STOCK Am GRAZING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2389, 14 December 1899, Page 7

STOCK Am GRAZING NOTES.

Weekly Stock Sales : Fortnightly : 0 -j m j j Invercargill, Tuesdays Burnside, Wednesdays " ' Ashburton, Tuesdays Monthly: Addington, Wednesdays (flinton, Palmerston „ . ..., andWinton. Fcrtmghtly: Bilclutha, Fridays Periodically: Gore, Tuesdays I Heriot.Kelso, and Kye Oaniaru, Tuesdays burn. [Communication! of interett U atockbreederi and denier* »r cordially invited. AD jommnnicationi to reach \riloeu offlo cot later tbaa Monday nicht.l . The yarding of cattle at Burnside was 2£o head, about half of this number being store cattle, some of them in fairly forward condition.. Only a few pens of prime Tiullocks" were included in the yarding. , They were not extra heavy, but brought up to £9. Smaller "bullocks in fair order brought from £7 to £8, and .some fat cows from £6 10s to nearly £8. Butchers on this occasion had not a great choice, but had to content themselves with ■what was placed' before them, and prices were decidedly in favour of sellers. Prime beef wa3 bringing fully 22s per 1001b, and medium about 18s. The best of the store cattle sold very well, some bringing from £4- to £6, inferior £2 10s to £3. Prices at this time of year are decidedly satisfactory, and there is a good demand for well-bred store cattle of all ages. - I hear of no one as yet taking up the question of making importations to improve our undoubtedly deteriorating herds of cattle. Private enterprise in this direction seems dead, and failing a revival I suggest that the New Zealand Government follow the example of the New South Wales Government Agricultural .Department, who not long ago imported, 1 believe, nearly 109 head ' of the best stud cattle to be had in Britain. These, after landing, could be. either sold by auction or lent out at a fixed charge to farmerE. Our dairy herd 3 badly need new blood. I don't advocate bringing iv any more Ayrshires, as wo are, I think, strong enough in these. I strongly advise large importations of - the milking of Shorthorns, and also of Holstein "cattle. These breeds were the foundation of the fine herds of cattle now to be found on .the south coast of the New South Wales 'dairying districts. Any one visiting the shows lately muEt have been struck with the general want of quality and breeding displayed even in the generally small number of cattle exhibited. Some of the polled Angus shown were well up to the ■mark, but I hear that some breeders of this class of cattle have been troubled with the prevalence of tuberculosis in their herds. All nerds would be much the better for new blood. The figures I gave a week or two ago of the exportations from England to South America and tho'' other colonies show how very far behind New Zealand has been in importing cattle for many years. I know that many farmers would gladly buy imported cattle at big prices if landed here, but the cost, time, and trouble of going Home to select a few cattle is too much for the individual farmer, and this is why I advocate the Agricultural department taking the matter up as did the .New South Wales Government, as they could eecure a large number, and the expenses would be very small per head. I don't think the cost ,to the department in the end would be great, and the good done to the colony would be immense. The Agricultural department is a • live body, and it only needs that farmers if they approve of my suggestion should let the ' Government know they do so. lam cf • opinion that the Minister for Lands would have little trouble in getting Parliament to . provide the needful funds. There was a large yarding of sheep (nearly 2000), but as butchers were short of stock prices kept up, and indeed showed a slight improvement on the previous week's rateF. Some prime wethers in the wool brought well on to 20s, shorn up to 15s 6d, best ewes in the wool over 19a, medium wethers and ewes • (shorn) 15s to 16s, some fine merinos in tho wool np to 17s. There was a good demand for lambE, and these being in very moderate supply, best " brought over 13s, medium 10s to 12s, small 8s to 10s. I notice that a very large quantity of rap 6 is feeing sown, mainly, I think, for fattening lambs, and the crop both of rape and turnips all over Otago and Southland bids fair to be exceptionally good. lam therefore hopeful that our local freezing -works will be kept supplied fully, and that we shall this year see fewer sheep going overland to Canterbury, and we should be able

to demonstrate to London buyers that we can

fatten and finish sheep and lambs nearly as •' well as Canterbury can. It would not sur-

prise me later on to see store sheep coming '. from the north to be fattened in the south, as ! supplies of store stock seem hardly equal to feed in prospect. All good store stock

at present are at high prices.

." - We -shall have the first ofonr -wool sales - this., week. The London market is strong, and tho usual representatives of English and

American buyers are now in the colony, and

■ have been considerably added to. Up-to-date prices at sales in New South Wales have not : haon on a nar with London rates. At the

Sydney sales prices were lower, .whilst a London cable of same date recorded a- strong marknt with advance in prices and good prospects. I recommend farmers to put a reserve on their wool at the first sales something in accordance with London rate?. If they don't get it this sale they will the next. The rise in value is attributed to short supply, mainly due to droughts in Australia, and at present it looks as jf the drought in sheep-farming' districts there was as intense as before. In any case, it will take many years of good seasons for Australia to make up the quantities lost during many years of drought, so I look for a firm wool market.. Merino wool, especially, is still booming ; but all classes of good wool has, in my opinion, a rising market before it.

Since the Wakanui left the Bluff with 3020 boxes butter and 80 tons cheese from Otago and Southland we have sent to Lyttellon for shipment in the Tokomaru, leaving Wellington on December 14-, 1200 boxes of butter, a week's gathering, and 120 tons of cheese, a fortnight's gathering. We shall on the 18th and 20th send to Lyttelton for the s.s. Rakaia 4000 boxes of butter and 150 tons of cheese. So far as dairy produce shipping is concerned, the port of Otago, and even Bluff, i 3 still on a par with places like Wanganui and New Plymouth. I hope, however, that ia about January we ehall have sufficient meat to induce' the fortnightly steamers to call at Bluff and Port Chalmers. The freezing companies would be doing a good service to the district if they could insist on these steamers calling here. It would suit them better than being served by "(ramps" that leave the colony at uncertain dates and arrive often all of a heap at London. They would certainly help the dairy industry and every farmer here if they could do so. Everyone should endeavour to maintain for our local shipping ports the position they held in the past, andshould hold now ; otherwise the whole district suffers a reduction in values of produce, which though perhaps not immediately apparent is none the les3 real.

The official inspector, Mr W. D. Robertson, who was appointed by the Department of Agriculture to inquire into the milk testing at our dairy factories and creameries, is at present in this district at the special invitation of the executive of the Taieri and Peninsula Milk Supply Company. Mr Robertson has not yet completecKhis inspection ; but as far as he has gone expresses himself aa satisfied that the executive of the Taieri and Peninsula are doing everything in their power to ensure the accuracy of the test. Suppliers have to blame themselves in many cases for the shrinkage in their fat percentages. If they do not deliver their milk at the creamery in a fit condition to allow an accurate sample being taken they can blame no one but themselves. If the milk is not cooled down immediately after milking and kept 'stirred tho cream will rise and become caked, and although the caked cream may be broken up in the morning before deb' very at the creamery it can never be thoroughly incorporated with the milk, and will be seen floating about in small pieces on the top of tho milk. In this condition it is almost impossible to get a reliable sample. The same may be said of milk which becomes churned while on the way to the factory, which is generally due to imperfect ccoling before and wont of proper care of the milk in transit. The supplier not only loses in his test, but he indirectly lose<* through this churned or caked cream depreciating the quality of the butter from which the money is obtained to pay for his milk. The less money obtained for the butter the less money can be paid for the milk. Suppliers, therefore, should bear in mind the fact that the careful treatment of their milk is the foundation of a good butter, as is also tho case pre-eminently with regard to cheese and the consequent increase in the price of their milk. If a factory gets a good name for its produce it means dollars, perhaps pounds, to the suppliers ; so that every shareholder and supplier should do all he knows to increase the reputation of his factory, and consequently increase the output, to his own and his neighbour's ultimate benefit. The man who goes about growling at the creamery, sowing discontent -and distrust, is an agitator of the worst kind. In many cases his milk will be found the wc#st of the lot as regards care. His best will bo low, owing to churning o r caking of the cream, and by his lack of care. His test will be low, owing to churning whole output, and thereby doing his neighbours a direct injustice.

Tlve absolute corectnees of the Babcock test is undoubted, and is admitted among dairymen the world over. It has made many people honest against their will, and has been death upon milk-and-water, a mixture much favoured by not a few suppliers in the early days of our factories. There are just a few who would like to go back to those happy times ; but factories generally won't have it. There are, I regret to say, Ftill some factories which do not pay on the test, and I would in the interests of the dairy industry, and of honesty and fair dealing all round, urge them to commence doing so at once.