STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2842, 2 September 1908, Page 7

STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Bt Drotkb.

Weekly Stock Sales:" f • Monthly: Burnside, Wednesdays Ngapara, first ThuraAshburton, Tuesdays I day in each month *ss£- T «ssr SSs T,,«-,+;n-n Tn*Mfav« Duatroon, second m Junction, Tuesdays etcfa Fortnightly : Clinton, Palmerston, Balclutha Fridays Win ton, and WaiGore, Tuesdays kc-owti. Oamaru, Tuesdays Periodically : Invercargili, Tuesdays Heriot, Kelso, Kyebura

The stock markets are beginning to show fome improvement in fat stock. At Ad(lington there was a slight advance in fat <=heep, while prices at Burnside were firm. In both markets buyers for export were operating up to their limits. Fat cattle remain about the same as the previous week. There has been a considerable movement of sheep in the North Island of late, and large numbers hane been 6ent from Hawke's Bay a!hd Wellington to Auckland, while a smaller number were sent to Canterbury.

The question of improving t3ie mutton for export is attracting some attention. It is said by one that this matter is not of such* urgency in the South Island, because we have given ourselves over entirely to the breeding and fattening of lambs. To a very large extent this is the case, but sxirely that is iiot to say we 6hould -not try to improve our mutton. I don't think we can expect to maintain prices if we con-tent ourselves "with sending only second-class meat. Messrs H. S. Fitter and Co., in their

report of June 12, said: — "There b^s been a very sfoort supply of Scotch and English mutton, end prices have ruled very high. ' The demand for New Zealand mutton k improving, but there is still so much secondary mutton on hand that prices do not show much improvement at presentißeaUy prime- -mutton is very short, and is making satisfactory prices.. It -is most unfortunate that, New Zealand, shippers have not paid more attention to the quality of their niuiton, and thus preserved their reputation. ,~As we hav^ often pointed cut, there was a great opportunity of establishing a large trade for really prime mutton, but the supply of such has been so irregular that buyers have either been obliged to put up with an inferior article or give up this trade altogether." This is not cheerful reading for sheep-farmere, but it puts the position Nearly. It should be clearly under- '■ stood that there is no shortage at ail of I fat-backed, heavy, long-woolled sheep in Great "Britain. A writer in the Farmers' j Gazette on this point says:— "The day* i are past when fat-backed, heavy, 'ong- ! woolled sheep would sell freely in London and certain other English markets. I must treat this subject chiefly vfrom the London point of view, and can say positively that this is the woret possible market for sheep of this class. Some people will persist in sending them here, and in certain seasons jin very large consignments. There is a . considerable difference in the Quality of the ' long-wools co coming. The Kent long-wool 1 '. or- Romney March breed is ' often reprej sented by 1000 or 1500 wet&erß in the hand* ' of one salesman. He has the greatest diff- ' culty in finding customers for them at all, 1 and as a rule has to accept nearly 2d pet* lb less Jhan the top price of Downs the same day. It is an undisputed fact that London has now but very little use for coarse mutton. Consumers have now for i some years -been, becoming more and more enamoured of small joints, and to try and force them to take big ones fe only kicking , against the pricks." 1 " Another writer in a. London pa-per remarks: — "There has been an abundant supply of sheep and lambs from New Z&a.j land, but although 'these still retain, their superiority to any other froten producer they are- not as good as formerly. N<

3pubt they have to be sought for further afield, but whatever the reason be, we miss the symmetry and fulness of flesh of the old -Canterbury, for which the North Island and others ' which have been sent to make good the deficiency are inadequate substitutes. Meanwhile the breeders in Argentina are finding some results from the use of the splendid rams they have pfnrchased in Shropshire . and elsewhere in this country, ana have been sending ue a class of mutton which is improving year by year, and bids fair in a snort time seriously to challenge the claim of New Zealand to the premier position." Thi6 extract shows that the deterioration in New Zealand mutton applies to Canterbury and the South Island generally, as well as to the North Island. I am afraid that as closer settlement pxogre&sos tur sheep will not improve, but that the reverse will be the case unless farmers educate themselves to better breeding methods. The Argentine mutton is improving, whilst New Zealand is deteriorating. The market reports of late make this quite evident.

Breeding is the basis of permanent success, and dairy-farmers even more than the sheep-farmers do not seem to have grasped mis idea. For this reason I was particularly glad to see that my friend Mr Burgess, of Warea, near Cape Egmont, Tarwiaki, has given to the Auckland Weekly News the most interesting, instructive, and Tellable statement 1 have yet seen on the subject of the testing of dairy herds. I trust reader* will give the extract below the most careful consideration, and at once start io follow Mr Burgess's" profitable example. Mr Burgess has been known to me as one ol the ablest and soundest dairyfarmers in New Zealand., and always a successful one. I feel sure he will be more successful than ever, for hie investment in jproperly testing his herds meane more money to him, as the experience gained to a man of his stamp will be translated at once into Ls. d. Every farmer could do the same. Two remarks Mr Burgess makes ♦re particularly worthy of attention: — (1) "Test (for butter-fat) is not everything." (2) "The amount of time and expense involved in testing certainly looks like one of the best investments a dairy-farmer can make." The following is from the Weekly News : — _ Prior to this testing, Mr Burgess did not know how his cows compared in butter-fat yield. This information he now has, and in come instances the cows producing practically similar quantities of milk show a great disparity in the butter-fat figures. The milk froro each cow (night and morning) was weighed once a week, and ft composite sample tested every fourth week through the •ewson. The herd may now be divided into two lots of 15 cows each. The first 15 averaged 63171b of milk," of a 4.01 test, giving 253!b of butter-fat per cow, worth (at 10}ct per 1b) £12 7« sd. The other 15 produced an average? of 45261b of milk per cow, on a 8.96 test, 1801b of butter-fat, worth £8 16s lljd pel cow. The figures show, however, that all the cows in the first 16 calved in August and September, whilst the second lot included October, November, and December c&lver«. The beet cow was an aged one. calved on September 22. Her yield was 78601b of milk, giving 806.261b of butter-fat (4.16 test), which was worth £14 16s '/d. Another, cow, calved 11 days earlier, gave SSSalb of milk, average t#gt 4.18, the 167.24 1b of butter-fat being worth £7 18b 10d. In tHis case we have a high test, but comparatively small yield. Test is not everything. Five cows calved in August and September averaged £9 7s~4d apiece. Another five, calved in tbe same months, averaged ' £18 14s Bd. Another interesting comparison: j Twelve cows gave 57261b of milk and up- I ward*, yet tttj cow which gave 57261b was second on the li*t as far ac profit was concerned. Mr Burgess has figured! out that the average of three heifers was £6 10s 7d; of nine second calvers. £9 «s ; and of 18 more than second calf, £11 12s 10£ d. Eleven August oailvers averaged £12 0s 3d; nine September calvera, £11 ss; three October calvers, £9 6s 7d; seven later, £8 Is 3d. The average for the herd wa* as follows: — Milk, 5439J1b; test, 3.86 per cent.; buitter-fat, 216.51b; valued at lOJd per lb of butter-fat, £10 11s BJd. This is & good record,, which shows that Mr Burgess must have been attending a good deal to the selection and breeding of his cows even before he purchased his testing apparatus. Mr Burgess states tha-t the herd is of the Ufual nondescript variety. Up till the last tiro or three years no attempt 'was made Io br«ed on any definite lines, though culling was .fairly heavy, but the probability was that the culling had not always been for tLe best, owing to no tests being made. In apite of this the butter-fat had increased by 20 per cent, in the last six years. What, then, he asks, can be done when we are certain which, to cull? The 30 cows, together with six heifer calves and six heifers a year -older, have been kept entirely on just over 100 acres of medium land. The outstanding features of the test are that the early calvers are out of sight of the later ones; the tost of cows of different ages varies but little; and the first and best half of an ordinary dairy herd makes about 45 per cent, better return than the lust half. - " !The amount of time and expense involved in testing," says Mr Burgess, " certainly looks like one of. the best investments a dairy-farmer can make." Re the statement that "Test is not everything," weighing tho milk is just as important as using the Babcock tester for butter-fat contents. One thing I have learnt on my trip through Taranaki and in conversation with leading dairy-farmers who supply cheese factories is that the Jersey is not as profitable a cow for oheesemaking as a cow giving a larger supply of milk of a lower test. The cows for the cheese factory supply are *he shorthorn, Ayrshire, and Holetein breeds, and not the Jersey, which, howevor, is undoubtedly a fin« butter cow. Tariki farmers turned to the cheese factory from butter-making last y«£r. The herde there are largely Jerseys, many farmers having stud animals. They are greatly disappointed at their factory re•ulte. for the average test shown is .very high, and the amount of cheese made therefrom disappointing. The following extract from tii« report of the Tariki Dairy Factory Co. is interesting* — "The factory opened on August 1, 1907, and cheese was made until April 30, 1908, totalling 194 tons. Butter was made during May and June, amounting to about 4£ tons. The quality of .the cheese has been most satisfactory, the reports from Some having been very favourable. "Butter-making.— May 1, 1908, to June 30, 1908: Pounds of milk, 177,991; test. 5.0; bubter-fat. 8993; butter, 10,400; lbs of milk to lrb butter, 17.1; butter to lib fat, 1.15. "Cheese-making.— August 1, 1907, to April 10, 1908: Pounds of milk, 4,487,473; test, 4.15; butter-fat, 186,254 f cheese, 435,102; lbs of milk to lib cheese, 10.31; cheese to Ub fat, 2.33. "Total milk, 4,665,4M1b. Butter-fat, 195,2471b."

(The factories close -to Tariki — namely, Lowgarth. Ngaire and Cardiff (all cheese factories) show much better results on a lower average test. The Tariki test was 4.15, while the others averaged 3.7. The Babcock butter-fat test is absolutely right for a butter factory, as the butter made is according to the test, but paying on butterfat, only at a cheese factory when the test gees much above 3.6 js evidently unprofitj£blg. I know that -at Some experimental stations, and in small experiments, milk of high test has made more cheese than milk of a lower test, but it is evident that in practice at any factory taking in, say, two to four- thousand gallons' per day, with a test beyond, say, 3.7, paying on the test is to the factory, as it does not get the corresponding amount of solids which are contained -• in- the bulk of the milk. For cheese factories some new test will have to be found in the future; a test that .will . take into consideration the value to the factory in butter-fat and solids.

The hunt for the output of dairy factories in the North Island has. commenced. Agents, buyers, etc., are now more numerous than ever. A large number of factories, principally those making cheese, say they are sending their produce on consignment through the National Dairy Association, -but as no one knows exactly what that scheme means, or how it is to be worked.- If well managed and financed it is, I think, . a_ step in the right direction. Agents rush around in droves end attend meetings daily, but as yet nothing Jias been done. Buyers, It is rumoured, offer lid f.0..b. ? and more for butfce-r outputs September to March, and for cheese it is rumoured that 6d has been offered. Mr S. Turner, of Wilier and Riley, gave the Kaupokonuf factory an advance, without recourse." of s£d f.0.b.. and I hear 6d was offered 'by a buyer. This factory has the largest make in New Zealand, some 2400 tons, so that the outlook for cheese is very healthy. Good as is the price for butter, cheese. I think, will be better) 1 and southern factories making cheese this year will, I am confident, have a real pood time of^ifc. JDn my opinion, at about the end of September cheese prices- will foa even better than at present.