NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2691, 11 October 1905, Page 7

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

I have before mo a report of the milking trials of cows held a few Milking months ago at the Tring Trials. Park show in England,

There was a class for eowa exceeding 9CO!b live weight, and one for cows under that weight. Nearly all the entries in tho light-weight class were Jerseys, and the first prize was taken by a Jersey cow eight years old. She had been in milk 113 days, and her miik yield for 24 hours was 44-lb lloz. From this was made 21b 9ioz of butter, the ratio of milk ti> butter being 17.141b. The butter v.-aa excellent in oolotir and flavour, and she was awarded first prize- and silver medal as a butter cow. A little crossbred cow in the same class took first prize as a milker, her yield being 64-lb 12oz of milk for 24hours, but that only made 21b 3ioz of butter, and; of course, the ratio of milk to butter was high— namely, 20.181b. TR's cow was 24- years old, and' had Taeen in milk 81 days, and her butter was also excellent in colour and flavour. I should think it; is a record for a- cow of that great age to give such a heavy milk yield. The second) prize in this class both for milk yield and butter test went to a Jersey six years old, 205 days in milk. She- gave 421b 6oz of milk, which made 2lb 7oz of butter of good quality, with a ratio of 17.281b of milk per lb of butter. The lowest milk yield in this class was 181b lOoz, lib l^oz butter, and a ratio of 17.39; therefore the worst milker iii this class gave less tf^n half the milk and butter yielded by best cow, although the ratio was about c same. The tesb in each ca-so -would b» nearly 6 per cent., bvit there is a great difference between 181b and 44-lb of milk yield. When the percentage of fafc is about the same the milk yield makes all the difference in the amount of profit, as both cows would require the same amount of food and attention The average milk yield of the 22 cows In this class was 341b; therefore a good many of the cows considered good enough to enter in a famous trial si;ch as this fell a long way behind the best half dozen, and, consequently, a great deal less profitable. Of the 13 cows entered in the class for those exceeding 9001b live weight the heaviest milker wus a. shorthorn cow, six years old, and 40 days hi milk. She gave 71b of niillp in the 24 Lours, but her ratio was high — namely, 28, and therefore she did not get tho first prize as a butter cow. Thi^ went to a Jorsoy six 3'ears old, which gave 391b 12oz of rich mil'r, yielding 21b ll^oz butter* and tho low ratio of 14.52— little more than half that of the big shorthorn that gave nearly twice as much milk and 3oz less butter There must be some big Jersey cows in the Old Country, as six of the cows in this ela^s were Jerseys, and these six averaged 401b' of milk, while the seven shorthorns ard orossbreis in this, class averaged 481b of milk. The worst milker in this clas-5 for big cows gave 2olb of milk and only l^lb butter — not a bad milk yield for a Jersey, but a very ordinary butter yield for a competition.

Computing T amb Percentages.

A shepherd writes from the North Island asking *ne to say what is the proper way of arriving at the percentage of lambs at docking time — whethel by the number of ewes pu{ with the rams in the autumn, or by th« number of ewes counted at docking time! I do not know that there is any proper oi improper way of computing the yield ol lambs. It seems to me that every fannei can please himself in this matter ; but ii is customary to base the percentage 01 lambs upon the count of ewes when th« lambs are docked, and as custom is sup. posed to rule in this sort of thing it may rightly be said that the customary waj is the proper way. Moreover, it is expedient for everybody to decide this mattel in the same way for the sake of comparison, for it is manifestly absurd for neighbours to compare their percentages if on« computes his percentage on the number ol ewes at tupping time and another on th« count at docking time, because, in tin former case, the ordinary death rate durinjf the si- Hetween tupping and doekj

.Jng would .result in a lower percentage of -. lambs on that basis than would be arrived at by the man who only counted the eweg _. coming in at docking time. Then, again, ~ some farmers draw off the dry ewes that --have lost » lamb, and also the barren ones, .leaving, only wet ewes to be counted at Tlamb-docking. In that case every ewe "counted must have a lamb, and a good Isiany of them two lambs, and he can Easily brag abouj; getting 150 per cent, of , lambs. Of course ha has a perfect right to "«aiculate as he pleases, but it is very unreasonable for him to compare hi 6 percentage with those farmers who count all ewes T;hat are yarded when the lambs are tailed! If any late lambs arrive after the flock is penned for docking, those" lambs can be tailed at shearing time, and; their" "^ails added*, to the first coun.t, which, will increase the percentage, and is only right, ibe cause the ewes in lamb .at docking time .will have been counted along: with the "others. If the lambing is early and the , ,Hock not large there is no need to leave ' ~-jthe *tails on these late lambs till shearing itime: they can be penned up and docked as soon, as " they are old enough. In con■clusion, I may say in answer to "Shep_kerd" that I have for 40 years followed " -4he plan of counting all the ewes at dock--Sng ..time, and computed the percentage of lambs on that number. -That is the com-(mon-'sense way, and also, I -think, the --customary way, and if all farmers do the same fair comparisons can be 1 made between the percentages made by the farmers about. I may- add for- the benefit -.ipf -novices that the percentage of lambs is calculated by multiplying - the number of lambs by 100 (by adding two o's) and then dividing by the number of ewes. For »xample: If there are 450 ewes and 405 .jambs, by adding two o's to the last number and then dividing by 450 we, get 90 per cent. '*: *™ j iTor some months past the British farm - - papers have had little boJlro Ther* Too sides reports of shows held - Many Shonsi - :n every parfc of the" United Kingdom. Every county or nl-ire has its county show and "several small iccal shows " besides. Over and above . all "tht-ee are the big fixtures, such as the~ 'Itoyal, the Highland, the Dublin, and the "Bath and West "of "England show. It is. "Btiuch the same with -us: we have, .our^ metropolitan shows- in the chief centres 3,ni numerous local shows in the country districts. But -if agriculture and agriculturists derive any benefit from shovrs, I maintain that the smaller fixtures serve a good purpose, proportionately, just as much ■5 the more important fixtures. The large jshow has more important functions to. jfulfil, but- not more important than the "jpreparatory work performed by the smaller local agricultural- societies. Local emulation brings good stock to the front in. the local shows, ' i and successful exhibitors axe^tKen encouraged to. bring their stock tut afe the larger and jnore Tepresenta^ jfcive meetings. In that- way meritorious animals sometimes come to the front which would not otherwise receive any particular notice. On the other hand, a breeder who fiiaa i been . successful at a small show, and thinks he has some first-class stock, may eel? an eye-opener when lie,. competes with »he[ breeders who "oiily.' exhibit, at the premier shoivs. Comparison affords the best •opportunities for educating the" eye, and ■when a man sees -his animals beside much Buperior ones he is convinced that" his swans are only geese in spite of the good ooneeit he had of them. " He returns home a and! more humble- man, and, per=£aps, determined that he will produce something good enough to. succeed against »11-comers. Leaving the big shows out of the question, "l. contend that any movement which tends lo develop and foster a wholecome spirit of competition is deserving of encouragement and approval; a-nd th-© exhibitor 'at a small show is just as proud tof beating his neighbours as the winner iai a- grand championship can be of his •victory. But supposing, for argument's .sake, that there are too many shows, who 'Is brave enough to suggest that any pai"ticular one should be abolished ?~ The~fact that we all loyally support our own little tinpot , shows does not prevent us from i rolling up at the big ones — and that is as \ it should be. She farmer .of arable land has to maintain a constant warfare Clean. upon weeds. Some he can Land. exterminate for a time, while others can only be sufficiently checked to allow a crop to make headway. Weeds abound everywhere and in- all kinds of^soils, but some soils are more difficult "to keep clean under unfavourable weather conditions. Clean land, pro3perly worked' and suitably manured, has the best possible "chance of giving a good crop, -while "with dirty land the results cannot be satisfactory. A good farmer can be known .by the state of his farm in, > respect- to weeds, but it is not every farmer nrho has the will that has the powder and ahot' necessary for fighting some of the worst of our perennial weeds. Root crops suffer more than any others from the presence of an abundance of weeds, and, of the annuals, fathen is one of the worst enemies of a crop of- roots. The old saying that one year's seeding makes seven years' weeding applies to this weed. A well-grown bunch of fafchen will produc© millions of seed in one crop, and as the seeds are of a hard and oily nature they will' not rot if buried too deep for gerxnination; consequently they just lie in the ground until such time as they may be Btirred up and brought nearer the surface, and germinate freely. Spurrey fs another j vicious weed of prolific propensities. The test method of iealing with the seeds of annual weeds is to cultivate them an<2 coax them to germinate, and plough them under immediately before sowing the land. If, however, the soil is full of weed seeds this last ploughing may bring more seeds to the surface to germinate and flourish •among the - lawful crop occupying the land. Of course it is easy to say that a good farmer should not allow his- land to get full of weed seeds, a-nd that if a crop of weeds has never been allowed to .seed "the land must be free from weed seeds. That is quite correct in theory, but somehow it is not always the .case in practice, and weeds teem to spring from unknown sources, and appear in the most unexpected places at the wrong time. Seeing that weeds have been known to spring from the spoil lifted to , the surface in sinking deep wells and mine ( shafts it is no wondar there is such an inexhaustible supply of them in the soil of the surfaca. AGEIOOLA.