STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3334, 6 February 1918, Page 9

STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Weekly Stock Sales. Monthly (continued). Burniide, Wednest: Woodlands, 2nd XhurtiAshburton, Tuesday. day . Addington, Wednesday* tVyndham, last InursWaiareka Railway Juno- day ._-■". Uon. Tuesdavu Ualfour, 3rd Thursday Wallacetown, Tuesdays Thornbury, Ist Friday Diintroon & Otautau, Fortnightly. 2nd Friday mw„n ThnraHn™ Rivfirsdale, 3rd Friday fMtL\£ Waikaka, last Friday iortTueed^ys 117 ' Clydevale, last ThursOamaru, Tuesdays y Wallacetown/Tuesdaye Periodically as AdverHerior, Thursdays tised. „ ... Lumsden, Moasburn, Monthly. Orepuki, Mutaura, Palmerston, Ist Monday Waikouatti; River.Wlnton, Ist Thursday ton, Ngapara ami Duutrocn, 2nd Friday Otago Central bait*. OTAGO. Although the temperature of the atmosphere was somewhat variable during the past week, the weather proved of ripening quality, and the grain crops have .come along fast in Otago. The crop is in all stages— from quite green to just ready tor stacking. In places on the Taen it is very heavy as the result of quick growth, and is lying down in certain areas. Roots and rape crops could do with good rams, as the late warmth has furnished opportunities for blight advances, particularly where grown on sunny slopes. Elsewhere the, root crop promises fairly well. Feed in the paddocks and on hills is still plentiful. Potato blight is in evidence over a wide area. It has come suddenly, or has been unobserved, and, though late, will doubtless affect a yield which at no time promised to be up to the average. Considerable cocksfoot seed has been partially saved. Conditions in Central Otago have been seasonable, and farm operations have-pro-gressed apace. Shearing, harvesting, haymaking, and fruit-picking operations have moved along well, although at the moment of writing 'the strong, wild wind raging will probably have wrecked high hop.es m connection with fruit profits. Women and boys have done some rare good work on the farms this season, the same being greatly appreciated. About half the wool .grown in Otago has been valued and paid for. It is for the. most part well grown and free from tender* ness. ' , Stock prices generally arc buoyant—too high, the writer thinks,—and young ewes, store wethers, etc., are moving unwarrantably upwards. Canterbury's demand moves, the dealer to bestir himself, and the chances are 'the farmer across the Waitalu will bo nursing later on a purchase which export buyers will' allow him to keep long enough; In some quarters one hears that there is a marked contrast between the prices received by farmers in the North Island in comparison witfh those received in the South, 'to the disadvantage of farmers in the latter island. Is there anything in it after all? There may be at times undue competition lifting prices for a while inordinately; but outside some adventitious circumstance there is nothing to squeal about. Any difference in the over-all or "all-sunk" prices at different works may- well turn on the extra amount of Wool on the skin of the northern sheep. du-J to earlier shearing, than is the case with the South Island jumbuck. BURNSIDE MARKET. There was. a moderate yarding of fat sheep at Burnside, which generally sold at under last sale's rates, being in places almost Is lower and within " coo-ee" of export values. The fat lambs were very ordinary for the most part, and values were on a par with iho previous week's rales. Any number over the trade's requirements are secured cheaply by near-by graziers. There was a good yarding of fat cattle. Beef was a shade easier, best light beef making to 47s— viz., last sale's price; but heavy was down to 46s per 1001 b. Several lots were tinned out owing to lack of competition. The 250 store cattle penned comprised chiefly fair yards of forward cows and heifers, with some 70 bulls, the balance being young mixed sorts. Bulls and forward cows were making considerably less money than ruled during the past few weeks—about £1 a head at least. Other useful s'toro cattle met with a firm demand. The dairy cows penned were useful animals, and sold easily at firm rates. Tho pig section was fairly well supplied—about 70 fat sorts and a similar number of weaners and small stores. Porkers were not too plentiful. All sold at late firm rates. ADDINGTON YARDS. There was a very large yarding of fat sheep at Addington, with tho result that prices were somewhat easier, exporters securing some lots of wethers and owes at their limits. Fat lambs were easier, the yarding of 2290 being of better quality than at last sale. About up to 8d per lb over all was paid. The store yarding of sheep was lars;o, and comprised chiefly lambs. Last sale's prices were firmly maintained until close upon tho end of the sale, when lambs cased off Is to Is 6d per head. About 300 head of fat cattle of average quality made slightly under the previous week's rates; but tho price was still rather above exporters' ideas, and but few went to them. The store cattle entered -were numerous, and tho quality was not indifferent, some pens of > Hereford cross steers being prominent. The market exhibited a

good tone for best lines, although grown animals were passed at auction. Good sorts of dairy cows guaranteed " right" sell freely at up to £lB, from, say, £l2; but wrong sorts, or with time of calving uncertain or not known, were not rushed at auction. The fat and store sections for pigs were meagrely supplied, and rates were firm at the previous sale's quotations. BALCLUTHA AND CLINTON. At Balclutha about 3000 sheep were yarded, chiefly wethers. There was a good demand, although any " fats " ( penned were inclined 'to be easier, a distinct slackness being evident. The store sheep section, however, was decidedly lively, and prices advanced from Is to Is 6d a head in comparison with the previous week's values. Prime wethers, 30s to 345; prime ewes, 30s; medium, 27s to 28s 6d; „ good twotooth store wethers (open-woolled sorts), 30s .6d to 325; medium, 28s to 29s 6d_; medium 'two-tooth ewes, 32s to 335; fairish lambs for rape, 21s 5d to 23s 4d; full and failing mouth ewes, 21s Id. The cattle pens were fairly well filled with some 250 head of average quality. Fat animals made late rates, but the store section was quiet, and transactions generally made on a basis equivalent 'to last month's rates. At Clinton a small yarding of about 1000 sheep was penned, mostly wethers. There was a good demand, and prioes for stores were Is 6d ahead of. last sale's quotations. Fat wethers made 36s 3d; ewes, 28s 9d to ! 30s od; medium two-tooth stove wethers (open-woolled sorts), 26s lOd to 28s; better 1 sorts, 30s to 31s; two-tooth ewes, 33s 9d; ! h ill-bred Romney cross wether lambs, lis 1 sd. The' fat cattle penned made unchanged values. NORTH ISLAND STOCK VALUES. Values of store stock in the North Island vary somewhat in widely-separated disI triors; but fats are much on _ the same I level. In the South Auckland district beef touched 52s per 100; forward store cows to £9 10s; year and a-half heifers, £6 to £8; forward lambs to 16s ; forward wethers, 29s 6d. In 'the Poverty Bay district fat wethers, 24e 6d to 31s 6d; forward wethers to 30s; store two-tooths, 18s to 255; four-tooths, ! 26s 6d to 29s 3d; lambs, 15s to 16s; year- ' ling steers to £6 15s; cows with calves, £9 10 to £l3. In the Wanganui-Feilding areas sheep are dull of sale, but cattle met j with a fair demand. Hereford bullocks to ! £l7; Shorthorns, £ls ss; store cows, £9; forward cows, £lO 10s; year and a-half steers, £7 10s; good sorts of three and four year old steers, £l2 5s to £l4. In the Wairarapa district two-tooth wethers, 25s to 27s f}d; culls to 20s; year and a-half steers, £6 6s to £8; store cows, £7 to £B. In the Wellington province vear and a-half steers to £8; store cows, £7 10s to £8 10s; small woolly lambs to 14s. In the Taranaki district store cows, £7 to £8 ss; fresh sorts to £l2. Other classes fully maintained late values. In the Hawke's Bay district two-tooth wethers, 22s to 26s 6d; rape lambs, 14s to 15s; culls, 4s 6d to 6s 6d; year and a-half steers to £9; two-year-olds, £l2; three-year-olds, £ls to £18; store cows, £6 'to £B. STOCK NOTES. "There is no restriction upon the sale of pedigree stock for breeding purposes. No order has at present been issued comj pelling live cattle to bn slaughtered, or fixing a price at which live cattle must be sold. The prices fixed for live cattle ; bought to be slaughtered for the army are maximum prices, above which the army buyers will not buy. If it should become necessary to make an order fixing maximum prices for live cattle, and that seems very probable in the near future, sales of pedigree stock for breeding purposes will be • excepted, and the price to be paid for other stock will depend upon tho quality and weight of the animal. An order has already been made fixing maximum prices for live pigs; but sales of pedigree sows are excepted." All breeders of pedigree stock were well pleased by this important announcement made by Lord Rhondda, tho .Food Controller, at Home after consultation with Mr Pro'thero, President of the Engnsn Board of Agriculture. For 'the time being at least breeders need be under no misapprehension in the matter, and may go ahead in anticipation of a tremendous demand later on for all stock which can be spared. One result of the lack of stock in comparison with the superabundance of pasture which prevails in many parts of the State (says the Australasian) is that hundreds of thousands of acres of mountain country in tho eastern half of Victoria on which the j cattle were run during the summer months j in years past will remain deserted this year. I " Old hands" talk of standing on a rise on the Bogong High Plains, in the good old days, and counting 10,000 cattle feeding on the plateau; but one cannot do it now. Tho stock-owners who used to send their cattle up to the mountain country for tho summer season have enough grass elsewhero for all tho stock they possess, and it does not pay at the present prices to bnv cattle to send into these upland wastes. With a view to securing tho milk supply in Ireland and preventing the sale or Irish dairy cattle to English purchasers, tho Irish Department of Agriculture has prohibited the export of milk cattle. Deer in Scotland are going to feel the pressure of war conditions. The Minister of Food is urginjr that largo numbers should be killed off to add to the meat supolies. The North Wale 3 Meat-traders' Associa-

tion, at a recent meeting, passed a resolution viewing with alarm the wholesale slaughtering of sheep and lamb 3 taking place- weekly in North Wales and despatched by "train to leading English meat markets. They pointed out that a large percentage of the animals consisted of what should have been ewes retained for' breeding, while the remainder comprised to a great extent wethers and lambs in store condition, the nucleus in ordinary circumstances of tho _ supply for the early part of tho succeeding year. GREAT RECORD FOR AN AYRSHIRE COW. Dairy journals, both in America and Canada, have lately given considerable publicity to the nine years' consecutive cumulative milk record of an Ayrshire cow, Crimson Rambler, bred, owned, and tested in America. It is claimed that in producing 93,3151 b milk in this period she has created a world record for an Ayrshire cow. The following are the particulars of her records in various classes, viz.: — Record. Lbs. milk. Lbs. fat. Test began. Ist—Two-

At Messrs Clements's farm at Netherton, Newton Mearns, a cow (Culcaigrie Jeannette 21178) has practically completed her ninth lactation in this herd, and the following -are the particulars of her records—viz.:—

Lbs. milk. Lbs. fat. Crimson Rambler .. .. 93,345 8369.68 Culcaigrie Jeanette .. .. 94,920 3283.74 Time taken to arrive at this result: Common Rambler, 10 years 7i months; Culcaigrie Jeanettev 8 years 9 months. It-is believed that either of these records can be beaten in Scotland if taken on the basis of just nine lactation periods, but it is questionable if any cow in the world of any breed can lay claim to having produced an average of fully 1050 gallons per lactation for nine consecutive years, and calving on an average of under 12 months each year. THE RABBIT PEST. " The question of the elimination of the rabbit pest has long been a problem whioh has given food for much thought, but so far its solution has never been successfully solved," says the Dunstan Times, and continues t "Experiments have been frequently made, but none of them has been what could be called an unqualified success. . . . Fumigating has given some wonderful results, but the expense attending it has hitherto been the great drawback. Bisulphide, besides its cost, which is considerable, has its limitations, and, though its use has had beneficial results, it was generally recognised that some better and cheaper destroying agent had to be found if the pest were ever going to be kept down. We have now the gratifying news to convey to our readers that the question has at last been solved. Mr R. Jopp, of Moutere Station, who has given a _ great deal of thought to the matter, which so closely affects every occupier of land A has been experimenting for_ many yeai-3, and has tried many preparations. He has long been convinced that an effective and cheap means of fumigating tho warrens was tho only way to eliminate the nuisance, and it has been in this direction that his experiments have chiefly been made. He now announces that ho has solved the problem, and he has sufficient faith in it to patent the invention. At the invitation of tho patentee our representative visited Moutere on Tuceday last, when ho spent some hours watching the new fumigator at work. The plant is comprised of a pair of blacksmith's bellows attached to a pipe leading into an iron cylinder (about 14in in diameter and about 4ft high), which contains a fireplace—a perforated inverted frying-pan would best describe this. The cylinder has a screw top, and its only outlet, except an exhaust pipe, is a steam pipe, through which the poisonous fumes are forced through tho flexible hoso to which it is attached. But our readers will be asking, ' What produces these poisonous fumes?' Well, nothing more nor less than ordinary coal-dross. Pretty cheap ! Yes, it is cheap, for its cost per day is about 4d—meroly what it costs to bag tho coal-dust. But that is not tho only virtue, for tho dross sets up coal-damp poisoning and an exceedingly dense and penetrating smoke, which would settle anything. On setting out for the day's operations a fire is started with a small quantity of coke, to which is added half a tin of coal-dross. The country is taken on a and the procedure is as follows: —On arrival at a warren the fire is set going, and the man in charge of tho horses which draw tho transport —in the case under notice on skids and four small

wheels—sets the bellows in motion. The nozzle of the hoso is inserted in one of the holes of the warren, and a man, per medium of a shovelful of earth, makes it air-tight. The first sign of smoke through any connecting hole is the signal for a,n attendant to block the hole from whioh tho smoke emerges. In order to ensure that every connecting burrow has been brought under the influence and thoroughly charged with the smoke, no hole is blocked up till smoke exudes from it. It is a quiok business, too. Wo timed the operations. Ono warren of 36 holes was completed in 10 minutes, and no time was Jost in proceeding to the next. Our reporter had been told both, by Mr Jopp and tho men employed that every rabbit in tho warren had been wiped out j but, though informed that holes had been dug out and undeniable Eroof established that every living thing ad been killed, he wanted ocular demonstration that this was really so. ' All right. Just wait a moment,' said one of the attendants, ' and I will just show you _ that what wo claim is so,' and he quite satisfied our man. Occasionally a rabbit, overtaken by the -fumes, makes a sudden plunge, the noise made being easily audible from above. The nozzle was inserted in a fresh burrow, and our reporter, watch in hand, was timing the experiment, when one of the men, at the expiration of only five seconds suddenly dug his heel into the ground and penetrated into the burrow. Inserting his hand and arm, he promptly drew out a full-sized rabbit, which was to all intents and purposes settled, for he threw it at tho feet of _ the pressman, where it lay apparently lifeless. There is no mistake about it. It will do all that is claimed for it, and wo are sure that if its use is made universal the end of the rabbit pest is in sight. What that would mean to the country most people realise. It would mean almost doubling the stock-carrying capacity of tho land, and that prosperity would abound on all sides. . "Mr Jopp has patented his invention, but in doing so he was not fired with the idea of making money out of it. but merely that by so doing he would draw attention to it, and no-ssibly induce others to improve upon it. The principle is certainly all right, but doubtless improvement can be made upon tho plant. One thing is certain, however, and that is that Mr Jopp, in putting this simple, yet wonderful, eradicator on the market, is going to prove a public benefactor."

year-olqi 7,988 277.56 Aug. 22, 1908 -Three-year-old 8,001 305.21 Deo. 12, 1907 -Four-year-old 9,036 329.91 Feb. 1, 1809 4th--Mature .. 10,346 883.61 Feb. 17, 1910 5th--Matur© .. 12,776 433.95 Apr. 29, 1911 6th--Mature .. 11,299 893.79 July 28, 1912 7th--Mature .. 11,509 401.91 Sept. 24, 1918 8th--Mature .. 11,865 442.55 Deo. 28, 1914 9th--Mature ., 10,525 401.17 Apr. 15, 1916

Lbs. milk. Lbs. fat. Test began. 1st record .. 7,750 2S0.57 Mar. 8, 1909 2nd record .. 9,920 859.29 Apr. 8, 1910 3rd record ,. 12,620 400.29 Mar. 20, 1911 4th record .. 11,570 417.73 Mar. 19, 1912 5th record .. 12,120 421.54 Feb. 16, 1913 6th record .. 9,280 824.52 Jan. 27, 1914 7th record. .. 11,200 882.10 Feb. 11, 1915 8th record .. 10,450 856.90 Feb. 22, 1916 9th record .. 10,000 ' 340.80 Feb. 23, 1917 The comp arison of the two records is as follows —viz. • .