STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3384, 22 January 1919, Page 11

STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Weekly Stock Bale>. Monthly (continued). . Burnside, Wednesi - Woodlands, 2nd Th£r» : Ashburto'n, Tueeda., duy Addington, Wednesday, tfyndham, last Thur*. Waiareka Bailway Juno- day tida. Tuesdays Butfour, Srd Thursday WaUaootown. Tne»daya I'horuhury, Ist Friday Heriot, Thursdays Duutroon A Otautau, 2nd Friday Monthly. Rtversdale,! 3rd Friday B , , .\, j Waikaka, last Friday Palmcratoo, Ist Monday o i yclßTolei la ' st xiiur* ttinton, Ist lhursday £ a Kuncruou, 2nd Friday . .'-..- Periodically as AdvarFortnightly. Used. . Clinton, Thursdays Lumsden, Moss'^urn, paiclulija, Friday! Orepuki, Msitaur*, B«re, Tuesdays Waikouaitt, Bl»«*j Oainam, Tuesday* ton, . Kgapara, and Wallaoetown, Tuesdays Otago-Genual oaka.

._ . OTAGO. Unsettled weather, although for the most part of the week it was fine, has been experienced in Otago. It is becoming serious, _this-- comparative lack of ripening weather, and- roots, rape, and, of course, cereals are in a parlous way. White crops are as yet looking fairly well, but rape cannot be reckoned generally satisfactory, ■ while turnips—words fail to express the writer's anticipations in connection .• with next winter's turnip feed. Some few crops are doing well enough certainly, but generally the crops are. most backward, with the weeds luxuriating. Central way similar varied temperatures are experienced in the same day, and crops are backward in maturings A report comes from North Otago that potatoes are becoming " hlighted," but it is not the weather for the Irish disease, and there may not be much in the rumour. Arrangements in connection with the purchase of meat by the Imperial Government are now completed, so that our surplus wool, meat, butter, arid cheese are; all bought up to Juno 30, 1920. The American market has. been reopened to. New Zealand produce,: and all that is wanted to clean up the tallow, hides, rabbitskins, etc., may be considered to be: plenty of ships and amenable labour.-. >■* : Gratifying entries have beeen received' for the Summer Show at Tahun.a Park next, week, and, given fair weather conditionSj a big crowd should foregather.- ; •.

BURNSIDE MARKET. The moderate quality of a number of the pemiings of fat sheep, ewes, in particular, may have had something to do .with'' thi general weak tone of 'he market. Prices wera back 2s a head for prime sorts and rather more for medium quality compared with rates ruling- at the previous sale. Tho' quality of some 300 lambs was wide, and pricej v; ere back considerably. Few graziers were present, but some lots were secured at round pbout 20s a head. There was a fairly big yarding of fat; oattb, comprised of mixed quality, but tho' larger proportion of the yarding was first class. The, market opened under a keen' demand and, although not sustained, prices were for best heavy-weight animals in advanco of last sale's quotations. There was not the same demand for lighter sorts Cow and heifer beef sold at scheduled rates, and choice beef to 50s per 1001 b. The 300 store cattle evoked a fairish mand, some pens were turned out unsold, despite all-round bidding at recent ratest. The < yarding comprised ordinary cows and heifers and yearlings, with about 80 three and four-year-old forward bullocks. A big entry of fat pigs elicited prices on a par with rates of the previous week.

ADMNGTON YARDS. Values of all classes of stock at Addington were weak, and some depreciation was apparent. The demand for a fair entry of fat' sheep was quiet at a shade under last sales's rates. There were 2700 fat lambs penned, a number of them requiring finish. Export buyers wore paying rates ruling the previous week, and graziers with rape secured unfinished lines at 18s to 235. There was a medium entry; of store sheep, and. the quality was only fair. A number of sheep from Marlborough and Nelson made small money. Backward wethers -were easier by Is 'a head compared with, the previous .week's lates, A fairly big entry of fat cattle (390) met with an uneven demand, and, although ing stroi gly, soon eased, and export buyers were ablo to operate. The demand for a rather Irrge mixed entry of store cattle was quiet, and vendors failed to secure their desired prices. A good many lots were passed. The. demand for good dairy sorts was. satisfactory, up to £ls 15s being paid tor springing cow 3. Fat pigs sold well at' 4 shade over 9id per lb, with all classes of stores, excepting sows in pig, making oloeo up to last sale's rates. - COUNTRY SALES. At th» Plalmerston sale on Monday last

about 1000 sheep and 250 cattle were yarded. Business was dull,, vendors being loathe to accept lower rates than, hitherto. A fair number of the sheep were passed in at auction. ' Some opcn-woolled two-tooth wethers made £.os to 245; extra forward sorts to 325; two-tooth ewes were passed at_ 26s 3d; also halfbred wethers at 235; fair yearling steers made £5 to £5 15s; inferior, £4- to £4- 10s; Shorthorn cross •heifers, £9 7s 6d; others, £7 7s; two and a-half-year-old steers, £ll 10s; dairy c<?ws, to £l3 ;■';'.; ;•.;. At 'Olinton on Thursday about 1000 sheep ; and "nearly 100 head of cattle werje yarded. Business was not : too : brisk, and passings were hot infrequent. Good four-tooth Romney cross wethers made ,32s 9d;',' fairish ewe hoggets, 35s'9d; wether hoggets, 28s 9d; small two-tooth ewes, 27s 9d. , Good' ewes passed at 31s 6d,' and some two, four, and; six-tooth ewes with lambs were' passed at15s 9d.". Very fair young mixed 'wethers ' sold to 31s lOd.', The cattle comprised' chiefly young sorts. .Fair mixed yearlings' made from £4- 5s to £s' ' 10s ;' three and four-year-old steers, £l3 8s :6d;' cows with calves, £7 to ,£8 I7s- 6d/ At the Clutha fixture on Friday 2000 to 2500 sheep and about 200 head of cattle were yarded. ' It was a dragging sale. Mostly two-tooths were entered: . Some pens of extra halfbred ewes'were passed at 30s' 6d. Medium shorn ewes made 27s to'2Bs: two-tooth wethers, 25s to 275; small'mixed ages, ewes and lambs, 17s _6d; 'fat' sheep sold at Burnside's level' prices; small fat ewes,' 24s to 31s 6d; extra, 335. 6d; . wethers to 's6s 6d. .' '", There were a number of nice Bed Polls included in,the Clutha' entry, .yearlings'' to 16 months, which made' £s'Bs .to £6'2s 69; ordinary yearlings, £4- 10s; extra to 1 . £5 j two-year olds made £6 15s to .£7 15s; two and. "a half-year : bldsj ■£B 20s; three and four-year-olds, £l3' 10s; cows with, calves at foot.to : £3 10s. There were a good many pens, 1 of ; "fats," which r made frbni £8 to £ll for' cows and up to £lB 10s for steers j ' ■".-'• .'" : '.' '. ..'■' '.' :1 ','

NORTH ISLAND' STOCK - SAI>ES. rj Valine? of stock are in a.transition stage in the North Island', at tho present time., Shearing operations have been greatly ha'mV pered, while the epidemic and holidays have stayed transactions. customary at tins time of the year; In the Auckland area beef of best quality makes, 48s to 51s per 1001 b; spring lambs,., best 22s to .25s pa; 'others from.' 17s;■' wethers,' -29s' to 32s 6d. Iri the' Poverty Bay district .prices. w.ere Mixed hoggets,, 245;. mixed two-tooths,' 21s to 255; forward . wethers,; 295.;. ' woolly wether's to .395. : Tn' ; the MaiTfiWaiu district indifferent mixed yearlings, ;£3'; "store cows; indicated sales' ..are \ not .."yet and' transactions are' limited to clearing sales and changing of farm lands

. ,;;; stock notes.,, ~ 7 ;.,,"' | Tha reader will gather from | the reports J of country ealos held during the: week that but limited business' is the rule in Otago at present. It seems more or less'a transition period in the stock business,, while the Outlook for fattening animals during tho next, few months and during winter cannot be deemed to be. rosy. At the National Dairy Show at Columbus,. U.S.A., a Oow-tesiing Association of Ohio, sent in 11 cows of tested merit, and invited visitors to pick out the five best cows. In every case one or •. more poor producers were placed well towards the .top, 'while good producers were pushed down to the bottom . They were all Jersey cows, and two well-known Jersey judges were much chagrined to find that a cow' they had placed high on tho Mist was ■ actually tho worst producer. . Their claim that. she was improperly fed could not be sustained, as the herd from which she came had a number of consistently good performers. Two cows, with yields of 4171 b and 4211 b btitter : fat respectively were often placed among those to be discarded. This showed that you cannot trust wholly to appearance in judging a dairy cow. | A Friesland bull sold for the record price ; of £3200 at the end of September at a j sale of pure stock in the Bloemfontein yards. This was the young champion bull Kopjes Kraal Marthus 111, bred by Mr Finlay Best, who sold him 18 months ago for £95 to Messrs Brown and Fleming. The bull was purchased \|by Mr C. O. Vermaak, of Steynsberg, acting on behalf of himself and two other breeders. Messrs Brown and Fleming sold another bull for ; £ISOO, and others; for £750, £700,' £675,. ' eight' bulls : averaging £IOO3. The chief veterinary officer of the. Victorian .Department of Agriculture states that the 'Opinion among many sheep-ojyners that the sheep tick' will : live for some time away from' sheep is mistaken. By- experiments conducted by Dr Sweet'and Messrs Seddon and Hill, of the- University Veterinary i School, it has been found that the tick ' does not live long off the sheep. Generally i they were found dead within four days. Only 17 out of 151 were alive after seven days, and these were in a cool, dark room, i while' only two lived for 10 days,-and the [ last of them died within 11 days.

J A SHEEP ELY PEST. J The reported effects of a sheep parasite ! are embodied in the following statement of the New South Wales Government I Entomologist, after visiting the sheep fly experiment station, near Moree :—"The re- : mains of a sheen that had died .some time 1 ago and had been missed in the long grass, where it had beoome perfectly dried

up, was found to' contain a largo quantity of fly pupas in the wool and skeleton. A few flies had emerged, but the bulk of the fly pupae, yjas unbroken, and on examination was found to be packed with the fully-developed Chalcid parasites, Avhich, as the pupaL shells were opened, swarmed out and ffew around the carcase. Ghalcid parasites were bred at the laboratory and distributed in every dead carcase found on Kooroogama,\and about a.qivarter of a mile away from where', this fresh sheep was .found, on the wind-swept plain near a well, a ; number of these parasites had been '.liberated last February on another: dead sheep. Tlnt~Chalcid,waists now. discovered had evidently travelled ;from the first carcase -(found/in February) to the freshlydiscovered one, and had been able to hold its own, multiply, and become established all through the year, in spite of the exceptionally dry weather. ;. This is first-hand evidence of \ the value of the Ohaleid wasp, and'.proves •■ that this hardy ; parasite can follow up : the .flies .and increase wherever the flies can breed.! The instinct, power of smell, or sense of direction that can lead these tiny little Chalcid wasps to fresh carcases in which they know they will, find food supplies for their offspring,' is iust as keenly developed as that which enables the blowflies to find the dead 'sheep as food for their'maggots, and in the future they must play ;an important part in reducing. the number of sheep maggot flies."

: COl*l> STORAGE.' ' The [London correspondent of the Pastoral Review, writing on. the subject of .national cold storage,l says: : ''According? to' reports which have emanated from an official quarter, ihe Government ! has Some; intention of .developing 'the cold storage accommodation of the. country on a- national basis. "rAs: I have previously indicated,, it has already been arranged for the total capacity 'for tho United Kingdom to be raised to 40 million cubic feet by the end of this year, and how it is stated that" 50. million cubic feet is aimed 'at as an'early-.target. To attain this end the f Government has, it is- reported, proposed to proceed - at onde With the erection of 'national cold stores' i —i.e.,' depots owned and operated by the Government itself. The Cold-Storage Sec-' tipn of the .Ministry ofj Food will have tho work in hahd; and a, good deal of feeling has-been roused- among the refrigerating industry by the -new .mode in view pf the fact that the Government has not approached the trade in-regard to this matter, although during the . past 12 months ,it |has induced private enterprise to come forward and provide hew''"dold stores, and in so ! doing to invest large sums of- money;.which will, or qourse. come ; under, j direct;; .compptition of- : the; State ; .enterprise' projected. I ] -understand that the Cold Storage and Ice Association has at once, on behalf of cold' storage owners, asked '■ for '• a deputation to be received by the Food Controller on the subject. Tho,;pplicy,of the Government foreshadowed by this move is certainly a revolutionary one for Great Britain, as State .ownership of-cold stores ,1s a! more concrete piece of State control than any of the post-war control proposed in the meat and other trades for a specified period after the cessation of hostilities. The reason for the new policy is. not clear; 'although it is rumoured fliat the Ministry of FopH intends to maintain in its own stores a considerable nucleus of national meat_ preserve op -a more or less permanent, basis. Undoubtedly it seems here an advantage for big; stocks of frozen meat to be available on this side in view of the huge demand that will spring up from the Continent of Europe in tho period ahead. Whether.that reservo shalfbe.ih Government hands or not'the trade of the country will probably want to have a word: in! discussing. One point stands out clearly hi this connection, and 1 that is that' if, -as is- proposed, large refrigerated depots of several million cubic feet . capacity are to bo operated by tho Government, it puts the whole cold storage industry 'under the thumb' of State enterprise, as such large .reservoirs; must' dominate the custom for tho numerous depots that have been established bv the activities of private enterprise during the last two decade 3.." -. ■