STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2372, 17 August 1899, Page 6

STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

By Drovkk.

Weekly Stock Sales: Fortniyhthj .• Burneide. Wednesdays Invercargill, Tueadays Ashburtou, Tuesdays Monthly: A.ddington,Wedne3dayß Clinton, Palmerston Fcrtnightlv: . «d Wteton. ' Balclutha, Fridays ■ Periodically : Gore, Tuepdays | Heriot.Kelso, and KyeOamaru, Tuesdays bura.

;Ooiuiuunic»t[oni of lotomst t« stockbreeder! and deklori »r irditllj InTlte.l. All ;ouimunloaUom to rcion Wttueii oftio .ot luer Una Mondvr nicbi.l * The yarding, of cattle at Burnside was a creditable* one Jit regards quality, but the supply being again\in excess of requirements, only a few of the primest commanded good price 3. Best bullojcks sold at from £8 to £9 ss, lighter bringing much less than fair value. There is now, as usual at this time a*n active demand for good dairy cattle coming to profit, and £6 to £6 10s is freely given for such, but old cows command very little attention. Thanks to the presence of a few Canterbury buyers" at Burnside, the sale of sheep last week was a brisk one, and prices rilled about 9d pet head over those of the previous week. The quality •of tho sheep offered was certainly creditable, some good large lines of very even wethers being offered, which brought from 15s 6d to 16s 6d. Seldom do we see a nicer lot of sheep yarded. Ewes brought from 13s to 15s. adhere was a most unusually small number of inferior aheep in the yarding. Let us hop© we are now fairly cleared out of these. The lambs offered were a poor lot, and prices ranged from 9s to 12s 6d. I should think they would have been better kept till, say, lfter shearing. The demand (or breeding ewes is still good -in Canterbury particularly, where up to nearly 16a is being paid for ewes in lamb, liven aged-owes bringing 13s and over. It would appear that Canterbury is still considerably understocked with sheep, and I rather think that the same remark applies to Otago a^d Southland. It is a mistake ou the part dl farmers here to part with breeding sheep <iif store sheep if they can be kept at all, as later on it is probable there will be more sale for fehem hero than in Canterbury, as with a S;ood s»asoA here it looka aa if sheep will b«

very scarce, and I think we may expect that our local freezing works will be in a better position this season to -handle our mutton than has been the case for some years. Tha demand for draught horses of a good stamp is keon, young horses especially; and it is quite evident that breeding will pay for a good many yoars to come. We are now getting'some nice draughts down from. Taranaki. Some of these will be sold at Wright-Stephen-son's on Saturday. At present draught horses ara not so much used in the Taranaki and other bush districts as they will be, and within a year or two it seems probable that all the draught horses bred there will be required. In many parts of the North Island the bush land originally sown down after burning and clearing is showing 1 signs, as might be expected, that the pasture is by no means permanent, and that eventually ploughing and the general hard work inseparable from farming must be resorted to. Down in this South lf-land, too, the area of land under cultivation must largely increase^and draught horses will be needed in large and increasing numbers. Every farmer should breed some, and I see that this i 3 by no means generally the case. Breed from a good sire, keep the young horses well fed, and at three years old they will give Eatisfaction either by bringing in a fair sum of money or in supplying for the farm a team that will always give satisfaction as one's own breeding. I see no chance of supply exceeding demand for a long time, and if such should be the caM a good export trade is open to profitably clear out the surplus. I was glad to notice in the report of the meeting of tho New Zealand Refrigerating Company that Mr Johnston (Kaihiku) expressed the opinion " that they had been far too long -in doing something with their by-products." Ho also added that he was told that the Mataura works were paying, a very handsome dividend this year, to which remark Mr Brydone replied : "' We are going to dp the same.' 1 1 hope Mr Brydone meant his reply to apply to (he question of dealing with the byproduots. One cannot but regret that shareholders in the New Zealand 'Refrigerating Company have not received anything like fair interest for the money invested, but that from a public point of view is not the thing most to be regretted. In my opinion neither a dairy factory nor a freezing works is a proper .field for share investors. The shares in all such concerns phould be held by milk suppliers in the one case and by sheep suppliers in the other. Under any other arrangement the interests of suppliers and shareholders are bound to clash at some time or oilier, and in most cases shareholders come off on the wrong side. In dairy factories often suppliers milk the factory as well as their cows, and leave the finances in a very attenuated condition by drawing too large a price for their mil'c; and the same thing may happen to refrigerating works. I, however; hope that farmers are now going to take an interest in our local freezing works, and I trust they will eventually own them altogether. Farmers and sheep suppliers bhould be the only shareholders, the further capital being supplied by debentures at fixed rate, these being a legitimate investment for those having money to lend. Under such a plan I should expect to see great interest taken and improvements made.

At 'Burniide now the management is in the hands of Mr Murray, who has had very considerable experience, and knows as" well how matters should be conducted as ..anyone i n New Zealand. The directors are determined to push maltei'3 ahead, and have riot hesitated to acknowledge that the works are. not up to date. It remains now to be seen how the farming community will' co-operate with the directors by taking an interest in the works. If they don't, then [ fear the public will not feel inclined to do so. It is necessary that these works should be up-to-date and supplied with proper plant for fellmongery and dealing with wool generally, a manure plant, glue manufacturing, oleo' manufacturing, tinning meat of all tforts, etc, and Mr Murray is well able to carry on all such work. If our farmers don't take a lively interest in our freezing works the result will be bad for the shareholders in the freezing works, but this will bo a f-mall matter in comparison with the disaster that will follow in the lowering of prices of stock in the district and the loss of trade perhaps for years. The Burn&ido works might add a bacon and ham curing department to their works, but on the whole I am inclined to think that this i? a matter which could be dealt with better as a separate concern. I think there is room for a good Co-operative Bacon Factory in several centres —say one at Balclutha or Milton : one at Palmerston, and another in the Mataura Valley —say at Malaura or Edendale. These would be a great adjunct to our dairy factories. If some of our farmers visit Taranaki they will see that bacon-curing factories are a great help to dairy farmers. , I notice by parliamentary reports that some little interest ia being taken in Ihe question of federation with Australia. The Premier, however, rather makes light of the subject, becauso I think he does not understand how it will affect the produce of the agriculturist in the future. He says it will be quite easy to go in for reciprocity after Australia has federated. I don't think so, but believe that once Australia- has federation the markets there will be walled in by heavy protective tariffs. If the Australians generally have been interested in the question of federation, it hap been mainly because they have been promised protectiony and I doubt if New Zealand offered tp joi* the federation now whether she would be accepted. New South Wales farmers would not take kindly to it, ac the one and only thing that induoad them to vote for federation wu to a«t protwtiau Kgaiart N#w Ze&-

land produce, and at the same time attain a. little outlet over the "Victorian border. The Royal Agricultural Society held its show at Maidstone this year and a very fine sight it was, the beautiful surroundings adding much to the attraction of the ground display of stock. Mr George Harrison and Mr Jordan came out best in English Leicoster sheep. In OotswoWs Messrs Ihidding, Caswell, and Wright gained mosb honours. The feature of the sheep show was the splendid entries of Down sheep, which attracted great attantion, the prizee being chiefly won by the Duke of Richmond, Sir James Blyth, the Earl of Bathurst, and the Pagham Harbour Company.