioos will not allow cf such sp< culati' n now — and the co-operation so much talked of by f timers, but po hUlu practised by them, miiht begin now iv this direction, ollifcrwue maters cmi nut improve.

Messrs Weddt-l aud Co., writing from London, under date November 2, say that the. market 'or inferior grades of mutt >n— .such »s cues, merinos, mid fat, wasteful sheen -has undergone furtb.tr reduction, aud is much weaker; and fcbat como of the North Island sheep and lambs recently mark* ted were among the worst quality over received from New Zealand— tbin, scraggy, sickly - 10-king objects which ou^ht never to hav»> been frozen for shipment;. Some were even s-iz-d by luarket in-siei-loi'j ns vi.fit for human food. They also say thht, ou tho other hind, Fome of the South lelaud sheep are abnormally fat, and that butchers will only buy them at a considerable reduction ou prime values. They also say tbat really choice 55ib 601b wethers are, comparatively speaking, scarce.

Now, hitherto tbe frozen meat trade has been carried ou by the independent energy of those interested, aud no Government aid or inapection has been contemplated, but if this sort of thing goes on Government mny have yet to step in for the benefit of New Zealand's future, as they have done, and I think wisely, in tbe dairy produce trade, which bid fair to bo destroyed by the amount of inferior stuff that was Bent Home. lam not at all in favour of increasing the already noble army of Government insuectora. and perhaps the freezing

companies will— as fcbey cot.tioly "should— put matters right in this direction themselv. i. There is no use talking of the wicked salesmen, butchers, and middlemen who in London handle our meat and dairy produce, and are i«nid to make such a lot of illegitm«te profit out of us ; ar d there is still less use in forming such companks «s that wo Lear of in connection with Mr Valenfc' no's name. Reform must begin he. c and at once, and if tho freezing companies cannot prevent tuch inferior stuff goiDg Home to dertroy the trade, aud to tbe detriment of those who are trjing to honestly live by it, then Government will have to etep in. I»m informed on good authority that despite all that bas been eaid sboul the London market good brands of butter and cheeso are bringing good prices and are eagerly fought after, being often bought by London cabled orders, whereas inferior stuff is quite m glectcd, and I am of opinion that in the myafc trade ifc will prove the same, aud that careful grading and prevention of the shipment of really inferior meat will do far more fir Iho permanent good of tha trj-r't than day number of distributing companies heraldid into eiistefce with a flourish of trumpets.

The demand for bacon pigs has been very poor of lato, and so I am glad to see the adverfcifement in tre Witness asking farmers to let Mr J. It. Scott, as pgonfc for the Christchurch Me^t. Company, know what pigs are ready. Tbe Chriffcrhureb. Meat Company, repr renting the Int rmarino Supply Company «rv, it appears, willing to take any quantity of pigs at 3d por lb. and ifc is to bs hoped that farmers will pr mptly reply. Pigs are to be 1201b to 1401b, and as there should bo now a go id lob of pi,s ready, I bopn to beirshort' y that a lib ral "ipplyis coming forward. I h»ve h< ard.'ouvo farmers say that the pnee — 3i \er lb— is not god en u^h, but I shou'd think that fruch a pr>ce vras very remunerative and would j eld much, better results for small fivmer-* than sh<cp or ca'tle. I would very much like nome of my readers to give us their opinion on this matter.

Mr Lang, the Government grader of b;)t f er f has been busily at work lately, having commenced wir.h theGofchicshipmenfc, and heis now b\ sy ".i'h fcbe Kaikuura-liipment. I am pleased to hear hat Mr Lang, who has had cons dornble expi vence as n factory matuger and inspector in ih« No tli I-lmd, is very well pleased with cur hut ry butttr, which up to tha preen', bas all been marked as "Fir-fc." Mr Ling remarks on a slight tend'ncj to "motlied " on tho pnrt o* pome f-»cfc >rie3. but this is thn oiilj fault, and he has ca'hd a toitnou to it. Thr farmer- or dairy butt r gives Mr La«g a g od de il more work, as it is us a rue very uneven. Some would have b*on better but for its stalem-Bc, having bcea kept too long. I|would therefore urge on farmers thi necessity of s-nd-in^ thi ir b itt-r every week or twice a week to tho refrigt-raM'ng i-toro Neat' ess in packing and filling up the boxe< al-o requires attVut'on. Sonic of the butter is much ovtr^ated, 4 per ci nt. to 5 per cent, being quite enough. Mosb fuc'ori< s use only 3 por cent., mid bu'fc a r b<-.ing the Loi.don requirement. The frczen shipments Ao much better without an excess of salt. Tl'Ore is another fault common — viz , too much n.oKture ; ai>d this, too, U a fault on which frei zing will tell budly.

I «a* pleased to visit Rafcanni, in the Ufper Ownka district,, a;id to find there ones of tho ce-tesfc aud n ost completely-arranged cheese factories that I have setn in New Zealand. Ifc is on tbe purely co-operative prii.ciple, and Mr Carlton, an etp 'noticed builder, now a settler there, is chairman of fche factory, and has place 1 Lis i-kill eJiVctively at the disposal of hi* bro'hi r 'ha<-eli<lder.«, resuttir g in a most coinpl' to s-nd wel -arr «ngod buckling. Blr Rae, the manager, i< turmni; out * fi>st;-<'la«s cheese. The seH"rß mty jus'ly bo proud of their euterprsc in th's new district and I lrnpe to hoar of other factories being started, andhaveno doubt they will be if settlers agree not to fight over questions &a to site, Sec, for I know th ; s bus prevcated S'«mo factori.s beings arfc-d thin season in very suitable dis'rict-; and tct ting 5d per pound for dairy butter, which is the current price, is about equal to Id pn* gil'on for milk, whereas the factories give Fn«m 3d to S^d. Then let farmers cooperate and cea'e to f-truggle with such determinafc'on to maintain their individual opii.ions. I would pugge^t that in disputes .such a- have occutpJ ifc might be we'l to call in ni' do, endenfc nv>n to choose the site, all agrccng to u>id-i by hia verdict.

A' this time of ya >r (says a Home paper) ca'tle are sonic times injured by eating the halfw'the od trimmii gs o« hertg~s. On a Westmoreland f-irm, whei-f the hedgrs had bren trimmed in tbe intervals cf harvest, four cows died *ffcer gorging thems'lves with bracken whi h h*d berome withered in tbe sun, and which, in its given condition, nei'her wild nor domestic animals ire ever known to suffer from, even if they feed upon ifc. An inter sting exporimpnt is being carried out at Newton-lf- Willows, Lancashire, in the evoluMon of cereals. There are some experimental grounds there in. which th«» Royal Manch'-'er and Livetpool Agricultural Society a r e in'erested. A new feature in the methods of exp riment ha« been int'oduc-id in Ihc crossbreeding of differf-nt kinds in each, of four di- tinct varif ties of cereals. Tbe nrnin idea is to cross or interbreed the be^t grains of tha bet'er classes with a view to obtaining a cereal which shall be heavier, more p'oMfic, sound in the straw, a«.d of good edible quality. One iiitercsfng piece of information has been gained Different varieti' sof the some kind of grain will not interbreed from near co< tact on the 'an:e plot < f land as is the care with some Cowers and many kinds of vegetablrs. The process of artifically mixing the growths was begun with different samples of English wheat, and some valuab'e experience was gained w tb. rej4«rd to »ho action of rust in wheat, which tended to show that this disease is a malady pecu'iar to the coi htitu'ion of come i-Lm's as in the ca-e o\ animid d seases of *eve al kinds. Alik'- in wheat», barleys, and oats the result bas been < xcellent, a better class JOTUB h&viflf been obtained.