STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES,

Otago Witness, Issue 2287, 30 December 1897, Page 6

STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES,

By Dhoveb.

Weekly Stock Sales: Jnvercargill, Tuesdays Eurnside, Wednesdays Monthly: Ashburton Tuesdays Clinton, Palmerston, Addington, Wednesdays an^ -\vi n t O n. Fcrtniqhthj: Periodically : Balclurha, Fridays Ileriot, Kelso, and Kye Gore, Tuesdays | burn. Oamaru, Tuesdays. j TC«mmualcationa of Interest U stockbreeders anil dealers are lordiallj invited. All Jommuuicatiom to reach Witness olfioo not later than Moud»j ulght.l With a moderate yarding of fat cattle at the Burnsnle yards prices, I am glad to say, improved. Piime heavy bullocks for Christmas trade sold readily at £10, and more of the eaoae sort could have been cold. The bulk of the 100 head yarded were light weights, aud sold at £6 to £7. One huudred head at this time of year is as much as there is demand for.

Over 1200 sheep were yarded, and this was 1 far more than could be profitably dealt with. Prices went down fully Is 6d per head. Best crossbred wethers went at »b Jut 9s ; medium,' 7s to Bi. Some fafc w«ither3 which look the prize at Balclutba show only made 8s 6d. The freezing works have now opened \t O&maru, so I bope to see prices improve. Theßurnside works will open in the middle of January. Till then the quantity of even prime sheep that will be required for locUl use is 6ure to be very small. Lamb supplies the local demand very fully, and farmers .will, I hope, keep back their sheep till the end of January, when for all prime wethers I anticipate improved prices, as Can1 terbury supplies of meat must for some time be very small indeed. For ewe mutton .1 don'fc anticipate anything much better than boilingdown rates. " The entry cf fat lambs was again utterly out of proportion to requirements, evan though at this, the Christmas week, sale more I*mb3 are generally required than at any other time. Some few very prime and heavy made up to lls 6d. A few prime freezers sold ab°Bs 6d to 9j, but a very large proportion of lambs, which in another month would be worth 9% went at 5s to 6s. Graziers who bought some of Iheae will, I should say, do well with them.

London agents have frequently impressed upon us the absolute necessi'y of sending Home only prime quality sheep and moderate weights. I have, however, lately seen soms account sales sent out by agents whi have written very stroDgly regarding moderate weight?, and curi_>u3 to say thi.se account sales go to show that heavy weights pay better than light weights. An exporter bought and shipped a lot of heavy sheep averaging nearly 801b each ; at the same time he aho shipped some s<3lbto 601b sheep of teaHy prime quality. He made a heavy bss sn the light weights and a fair profit on the heavies. This is ona of those things that puzzle one and make the consigning of meat most unpopular and unprofitable. These agents offer no explanation of the matter. The fact is the whole state of the London trade is most unsatisfactory and beyond the control of those who are at present handling our frozen meat.

At Addiugton the cattle market was over supplied, and even prime Christmaß beef, for which alone there was any lively demand, made only about £8, or gonae 30s tor 403 a head lower than usual rates for euch prime cattle.

For prime freezers the sale was brisk at 8s 6d to lls; 6j to 83 for prime maidea ewe 3; aged ewes very much neglected, and only quitted at bailing-down rates — 2* 6i to 33. Prime freezing lambs brought 10s to lls 6-J, but lower qualities were in heavy supply and dull of sale.

The Secretiry for Agriculture's fifth annual report is as interesting and useful as usual. M r Ritchie reports under date July 31, and it is a matter foe regret that this report has been kep< back co loiig, the reason being, I believe, that Jt has to be laid on the. table of the House oefore being circulated. This was only dono a few days »go. To the average member of Parliament a report like this is simply caviare : they don't understand this sorb of thing, and take little interest ia it, A. teuorfc like this

should have been circulated at once and placed in the hands of farmers and graziers, as there is much valuable information in it that comeo too late to be availed of this se*son. I vecommend all reader 3to get this report and read it carefully. It will be found useful as a reference book to many f-rnaera. At present I will just give a few extracts from Mr Riic'jiu's geueral report showing his views on various &uhjeot?, aud, I presume, »Uo the views of the Gorernmtnt. It is a pity th*t a whole session of Parliament fcas been utterly wasted aud none of the measures said to be needed dealt wi h, or even fairly discussed. NOXIOUS WEEDS. An attempt was made laft session to have a measure passed to deal with this growing evil. The bill was before the Cirnmilteo of both Houses, but time did not permit of its getting "further. The longer tho delay in pasting an act, the greater will be the cost of eradication. SMALL BIRDS. It is useless attempting to cope with the evil unless there is simultaneous acbioji. lam efraid this will never be done whil-i the power remains with local bodies. GRADING OF BUTTER is still carried on at the cool stores, where all shipments for (he Urn ted Kingdom are frozaa prior to shipment at Government expjusp. Qaito a. number of applications have baeu made that butter for Australia should also ba graded and itimped. This has not been done hitherto. It would bs an advantage to the colony to have all dairy produce graded and also that the export of inferior butter or cheese should be prevested. It is satisfactory to note that 97 per cent, of the creamery or factory butter has been graded first— an increase of 10 par cent, over last season. The g-adiog points for creamery butter are :— For flivour, 45 ;" body moisture and texture, 25 ; colour, 10 ; salting.'lO ; finish, 10. Butter ov«r 86 points is marked first grade, 76 to 85 second, 75 and under third. Dairy and milled butters are graded on somewhat similar lines. Chense is examined, but this does nob permit of a close inspection, r DAIRY SCHOOLS I regret that the site for a permanent school has not yeb been fixed, but trust to see something done shot tly. Funds are already available for the preparatory work. DIPPING. There is still great need for improvement in connection with this part of sheep management". The number of i<heep brought into the saleyards infected with lice (many of them after bung dipped) shows gross carelessness somowhere. It is useless to blame the dipping material. The trouble 19 that sufficient care is not exercised in mixiug the dip, keeping it up to the required atr*ngtb, and stopping the sheep from parsing through too quickly. Many dips are not fib for the pnrpos->, bAng mere makeshift. It would be far better if settlers would co-operate and erect a proper dip iaiteid of having so many small and iieffiuient ones. On this point I would ju«t say that proper and efficient dipping should be made compulsory.

HF AT VXVORT,

It is ' generally admitted that some system ,of independent inspection is wanted both of the caicises and of the sbipi. The matter should be deilt wich this incamiDg session.

But tb.3 said incoming session has come and gone, end nothing has been done in this or other matters. The fact is these questions don't mean vote*, or, at all events, a comparatively insignificant few.

Daring l*sfc session (1896) the whole questioa of transit of mast by land and sex was very fully gone into by the AgricultuL'Al and Stock Comuiibtee of both Houses. A report was furnished to Parliament, bat too late iv the session to receive consideration.

Here we are again, as ever — " too late," " too lats," and I am afraid ntxb year's report will say it again, as nothing more has been dote.

TEEDIKG CATTUS,

More attention is being paid to feeding and providing shelter for cattle, efpeci*fly dairy cow?. liuptc'iug stveral model hheds it was a treat to see the animals contentedly feeding and with a comfortable bad, instead of waudering about up to tbeic bellies in mud and filth. To find the money for e heddiug .aay be beyond the means of many settlers ; still there are others well able to do so who allow their cows to look out for themselves. Any outlay in {his direction would be amply repaid. Several who have gone in for a proper system of feediug are very well eatisiied, and would not revert to the old btjl-i.

BE DESTBOYING DISEASED ANIMALS,

I mu3b Bg-ua repeal that it; is of the utmoab importance .some tystom of compen'sa'ion should ba adopted. In a ftw years the amount required would be exceedingly small. Inspectors have been diligent :n detecting animala brought into the saleyards ; but undoubtedly many escape their notice which, ia fact, without testing with tuberculin, cannot be detected till after slaughter, hence the necessity for public ababtoics and a thorough system of inspection. DKHOJINING v psact/is^d extensively, willa excsll v ay results,

A dairyman owning eoaie 200 tj 300 cows xeports he had them dehorned, and after the first day or two thti-o was no apP l ' cc ' a ble decrease in the milk flow. It was noticed that when in the yard (hey stood much quieter and more contented. Before dehorning at intervals blood would bj found in the milk, but since then uono has bsen noticed. A loi of 300 three to five year old Hertford bullocks were dehorned with the best reaults. A3 is well known, the Hereford*' horns are none of the smallest, yet they were cut off at the l-ato of 40 an hour. I shall refer to thiß reporb again next week.

The Taran&ki correspondent of the Witness asks contributors to give thsir opinion a? to the best b^ted of caltle for dairy purposes. He bilieves in the shorthorn-Ayrshire cross, and I don'fc think he is fsr out. Tie Holstsin is also a floe useful animal. My favourite is the saort-horn-Toeswaber strain.

The fioesb cattle in N-3W Swtli Wales wei-a bred from the shot thorn and Holstain, and old settler* will remember Luw good these were, as it WA3 from them we got our first stock in early day 8 3

We cannot go wrong on shorthorn-Holstein and Ayrshire to bwitd up fine useful dairy catt'e. I discard Jerseys and Aldsrneys exeepfc as a pure brceJ. If th<j Government of this countty sheuld ever allow me to become rich I would import the finest of shorthorns and have a model dairy farm, and I believe ifc would pay. I should like to see some flue shorthorns of the milking strain imported. As Christmas has come aad gone once mors, I wish all my readers' a very Happy New Year. Bub if th*y are to have all I wish them in this respect they mu,sb "look alive," and pay more attenlion than they have beea doing to their own interests.