STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2661, 15 March 1905, Page 7

STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Bt Drotkb.

Weekly Stock Sales : Fortn'tjMly : Burnside, Wednesdays Invercirgill, Tuesdays Ashburton, Tuesdays Jfovthh/ • Addinjrton, Wednesdays r r i V> i * * ' J CIl io-n, Palmerstor, Fortnightly: Wintop, and- WaiBalclutha, Fridays kouaiti. Gr^re, Tuesdays Periodically Oaanaru, Tuesdays Heriot, Kelso, and Kye burn. About 200 head of cattle were yarded at JBurnside, and the market showed signs of weakness. Best buHocks brought" from £9 to .£9 15s; medium to good, £7 10s to £3 10s : medium to good heifes, £5 to £7. A considerable portion of the yarding was taken by graziers, otherwise prices would I have been still lower. The town demand j foi beef is very limited during this warm I weather, the only meat selling- well being lemb. Exporters cannot touch beef until prices come down a little. The only hope of keeping prices at a fair level is in doing some export trade, and 'no one seems to care for the venture at present. About 2200 sheep were yarded, and ex porters not being at all keen, prices were easier. Prime wethers sold at 22s 6d to 245; good, 20s to 21s 6d ; medium, 17s 6d to 19s ; fat ewes about same price. There was only a small yarding of lambs, and competition among butchers was keen, prices runaing from 13s to 17s, according to size. At 4.dclingtorf last week the market was a brisk one for fat sheep. Export buyers were not in the running, as butcher^ ran prices beyond their l>esfc limits. Prime heavy wethers, "24s to 26s 6d : oilier?, 20s to 22/: fat ewes at «ame prices; medium to good wethers, ]8s to 19s; aged ewe=. 16=; merino wethers, 16s to 20s. Prime freezing lamb* brought 16s to 13s; tegs. 18s 6d to ISs 6d. Exporters don't seem so keen for tegs now, pieferrin™ small carcases where prime. Shipments of sheep from the Kbrtli Island to Canterbury continue on a large scale. About 3000 per week come down from Napier, and about tha same v from Wellington. All clashes of sheep are represented, but mostly stores and some breeding owes. Considerable quantities also go from Southland and Otago. Stocking- up in Canterbury will entail a heavy expense to fihose who require to do so, and possibly some might be better without «toek. There is su^h a thing as paying too dear for one's whistle. The sales at Station Peak, however, show by the prices paid what a keen demand there is for breeding ewes. At Addington last week the following prices were paid for stores: — Ewe*. 18? Id to 25s 7d ; wethers, 17e to 19s ; lambs, 11s to 17s sd. Tho Station Peal- sale was a prood 0112 1 for the owners. There were recrrd price-,, not at all what some would ' thir.'k the v .eked large nvnholder deserved ; but mo^t of us know that the big runholder has had bad times also — coo many of thcin, as we think when we look around for the enterprising men who settled the lands of the colony in the pioneor days, 30 to years ago. Sad it is i 1 think how few did wel 1 , yot they certainly deceived success. And | they were useful, too, for we relied on ihem ( to a large extent for the wage fund of J:e di-tiict. "The rionev I'lev "rent m impro\r- ; ir.<nts and labour hrlucd \tv loverly tho I c*ore r men \\'io i ir "v are tli* 1 la^'d-. Not Ie c\ tli-> mo=t ia ] 'il ?cc'ah-t c-y In. ->d j j i.ptionali-er c-ti in fa'i-rrso do r.nvilpn^ but I -1 eak Will 0 id t'niiik li'idly of them. ' Tho follow'nq; f\ir3c'- are from the Vie- , to;,'m T'utrer Coinmn^ioii's Fuifier P'-o- ' gi.--^ Report, in-t to hand: — ■ — Ilouie Separator — The e\idenco given before tins commission would go to sliow that, while the dairy industry on the whole had suffaied severely from the impiopei use of the home separator, the aclvanldgcs of it in certain districts have boan.

recognised as beneficial t to the producer who may be somewhat isolated by reason of the bad or hilly roads. The evidence would prove Leyo'id doubt that the home separator encourages negligence and want of care in the treatment of cream, and to this cause may be traced, in a measure, the falling off m quality and values of some of the Australian butter. In the districts where it would appear tha£ the honis -separator is almost a necessity, the dairies shonld be subjected to the close inspection of expert officers, whose duties would ba to see that the dairies were sanitary ansl away from any surroundings which would have a deleterious effect on the cream. In the districts where the roads are good the milk should be forwarded direct to tha local factory or creamery, and the usp of tEa home separator discountenanced, iv the best interests of the industiy. — Number of Brands. — The question o* the number of brands which 'should be used by any individual factory has been considered by us. We have found that in many instances factories, and particularly city factories and agents, have been using a number of brands, and various reasons have been given for this practice. After a careful investigation of the facts, wa are of opinion that a factory should have & maximum of only two brands — one for butter intended for local consumption, the other for butier for export. Where a factory uses only one brand we recommend that, in the best interests of the factory, the boxes should be so marked as to clearly indicate — in the case of buttermanufactured for local consumption- — that ifc was "JSTot for Export." This would prevent" anyone exporting this btitter, and injuring tha same factory's butter that was specially manufactured for export. With regard to butter forwarded from the factories in plain boxes, we enter an emphatic protest against such a practice, and urge oa all factories to consign their butter under therrown distinctive brands. Indiscriminate us» of numerous brands purporting to represent non-existent factories by Melbourne agents will bo dealt with fully in our final report. — Summary of Findings. — 1. That payments were made by the P. and O. and Orient Companies from 12th May, 1894. to 30th April. 1903, amounting tc* £13,130 10s, to Messrs J. Bartt-am and Son ancl Messrs M'Meekin Bros., and that the following shippers and others participated in tha amount paid to Messrs J. Bartram and Son — viz.- — Messrs C. W. Gray and Co, William Telford Webb, Daniel Manson Taylor, Charles Frederick Taylor, and the Melbourne ChilledL Butter Company. 2. (a) That the payments were in the form of a rebate on freight, and not for services legitimately rendered as brokers. (b) That this rebate was not allowed to all shippers, which was a violation of clause 8 of the contract, (c) That nine New South Wales shippers discovered in 1902-3 that rebates on. freights had been rnide to certain Victorian shippers : thereupon the said New South Wales shmpers demanded a similar concession, which wos granted, and x'ayrnents were made to them by the mail cor^anies for tha period of the expired portion of their existing co-itracts. 3. That the closest secrecy was require*! an dobserved as to the pavrnenst made to the shippers and others in Victoria. Tiie fhist of thes matters, home separation, svas ably dealt with at the Lyttelton oongerenee of the National Dairy Association. Mr Kinsella confirmed what Mr Thornton had said regarding- tho evils of home separation for supplying ?ream to factories. He instanced the evil done by it ia Canada and in New South Wales, as coming under his own personal observation. The home- separator man will he around shortly. To him the game is *o sell separators, and he will push for all he is worthHe wi]l possibly say, as one of them 1 knentf clid, that "you can keep it and work it in a corner c/ your cowshed or byre — that it takes up no room," etc., etc. I am sorry for the man who prefers a home separator to taking his milk to the fac-toiy, and am certain he himself will be more Forry in tha near future. Our eo-operati\e factory system is excellent, and is being- copied even In the Homeland now. All we haie to da now is to keep on improving en the sam« lines, and mainly th>« will be in the improved quality of milk delivered to :he factory for manufactUi' 0 The second <:-.trac( deals with che question of branding, and i- on the lines ?Uadfa=tly advocated by the National Dairy Association. Two brand-* are pllovrod a iarqo factory, and (here i= no objection to tbi -. The mam thing its to keep exporters fi'ot'i ha\ ins? brai rTs of their ov. n, as this i- what did = uch harm in Victoria. Factory men and Ihe National Dairy A« c ociatioa lnny ael hsni? to fight for tin* princ-plo, a 5?a 5 ? ■riflueiHial expo<-tpi-. in Wellington have Died, and will no doubt try again. to si ruin the right to have rheir"o\\n biT>HiU\ a, Victoria 'i had. ?>l"irl ■c-s o£ Ui^ Xntnnal Dairy As-oclatioii and factories fneiallj mv.st keep a watch on this matter. 1 ho. la-r extract -* 1 -r], v it l ! Mk> secret rebates, and in the fi ;,v V- factoiv men and c* tiers to -:ocitre thini n -1 lU -, -whv.il !- box: net l.i enmc. there «JI . i.-.h_ L - f Uil . avi & 10-N-iblv vnoiv diselosun «.