STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2686, 6 September 1905, Page 8

STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

By Dsoyss.

Weekly, SUck Salet : Fortnightly : Burnside, Wedneßdajn Invercargill, Tuesdays 'J^ v !l 0 "'w UU S sda ? 8 Monthly: Addingt.m.WedaMdays cliDto?| Palmerßtoii . Fortnightly t . T Winton, and WaiEalclutba, Fridays koiwiti. Gore, Tuesdays Periodically Ounaru, Tuesdays Heriot, Kelso, and Kyebum.

Both afc Addington and Burnside prime wethers bring 24s to 28s, medium 20s to 23s At Addington sales of store sheep were as follows: — Store Sheep. — 204 two, four, and eix-tooth ewes 23s 7d-to 265, 128 at 255, 81 scund-mouthed 19s Id, 159 aged 245, 73 ewe hoggets 17s lid, 105 wether hoggets 17s 6d, 177 at 17s Id, 40 shorn 18s fd, 310 mixsd sexes 17s &d, 170 at 17s, 60 at 17s 2d, 151 at 16s, ,48 afc 15s lOd, 57 at 15s 9d.

Fat cattle Maintain gocd prices, and v.'c may expect this as long as aheep remain at praent high Value, which will be for some time to come. ,Jt is. too early to say what prices will rule- in frozen mutton and lamb, but one ,~ thing, is certain — viz., that Australia will have ,v , large export this year, especially^, in Jambs, and this must influence the market to a- considerable extent.

Fat sheep" ar& scarce an 3 dear in the North Island. The winter has been a -mild one, and there is every prospect of the lambing being unusually large.

Thd main interest in most jj&rts of th© North Island among farmers jusb at present centres in the market foe. dairy produce. Buyers have for some time past been active r buying outputs .of butter factories from- September^ ,to March at very high prices— much higher than for years past, J I and equal to those prevailing during the I year of the Australian drought. Several factories have their outputs, September to March, 'at up to lOgd per lb, f.o.b. ocean Buying started at ,a shade over ! 10d," and • the price now for best factories \ is about 10|d, l and probably 10£ d will yet be paid. Some factories have contracted to sell -for the three years at from 9£d to \S|d, and I hear that the buyers are &till ■open ito -tray more on similar terms. If their is on, sound principles, then 'the outlook for the dairying industry is very -promising indeed. In -Auckland pricss are',- -if anything, a shade higher generally than . those paid -,in > Taranaki, Wellington, and Hawke's J3ay. few f actories-are "consigning,, and most of those who do -have J got -an advance' without recourse of 9£d to 10|d,. the '- latter 'advance being given, by only 'firmr It seems 'to? me 'more 'of a purchase at a,, lower rate^that r,ules' rather I tKan an'adVance on consignment." Most fac'•tories, .'however,'.; prefer to sell outright' a*t present rates, and I am not" surprised \ in J fact, I consider that , any body of factory ] directors -who consign in 'preference to ac- J cefpting over' lOd lb are bold, men, and I should say imprudent ones— highly- specu; lative, at. anyratej and possibly some mightsay, idiotio. ' " Competition <- between "buyers, -has raised prices to this high level, but \%- all v remains to .be' seen whether these buyers' ar© right. They are all British houses who are buying, but -as I have often, said before, they know tery little, and all in the trada her©, -will agree that London houses, in their forecasts "of markets tor dairy produce, are far more often wrong "than right. This dairy produce market seems to be increasingly more or less of a gamble, and rtveri at this moment rre firms, in London, selling "New" :Zealand butter forward, not naming brands, of course/ but just first gr.ade New Zealand factory "butv ter, at much lower rates than buyers here could land butter -on the prices * they have paid. Probably there will be a good deal of this "bearing',? the market. In "the past, the bears^have generally. come out on top, but I sino&rely hope they will- "fall in" this ' year. lam by. no means sure, they will, hovfrever. High' 1 prices im butter causes restricted consumption, and this leads to accumulation of stocks, • and then the trouble • begins, and this has happened very often.

Little or nothing ha 3 been done In cheese 1 buying, but prices, apparently, are going to run high, and I would advise factories to be in- no hurry to sell. Everything points to v a 'cause for high- prices m oSeese, and the market has been steadily rising in Canada,/ which is the-- main controlling centre of the cheese trad© now. The Wairarap'a -factories have, decided to consign. One firm -which was receiving consignments from a1",a 1 ", group of four large factories for thres . years, has had ij:s agreement broken, and the four factories are now consigning" to another two -London firms, who apparently have promised Better results. I don't think that changing consignees is a very good thing, even if others one year show slightly better results, and account sales can be made up for a purpose. I know of some that were made out in New Zealand, and never came from the London consignees at all. There is no reason to suppose thai anything of this kind' occurred in relation to the above factories, however. ' The best of firms may not h& able to obtain / as high.- prices as others sometimes, howjever, as" markets fluctuate day by day, and holding for better prices may result in having to iaka lower, and' vice versa. The policy of consigning to a good reliable house year after year is a sound one, and one that ex-perierioe has proved brings the best average_ result, but this year, with such high prices ruling, no one could blame directors for deioarting from that sound policy. When offers for butter are ruling below 9|d the circumstances are different to when over lOd is offered, and there is a well known favourite expression of the late Mr, H. S. Fish to the effect that "circuni.standes, alter cases," and h© was a "cute" man,,

Every one 13, 115 'doubt, pleased at the .prospecte of the dairy industry for the coming season, and I, congratulate all my dairying friends on it; but tlievsG are som& matters on which I cannot congratulate them — viz., the condition df- their milking sheds and the deterioration in their milking herds. I speak generally, for there are many exceptions, I am glad to say, and I only Yilsh their good example will be fol-

lowed all rotind. Lately I have travelled" New Zealand from Auckland to the Bluft', and I am not going to say which part is best or worst in tne matters mentioned. jL'here is much room for improvement all round. 1 am quite satisfied that many dairymen are heavily handicapped by inferior stock, and am distinctly of opinion that one-third of the cows milked in New Zealand cannot bs profitable, even at present high rates for butter and cheese, and it would be better for dairymen to ascertain by test and calculation how far this applies to them, and to fac& the trouble and quit milking unprofitable cattle. It is not to be wondered at that the milking herds have deteriorated. What effort generally has been made to improve our breeds by using first-class stock? I know of very little dono in this direction j and then what can we expect the results to be when in many cases for over 14- years past our calves have been reared on skim milk, and our present milking stock is to a large extent the progeny of skim milk calves? I do really believe that skim milk has been more of a curse than a blessing in New Zealand, much as some farmers think of it. I am inclined to put its feed value as generally used at about nil. Breed good; stock, and feed every calf well when it is young, and if it is noJ worth doing this, put it out of ita misery at once. As to the milking sheds and yards, I am quite certain that it is the most false economy to delay • improving them, and I believe'^ if Mr Kinsella gets control of the inspection of dairies supplying milk factories, this is' one of the first things he will do all in his power to r-smedy.