STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2883, 23 June 1909, Page 7

STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

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■W««kly Stock Sales: ( Monthly: Burnside, Wednesdays i Ngapara, first ThursAikburton, Tuesdays I day m each month Aldington, Wednesdays -Ql«a«y,. second WedWaiareka Railway ™ sd *y m each th Junction, Tuesdays Duntroon, second Friday in each month Fortnightly.: Clinton, Palmers ton, Bwlcluth a, ' Fridays Winton, and WaiGore, Tuesdays kouaiti. Oama.ru, Tuesdays Periodically: Invercargih, Tuesdays Heriot, Kc.so, Kyeburn , At ]ast week's stock markets there was ' not much change in prices for stock for ! export. Lambs at Burnside owing 1 to" the } heavy supply were possibly t 3d a head' cheaper, but at Addington prices were 1 slightly better, as the yarding there was not heavy. Sheep were Is to Is 6d cheaper ! in 'both markets, exporters buying only a, | few lightweights. Afi the works in Otago • have been kept running full time till a fortnight ago. Since then they have had a quiet day or two during the week. Farmers having evidently decided tEa-t prices are not likely to be better in the immediate future have been sending their sheep in freely, and it is expected that by the end of July there will not be much left tor the freezing works to do. The quantHy put through at all these works thi3 yea: ■ j is better than, on any <previous year, and it i is anticipated bhe season will close earlier I than usual. Sheep and lambs have come 1 on well, as the season has been propitious, i and there will be plenty of turnips to keep , the reserve stocks and breeding ewes in ', good order till the spring graes comes 1 again. The wool market looks so well that j farmers have good prospects ahead in keep1 ing ,their stock for shearing. The London mar Ret is still very depressed, heavy mutton especially so. Good lightweight lambs are worth 4|d, but heavy lambs are now under 4d, .and stocks enor-t mous. Latest advices from London by letter say that any increase in demand . ! resulting from lower prioes is more than | counterbalanced by the heavy stock in har;d and afloat, and latest cables make the position slightly worse. ' , I have received a pamphlet containing the evidence given by Mr Ruddick, Commissioner for Dairying and Cold Storage in ; Canada, before the Standing Committee of i the Canadian Parliament. To this body he \ has .annually to give an account of his stewardship for the past year, and submit hie plans for the coming year, and ask them for the funds needed to carry these out. He giets what he wants, and set® to | work, independently of Ministerial or parliamentary control or interference, accounting to this Standing Committee for | his work at their next annual meeting. Our Agricultural Department might with advantage be run on somewhat similar ! lines. A few extracts from Mr .Ruddick's J evidence will be interesting to my readers. Mr Ruddick has under his control all the export trade in perishable products, as well as the dairy service. He seems to have hit upon an excellent plan of improving the I milk supply to factories, and this plan I could easily be adopted in many places in j New Zealand to great advantage and with 1 a minimum of cost. If the milk inspection is put in the hands of Mr Cuddie, our Dairy Commissioner, as I hope it may vet ] be, I think Mr Ruddick's plan will com-m-and itself to him. Mr Ruddick on this point says: — i Last summer Mr Barr was assigned to [ some experimental work in the -county of Lanark. We secured the use of part of a ' cheese factory, and conducted experiments in the handling of milk on ths farm for tbo manufacture of cheese. It would not be interesting to the committee for me to go ' into any details of that work, but I am ' glad to be «ble to say that it has practically ! produced a. revolution in the handling of milk j on the farms for the manufacture of cheese. \ I d<o not know any work that b,as ever been i presented to the dairy conventions in all ' my experience of over 25 years which has been so satisfactory and has been so generally accepf-ed as the results of these experiments can-ducted last summer. I am glad to be able to say that it has simplified the work, of caring for milk for cheese-making on ; the farm, and it has taught the patrons of factories how to handle the milk so that it will produce more cheese and better cheese. Mr Ruddick's evidence re the cow-testing associations are so interesting that I give i it in full, and trust my dairying readers will give the matter careful attention: — Probably the most interesting 1 , and certainly the most extensive, work which the dairy division is carrying on at present is the organisation of cow-testing associations and the encouragement of the testing- of individual cows, with the object of improving the production of the dairy herds in Canada. There is much need for that improvement. The provincial authorities in Ontario took <a census last year, getting statistics from the secretaries of cheese factories, and they found thai the average quantity of milk delivered at the cheese factories in eastern Ontario during the season of 1908 was only a little over 2700 poumb of milk per cow. And yet the man who wop. the dairy herd

competition last year in western Ontario delivered over 8000 pounds of milk per cow during the season during the period that the cheese factory was in operation, the same period during --which the other records •were taken. Now, that herd was probably one of the best herds, but it shows the possibilities that lie in tiiis direction. > Mir "Wilson: The large yield you spoke of was- more than double the other, was it not ? — More, than double. Mr Armstrong-: How many of these associations are there in Ontario? — At present j there are 94 associations and 10 smaller ( gTGMPS of three or four farmers, who are j joined together fox the game purpose, and ■ then there are .a, laige number of individuals who apply to us fox the necessary forms for I keeping- the records, and-- which we supply without cost. "We encourage that sort of '-. thing as much as possible. The individual work by farmers, here and. there throughout the -country is growing very fast. Every mail 'l get a large number of applications for these forms from individuals, so that they may take up the work. "Mr C. P. "Whitley is doing valuable work r charge of , these records. " | Mr Broder: It was in 1908 that the record was made in the yield of milk in Ontario ?—? — | Yes. , . 1 It was a season of great drought ?— Yes. T should have qua-lined the statement to that extent. " j Mr Staples : Would the increased yield- not be due very largely to tbe care that was given to the cows? Would it not be due to . that fact just as much as to the particular j breed ?-r-I do not think it was due to the i particular breed. It "was due to the mdi- ' viduality of the cows, because we find from ' our records that there are good producers and j poor prodiicers among all breeds. , I That is whwt I mean ; do you not think it | is the care given to. the cows?— The care and « feed have a, great .deal to do with it, but] the individuality is responsible for a great I )' deal more. 1 •'Mr Broder: You can get as much of a yield from a good cow that does not get ! good care as from a poor one? — Yes 1 . I , would like you to understand how this work is done. A group of farmers, say from | 10 to 20, undertake to weigh the milk on certain days in the month, and take a s sample for testing, and then deliver it to : some central point near the cheese factory ! or creamery, where it is tested. Under the present arrangement, the Departrnant of Agriculture psys some looftl ' person to -do the testing. We have to pay about 5 cents | per test. .That plan saves the cost of travelj ling expenses in sending a man around, and besides, we sure trying to get the cheese fac- < I tory and creamery owners interested in this j work, and make these places the centres of j that sort of thing. They should encourage it, because the owner of a cheese factory is certainly interested in increasing the supply of milk within tbe a.rea from which he now obtains it. It reduces tbe cost of transportation, and would very materially reduce the cost of manufacturing cheese or butter in j this country if the supply of milk within i the area from which tEe factories now draw their support was increased, as it might be fully one-third, or even 50 per cent., if the dairymen 'would study their herds, make careful selections, and breed only from the best ' produceis. Before the test took place the farmers were not aware at all of what the herds were doing individually? — A T o. There were seme very great surprises. "We find this rather striking fact : the average farmer judges his cows by the amount of milk they give while freeh ; but it is the persistent milker tfcat proves to be the g-cod producer in the end, «3 a rule. When the record of a teat a-nd the weights for the menth are obtained, they are sent to my office and compiled, and a report is fent to every member, showing the total yield of ea.ch cow to that date, from the beginni.)^ of the season. Than we make a monthly summary for each association, and. strike off a largo number of copies with a duplicating machine, and send a copy to every member of all the associations, so that the different members get reports from all over the country, and are thus enabled to make many interesting and instructive comparisons. These summarjes are also sent to the newspapers. j 'Mr Wilson : I sent copies of a- bulletin on cow-testing to a great many farmers in my riding. They appreciated it very much, and a great many of them wrote to me thanking me for it. — I might dwell on that topic, but there are a great many other things I would like to refer to, and my time is limited, so I shall hare to proceed. It appears that the Canadian Government are fairly liberal to the dairy industry. They practically provids ice cars for the transit of butter, and also for cheeee during the hot weather, as the following extract shows : — Then the next iced car service is the iced cars for cheese. That is a different a-irangement. The arrangement is that the Department of Agriculture will pay the icing charges to the extent of 5 dollars per car on refrigerator cars supplied for -the shipment of cheese in car leads during the season. Carsare supplied by the railways on the demand of the shippers up to a certain number per week for about 10 weeks during the hottest period of the year. Between 1000 and 1300 cars wer« supplied in that way to the shippers last year throughout the cheese-making districts. The Government ,provide iced cars for the transit of fruit, and also do a great deal ' to ihelp in the export of fruit. " j I had the Minister's authority to arrange.

for a service on the oooan for the carriage of tendeT fruits,- which turned out very . satisfactorily indeed. I lefer to .the matter of having -certain chambers qn~ the steamships reserved for ' the; carriage _of fruits only. Shippers of fruite-.have met a difficultyr'in the past when desiring yb make small shipments of tender fruits ox ©axly apples- ia cold storage, because the smallest cold " stor>. age chambers on the steamers have a capacity I of a-boxit 2000 cubic feet, and no single ship1 per, as a rule, has enough of that class of fruit to fill one of the^e chambers. " No i other produce could be put in the -ia-mbar along with the fruit, because you require a, temperature of about 33 io 34 degTees, and that is unsuitable for .other products. The result has been that ships" h<ave been turabla tc provide much accommodation fox thia clasr of . fruit. Last season we ■ made arrangements with the Thomson Line and ih& Allan Line in connection with their London services to reserve chambers on four steamers jailing on August 22, August 29, Septem.e,. 5, and September 19, with thia under st ami - ■ ing, that if there was not sufficient fruit tc. fill the chambei the Government would! j pay for the dead space. Shippers were notified! that the space was available, aaid/ I aaxs glad to be able to -tell you that there war 1 no- dead space-, and that we have not been, called upon to pay for any. jfhe shipments seemed to have turned out well on the | whole. I hope that this arrangement may be continued another season, and exteadecß to other ports in Great Britain, with -special , refrigerate, oars to make close connection with each steamer. I The Government see to the cooling- down of the fruit previous to shipment, and thia is very essential evidently. | At the end of Mr Ruddick'e evidence this committee dieeussed the possibility of dead (I presume frozen or chilled) meat extract. Evidently Canada 13 not going into the frozen meat trade, but will content herself with the live meat trade as afc present. The report saya: — 'Mr Bankin. — I would^ike to ask what tha prospects are of developing a dead meat irado between this country and Great ■ Britain. Argentina- has taken up a very* large tra-c* of this kind, and as we are nearer the market than they are we- ought to be- able to do the seme. Hon. Mr Fisher. — That is c. question which

hsi9 been discussed lately in th« live stock meetings, and was deliberated at some length last year ,at the meeting of the Dominion Live Stock Association here in Ottawa. My personal opinion-, and it is only nry personal opinion, is that there axe two reasons why there is no such trade. The first is that the trade with England is in the bands of the men who ship live oatt'e, and they have no desire to change their methods. The second reason is, and I think myself it is really the fundamental one, that for the purpose of establishing a dead meat trade it is necessary that we should be able to give a continuous supply. That we cannot at the present time get from Canada. "We can send a large quantity for a month or two, possibly. Then far the other months we would have none to send, and the market seems to require a continuous supply. Until that difficulty is. overcome I do not think there is any possibility of establishing a dead meat trade in Canada. I might say that a number of people are very much interested in it, and are very desirous of establishing such a trade. My mind has been on it for some time, but I have been confronted with that difficulty, and I do not see any way at present of overcoming it. Mr Sproule. — We used to have a pretty continuous supply of live animals? Hon. Mr Fisher. — Not a continuous supply. There are very large shipments at some periods of the year, and practically none at others. M!r Broder. — Private capital will have* to undergo the risk and make the experiment. Hon. Mr Fisher. — Some private individuals have tried to establish a dead meat trade and 1 failed. The William Davies Company some years ago set aside a considerable amount of money — I have forgotten tfie exact amount, but I think it was 25,000 dollars — and said they were prepared to lose it in the hone of establishing a trade. They did' lose it/ and) did not establish a trade. I understand lately that Mt Flavelle, who is at the head of that concern, was again discussing the possibility of establishing euah a trade. His company is one with a large canital and a thorough understanding of the whole business, and if they cannot sucoeed there is no possibility of anyone else meeting with success. They are in a better position than anyone else would be.