AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2811, 26 August 1908, Page 21

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Buyers of sheep from the South Island are said to be -operating in the Wah-a-rapa district. Settlers throughout the bush district will require a large number of young stores, as young grass has made splendid growth on portions that were swept by fire some months ago. A Masterton sportsman who spent a day or two after rabbits in the Katiuna and surrounding districts states that there are- dead cattle lying about' in all directions—starved to death. The utter absence of feed has meant the loss of cattle worth hundreds of pounds to farmers in the upland country. A bullock sold at the Addington saleyards the other day weighed, when killed and dressed, 13391b. Five Shropshire wethers weighed 1751b, 1651b, 1571b, 1551b, and 1521b respectively. The conversion of a number of butter factories to cheese concerns at the beginning of last eeason had its reflex upon the operations of the Egmont Box Company (says the Elthan? Argus). During the season that closed last month the company manufactured 174,699 butter boxes and 101,535 cheese cases, against 200,316 butter boxes and 71,130 cheese cases for the season 1906-07 — an increase of 30,405 cheese cases and a decrease of 25,617 butter boxes ' According to the Hawera Star, the demand for dairy cows in Taranaki is very keen, and at a recent sale at Normanby 48 cows averaged £7 per head. Apparently Southland is not behind Taranaki in this respect, for at Mr J. A. Sinclair's sale of dairy eowe, 'held by the N.Z. Loan and Mercantile Agency Co. (Ltd.), last Wednesday, 59 excellent dairy cows averaged £8 8s per head. Chatting to an E-ltham Argus reporter, Mr Lonsdale-Berry, a renresentative of a largo London dairy firm, said the prospects for butter on the English market this season were v<»ry good. He thought New Zealand factories were taking a step in the right direction in atteniDting to concentrate New Zealand butter in the hand 5 ; of one or two large London houses. The outstanding merit of co-operative marketing was that it enabled "the factories to

concentrate their shipments on one market instead of scattering them all over Great Britain. Before coming to New Zealand Mr Lonsdale-Berry visited Canada, and found that the output of butter from that country promised to be a good deal larger than last year, when a number of butter factories were converted into cheese concerns. They had retained the dual plant and 6O could make butter or cheese as the market suited. Especially in the Quebec province more butter would be turned out thi6 year. As a result of the training given in the dairy school? the staffs of the factories were trained in both buttermaking and cheese-making, and could turn their hand from one to the other. Several butter factories in the Manawatu district have increased the price of their butter output to Is 4d per lb wholesale. The stomach of a dairy cow which died at Wyalong, New South Wales, was found to contain a leather strap, a woman's stocking, and a piece of wood 3in long and l£in broad.