STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES

Otago Witness, Issue 2985, 31 May 1911, Page 15

STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES

1 Weekly Stock Sales: Burnside, Wednesdays Ashburton, Tuesdays Addington, Wednesdays , Waiareka Railway Junction, Tuesdays ( Fortnightly: Bulclutha, Fridays Gore, Tuesdays Oamaru, Tuesdays Invercargill, Tuesdays

Monthly; Ngapara, first Thursday in each month , Glenavy, second Wednesday in each month Duntroon, second Friday "in each month Clinton, Palmerston, Win ton, and Waikouaiti. Periodically: Heriot, Kelso, Kyeburn

BURNSIDE MARKET. Taken all over a very ordinary lot. of fat cattle came forward for last week’s market. Tbs bulk of the -entry was inferior in quality, andi very few pens of bul--1 locks were yarded. Some of them came from the North Island, and, must have been knocked about for the last 'month or two, if their faded appearance is any guide. Prime beef may be quoted at 32s 6d to 355. ! FAT SHEEP wore in large supply, and hardened perceptibly in price. Prime heavy wethers were comparatively scarce, and realised up to 3|d per lb. Good ewes also sold freely at up to 2gd. Some of the butchers think ' prime mutton will be scarce and dear before winter is over, and arc now freezing* supplies to make use of later on. The Dunedin consumers will unwittingly have the opportunity of determining how easily best Canterbury can bo retailed for British “ home-grown.” A notable line of forward v ethers from the Silver Peaks realised 16s after the tops bad been drafted cut of them, and sold in the fat pens for 18s. When I rough country can turn out beep of that sort, no matter bow thin the stocking, it must be healthier and higher class land tha mis generally supposed. { FAT LAMBS. I A largo number of fat lambs were yarded i Some were quite prime,, and a number v i them beautifully bred, but requiring three weeks on rape to finish them off. Quo. tation, 4id per lb. Freezing buyers active.

LUNGWORM. Luncworm is manifesting itself again at Burnside, particularly among 1 the lambs, and frequent fits of exhausting coughing could be heard in the- neighbourhood of the lamb pans. The districts that as a rule are most affected with this trouble have badlly. drained pasture and u innutritions grass. Overstocking- and stagnant water are also fertile sources of the trouble. Anything which runs down the health and prevents the sheep from keeping in good fettle predisposes them to parasitic_ attack. When transferred to nutritious diet they rapidlv improve, and often are able to throw off the disease altogether and completely recover. Without any change they become weak and emaciated, and scour so badly that numbers of them arc best. The effective cure is to supply them with abundance of succulent nourishing food which is easily digested. If that is not available help them out with crushed oats and chaff or hay, eleven oaten stiaw. ! THE BROAD ARROW. An opportunity presented itself on Wed-

nesday last, of witnessing the class of material which finds its way peridioally from various sources to the melting pot. These were smothered sheep from the cattle yards which had beer skirccd,, with, black, repulsive carcases swelled to twice their normal size after being trodden unde* fcot in the trucks till they wore bruised black and blue, and they formed an exhibit discreditable to the railway management, and in a lesser degree to tbo farmer who sent them. Sheep heads o(nd a varied assortment from the freezing works which need not be described, and skinned ox heads and carcases of condemned pigs from the abattoirs, the whole forming one of the most gruesome exhibits possible to imagine. Some 30 pigs had been forwarded in on© line from Stirling for slaughter in the abattoirs, and intended for consumptiom in the ordinary way. Close inspection dis, closed thafonly one of these could be rev gardedi a 3 completely sound and fit for the butcher. In the ease of 14 others, the heads were sacrificed and sent to the pot. The remaining 15 were relegated to the manure works as tubercular and unfit for human food.

TUBERCLE BACILLI. An inspection of the exhibit demonstrates a good many things,* one of which is the protection afforded by rigid professional inspection. No one-cari have any hesitation in sayingN that had it not been for veterinary inspection this consignment of pigs would have gone into consumption in Dunediin, either sold over the counter with the tubercular manifestations excised, or mads into bacon and hams in the ordinary way and exposed for sale. Really the very thought of considering such poison is enough to make one a vegetarian for life. But inspection . at .the " abattoirs only intercepts tuberculosis on its wav to j the human system, and l falls short of striking at the root o-f the matter. The more the question is looked into the more is one impressed "with the-utter futility of the action taken. It does not go far enough. It is; admitted that it is absolutely necessary,- but it stops short of efficiency. Here is a'man . scattering disease all over the city "and country and as certainly miurderiVig aboiut: one-twentieth of the inhabitants as if k the act were done iri 20 seconds instead of 20 years, and. he fails to realise any responsibility in the matter. When his action is sheeted home to him be is fined 2s 6d and costs, and his cow; the souros of all the ' trouble, destroyed. Meantime denth and de- " struction is being- circulated broadcast, until it lights on the abattoirs, «nd its further course is arrested.. How many carcases have ; been circulated (from that district 'which have-) never bsetn submitted to rn.V in-, specter, it is really appalling to think that tubercular skimimed milk is allowed to, leave any factory. One careless supplier., taints the whole vat, and an opportunity is lest of nipping the disease in the bud. Instead of making use of that opportunity disease is disseminated broadcast throughout the .land by means of the carcases of fat pigs. Pasteurisation of the skimmed milk would not get to the source of the' disease, but it would save many a life by arrestintr oonta<xion before it could slay ifa thousands. Pasteurisation of the milk would also, prevent calves from contracting tuberculosis, and thus one of the main sources of infection, would bo extinguished. Farmers and factory managers are culpably careless in these matters because they do - not realise how far-i'eachinar is the effect of their neglect, but head officers of the de- . oartmant tfvinjxSt bo excused on the same footiwr. They should leave no stone unturned till Parliament steps in with restrictive legislation, which can be enforced.

FREEZING CHARGES. Winter rates arc charged from May 20 to. November 19, and cover freezing, bags, and freight from receipt at works to London: —Lamb up to 421 b, 1 l-10d per lb not; lambs over 421 b, Id net; mutton Id less 2s per cent. Thfe gross consolidated rates to cover all changes from delivery of stock at various to receipt of proceeds—viz., freezing, freight to London., bags, marine insurance against all risks (except war risk), interest on advances, and all chang's incurred in London are as follow: —Ln.mb ur> to 421 b, l-6d per lb: lamb over. 421 b, l-5d per lb; mutton, l-4d per lb. CLUTHA FREEZING WORKS. The flock-owners of Clutha have undertaken fi-'ee/ing works in the neighbourhood of Inchelutha because t'nev arc with the returns obtained for fat lambs at Burn side. TW>sg of them with wham the matter was discussed bear out my correspondent of last week, who sfcnVvl tlw* '''■& secured a larger net return by forwarding his lambs to Pa mora than by selling th«m fl.t Bm-nskle, a.nd they pertwieri'dv ar».V. Whv shinnlrl tliev ''O't ako pocket the additional shilling per head whiih the itai'Rve costs? They also complain that BurnsirV is riot uo to elate in the matter of baling with the skin:-. It cannot work the skir* fo* want of a supply of pure water, and has to forward ihein to Islington to be fellmongered. . Export buyers find that to be a tax which bears on the price they can

afford to give, and in making allowance for it the farmer suffers. • In any case there ought to be plenty ot room for freezing works between Burnside and Mia-taura. The distance between the two is over 100 miles, and there is not «n acre all the way that might not contribute fat lambs and" sheep to either works if properly managed. The Clutha is a district which is not by any means so closely eettled yet as it might be, and with freezing works in the neighbourhod of Balelutha the whole supplying district would only have two or three days' drive to get to the •works. Something would be gained by that. The district right up to Mataura might turn off a great * many fat lambs annually if provision was made to fatten them. The water-power going to waste in the Clutha would drive all the machinery in New Zealand and have plenty to spare for woolwashing, wool-scouring, etc. There js one thing the directors should do when building—viz., make special provision for (storing summer fruit from Teviot and Lawrence. If properly insulated chambers were provided the trade would devcjop into' a considerable tonnage in a short time. One has only to remember the continuous drafts of fat sheep, fat lambs, and fat cattle which used to come down to the market from such places as Greenfield, Clydevale. and Clutha Island to decide at once that there is ample room for a local freezing , works if it is loyally supported'. Land •which can produce suon stock in large holdings can easily double its output when subdivided. Greenfield, alone when managed as one property sent away 20,000 fat sheep' and lambs per annum, and is now worked by over 40 owners, who delivered over 35,000 last year, and are only feeling their -■way" yet. Clydevale also has been out up and settled, and an equal number should j go from there. Not more than two days , would be consumed in journeying to the . works. # There .are also some other large properties jn the district on which the j Government has had a longing eye for some time, and which wijl probably be out up in the near future, and another 30,000 or 40,000 acres cut up into arabfe farms would increase the available fat <&ieep and lambs considerably. Everything points to the , Clutha as being a suitable centre to start hew freezing works in. The settlers in any case are determined to see that they •; get full value for their products, and if it, cannot be got in any other way are quite justified in erecting works far themselves if they think they can run them successfully. There need be no apprehension abdut keeping. the works supplied. At present the rabbita are crowding out the sheep and lambs in some places.

THE BURNSIDE POINT OF VIEW. Supplies at the freezing works are falling off, and very few fairmers are shippingon their own account. No space has been Tefused this year, and Oamaru had to closedown after running a few weeks. The-dif-ference in quotations between the various Works is only a merely nominal, one. The same value in London controls the price given in each centre. And the same price fe given ait Burnsidia, Pareora, and Smithfield. Quotations sometimes vary slightly when speculators take up the idea of sending a few thousand Home. For the time fix the price, but as, soon as they go out again normal conditions prevail, and London parity is- the only basis. A supply of pure water from- the Dunedirj reservoirs is in sight, but the drainage is still a trouble, and very little can be accomplished until that is effective.. The idea that there is not sufficient competition for sheepskins at Burnsid3 is quite erroneous. All the local fellmongers co:n{iete for the skins and pay as much for hem as northern buyers when the difference in the Reason is considered. There Is quite 6cl per head between Otago and South Canterbury under this head. But given a water supply and reasonable drainage from the works and the comrany would eoon b; a competitor along with others lor all the skins that were for sale. The number of shoe? frozen this year (including lambs) is not much ahead of last year's figures, m spite of the record established in March, and it is questionable if last years numbers will be equalled when the Whole season is over. Lambs for freezing have this year weighed out lighter than usual, and it is almost an axiom that *he hphter the condition the less bulk of wool. This must also refer to the ewes, and may account to some extent for the shortage in wool shipped this .-year. The lambs have killed good quality and brighter in the flesh,.and-one a nearer approach to "Canterbury lamb in appearance than in any previous year, but weights have been several pounds less than usual. DAIRY ASSOCIATION. The' annua] general meeting of the South Island Dairy Association is to be held this year on the 16th June in the board room of His Majesty's Theatre. According to the articles of association this meeting must be oeld in Juno, and the society cannot wait this year for the winter show. THE FROZEN MEAT MARKET FROM ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW. Henry S. Fitter and Sons report on April 14.:-—'.The efforts to increase the sale of New Zealand mutton and get back some of the trade that had been taken by the River Plate companies continue to have a weakening effect upon prices, and Canterbury mutton, which at one time had a class of buyers peculiarly., its- own, has SO entirely changed its character that very few customers will now pay the extra price Asked for that.article,. The very cold "weather 'has also "checked the demand. The New Zealand lamb trade is as good as could be expected with the continued Arc- '"

tic conditions of the weather that we have experienced. Happily, however, there are signs at the moment that a change is coming, and a spell of warmer weather now will help the lamb trade very considerably. The small size of the bulk of New Zealand lambs that have already been landed rather hinders the sale in London for the moment, but as soon as a fair demand! springs up in the provinces these small lambs will be found very saleable at a moderate figure."