STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3870, 15 May 1928, Page 19

STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Weekly Stock Salos. Burnside, Wednesdays. Addington, Wednesdays. Waiareka Hailway Junction, Tuesdays Fortnightly. Blversdale, Fridays (March. April, and May). Wallacetown, Tuesdays. Ashburton, Tuesdays. - Heriot, Thursdays. Winton, Thn-sdaya. Wyndham, Thursdays. Clinton, Thursdays. Balclutha, Fridays. Gore, Tuesdays. Monthly. Edendale, Ist Monday. Palmerston, 4th Thursday. Winton, 4th Tuesday. Mataura, Ist 'lhursday. Tokauui, 4th Monday

Monthly (continued). Duntroon, 2nd VVedne*. day. Woodlands, 3rd Wednesday. Milton, 2nd Tuesday. Balfour, 3rd Thursday. Thornbury, Ist Friday. Otautau, 2nd Wednesday. Riversdale, 3rd Friday (except March. April, and May). Waikaka, last Friday. Clydevale, last Friday Periodically as Advertised. Lumsden, Mossburn, Orepuki, Waimahaka, Waikouaiti. Riverton, Ngapara, aud Otago Central Salo*.

OTAGO. The weather during the week in Otago has been for the most part pleasant, with little wind and many sunny hours. In Central Otago snow has fallen on the higher ranges, but generally climatic conditions are seasonable. It was anticipated that the West Coast farmers coming to the Otago Winter Show would stop at Bushey Park en route to Dunedin on Saturday, but other arrangements have been made. On Friday of Show week a special train from Dunedin will be available for those who caie to make the trip to Bushey. COUNTRY STOCK SALES. At Kaituna, early on a recent morning, three bullocks were killed as the result of a thunderstorm (relates the Wairarapa Age). A horse had a shoe torn from its hoot, but was otherwise unhurt. A large gate was swung open by the electrical blast. —Balclutha. — There was a large attendance of buyers at the Balclutha Corporation Sale Yards to-day for the weekly saje. Three thousand five hundred sheep and lambs were yarded, comprising 1500 fats and 2000 stores. There was a keen demand for lambs, and a first-class lamb sale resulted. Heavy lambs sold at 30s to 35s 6d; others, 26s 6d to 30s; heavy ewes, 30s to 34s 6d; others, 13s 6d to 19s; heavy wethers, to 38s; others, 28s to 325. Forward lambs sold at up to 26s 6d; small ewe lambs, to 24s 9d; mixed-sex lambs, 21s to 23s 6d; two-tooth ewes, to 345; good failing-mouthed ewes, 14s to 20s; forward wethers, 30s to 355; small wethers, 27s to 295; small lambs, to 19s. A good yarding of cattle, comprising about 150 head, and values ruled better than at recent local sales. Fat bullocks sold at up to £l3 15s; fat heifers. £8 15s to £lO 12s 6d; speyed heifers, to £9 7s 6d; fat cows, to £10; store heifers, £6 5s to £7 12s 6d; old cows, £4 15s. There was a smaller yarding of pigs than last sale day, and prices were better, suckers selling a.t from 7s to bls for well grown. —Duntroon.— The yarding of stock at the sale at Duntroon on Wednesday was well above the average, and the sale was a good one. Fat cattle were well represented, and good prices were obtained. The range of prices for sheep was as follows: —Fat wethers, 28s and 29s for best, and 24s 6d to 27s 6d for others; fat ewes, 17s 6d and 18s; store wethers’, 25s to 265; mixed two and four-tooth wethers, 24s 9d; good ewe lambs, 28s 4d and 28s 6d; mixed sex lambs, in forward condition, 24s 4d and 25s 3d; other mixed sex lambs, 20s; wether lambs, 18s 9d to 21s 6d; cull iambs, 9s 6d. The offerings of fat cattle were exceptional, and covered a good range. The prices realised were as follows:—Prime steers and bullocks, £ll 10s to £l3 15smedium weight steers, £9 to £lO sslighter sorts, £5 to £7 12s 6d; heavy fat cows. £l2 10s; other cows, from £5 10s to £8 17s 6d, according to weight; prime heifers, £8 2s 6d to £lO. Dairv cows were sold at £8 ss, and potters at £3. —Gore.— The fortnightly stock sale was held on Juesday, there being a good attendance of farmers and buyers. The entry of fat sheep comprised 388 and a good market was maintained An extra prune wether made 425, while other good sorts made from 34s to 375, and light sorts 275. Fat ewes changed hands at from 25s 6d to 27s Gd. In store sheep the entry comprised 1900. Good forward store wethers are at present in demand, and sales were made at up to 325. Two-tooth ewes were not numerous, and were of medium quahty\ sales being recorded at up to 30s. Old ewes realised values ranging from 14s lOd down to 5s 3d. Store lambs, forward, were of medium quality. a ?r yuhies were according to the quality ottering, about equal to recent sales 4 few rams were on offer, and sales were made at up to 2gns. The entry of fat cattle comprised 22 head, but tnere was nothing of outstanding quality. Light-weight bullocks changed hands at from £8 15s to £9 17s Gd, and fat heifers from £5 5s to £8 10s. There was an entry of 87 head store catt.e, and the market had an improved tone. Yearlings realised up to £3 ss, two-year-olds from £5 9s to £7 17s Gd, and store cows from £2 7s 6d to £4 12s Gd. A few dairy cows were on offer and made from £5 7s Gd to £8 17s 6d. —Balfour.— The monthly sale was held at Balfour on Thursday, there being a fair attendance of district farmers. The entry comprised some 2200 sheep, and there was a fair market for all classes. Fat wethers realised from 32s to 355, while store wethers made good competition, and realised values up to 30s 2d. A line of 250 fat wether lambs, ■after keen competition, realised 31s 6d. Several pens of ewe lambs were on offer, and prices ranged from 25s Gd to 28s 3d. Breeding ewes sold at recent values, fairly good sound-mouths , making from

22s to 255, and aged sorts 15s 6d down to 4s Gd for culls. Backward store lambs made from 16s to 20s 7d. BURNSIDE MARKET. The weather was fine and the attendance of butchers and graziers good at the Burnside stock sale. The entries were larger than usual in most of the sections, and prices for fats were encouraging and the values of store cattle satisfactory. The total fat cattle yarded, 284, compared with 262 the previous week, comprised representative sorts, inclusive of a few pens of choice Central Otago bullocks and heifers and some southern bullocks of weight. All good cattle met with a very fair sale, and although selling at a decline of 10s to 15s per head on last week’s prices, must be considered satisfactory. Best average weight bullocks sold to 39s per 1001 b, heavy animals and heifers making some few shillings per 1001 b under this figure. The yarding of fat sheep, 2116, compared with 2197 the previous week, comprised good average quality, with a small number of extra heavy wethers, a fair proportion of prime ewes, a few fine wools, and but a moderate supply of inferior ewes. The demand was good from the outset, to firm to middle of sale and ease for light ewes towards the close. Best crossbred wethers were sold at par to 9d better, ewes moving up Is to 2s, and light prime wethers in keen demand. Butchers’ wethers may be quoted as making to per lb, in some instances 6£d. lhe entry of fat lambs, 1019 (650 last week) comprised fair to prime quality, and with the exception of a few pennings, met with the approval of buyers. The demand was brisk at par to an advance of 9d per lb, lamb making around IOAd per lb.

There was a very big entry of store cattle—over 500 head, a fourth of them being well-conditioned, well-bred station steers, three to four years old. the balance the ordinary assortment of cows and steers. There was a capital demand throughout at values commensurate with recent best quotations. About 100 fat pigs and 95 stores met with a slightly slacker demand than has been the case of late. Baconers sold to 6d and porkers to per lb.

STOCK NOTES. Fat stock values in Otago have filmed appreciably during the month, fat lambs hardening last week at Burnside another 9d per head, best weights realising a full IOJd per lb, and in some instances IOJd. Best quality steers and heifers were in good demand, if not quite so high as the previous week, but this is accounted for by the many well-conditioned cows available in the store pens. Some extra weighty cows sold to £l3. Bullocks sold to £2l 17s 6d, and. according to weight, were cheaper than the average class. Several bullocks from Central Otago were of rare quality, while the sprinkling of good heifers was pleasing, and prices aueur well during the coming months for this class. Fat sheep met with a good, steady trade until near the close of the Burnside sale on Wednesday. Some extra heavy wethers, Down crosses, weighing around 901 b (dressed weight), realised 50s. Seems a big price, but. with skins worth about 15s, were not the dearest sold that day. The imnressive ' entry of over 500 store cattle at Burnside evoked favourable comment. They were for the most part a handsome lot, and despite the long journey from the Lakes, looked well. Bidding was general, and considering their condition and the prospects for beef were not dear, at least, not the best of the consignment. Although there is a quietness apparent m the store market in connection with sheep, it is only the rising prices which tend to curtail business. With skin values so high and the northern province keen for wethers, one need not be alarmed if breeding ewes for the moment arc not so much in favour. In any ease, this is not the time to buy or sell ewes. According to the New South Wales Government Statistician, the total number of sheep in that state as at June 30. 1927 was 55.930.00 Q. inclusive of 12.095.162 lambs, compared with 53,860,000 in 1926 (lambs, 11,907.243). Without discussion. the Dominion executive of the Farmers’ Union passed the following motion on the 3rd inst: “That it be a recommendation to the Meat Producers’ Board that a commission be set up to inquire into the freezing industry in this country.” SOUTHLAND’S BORDER LETCESTERS. For some years now Mr R. J. Anderson, of Kauana. Southland, has been supplying Australian sheep-owners with stiid Border Leicester sheep, and the demand from this source continues. Some time ago he sent 20 over to Australia, aud more recently (through Messrs Wuight. Stephenson and Co.) desnatched another consignment. Tn the Stock and Land newspaper of March 21. a publication printed in Melbourne and devoted wholly to tlie pastoral and agricultural industry, appears the following:—“Australian Mercantile, Land, and Finance Co.. Ltd. (incorporating J. M. Peck and Sons) report having completed . the sale and delivery of a further shipment of 14 high-class' Border Leicester stud rams and four stud ewes on account of the successful sire breeder, Mr R. J. Anderson. Kauana, New Zealand. at satisfactory prices. These highclass sheep were imported for Mr M. Hogan for use in his noted “ Tawarra ’’ Border Leicester stud at Tocumwal, "and were generally admired for their substance, high quality, and type.” DISEASED PIGS. "Whether the compensation on diseased pigs should be raised or not was a question discussed at the recent executive meeting of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union. Pointing out that the rates were fixed in 1908, and that it was auite reasonable to ask for a revision, Mr Sim (Southland) moved that the rates be raised to 3d per lb up to 1801 b weight, and 2d per lb over that weight. Mr Stuckey said he did not think the farmers looked for compensation. A considerable number of stock was condemned yearly.

Mr Sim thought that compensation should not only apply in the case of condemned pigs, but also for beef and mutton. The Chairman: At 2d per lb? Mr Sim: No; at a greater rate. The Director-general of Agriculture (Dr C. J. Reakes) said that compensation was paid on the market value of the animal at the time it was condemned. If the animal was killed on the farm no compensation was paid. DAIRYING IN TASMANIA. One of the principal matters dealt with ■at the dairying conference held in Launceston (Tasmania) related to the amalgamation of butter factories in Tasmania. It was said at the conference that motions favouring such a procedure had been agreed to at the annual meetings of almost every co-operative factory in Tasmania. The question had been strongly debated bj- shareholders in factories on the north-west coast and it was contended that if an arrangement could be made whereby all the factories concerned in that area could work under one board of directors considerable economies would be effected. The chairman of the conference (Ml- G. Holmes) said that 'anything more farcical than the present position could not be imagined, and the waste of money in the existing circumstances was scandalous. With amalgamation he was of the opinion that the production of butter would increase twofold. Unless something were done to improve the industry it could not make progress. Another speaker said that from an economic point of view there were too many butter factories in Tasmania for the volume of cream produced. The dairying industry of the State 20 years ago demanded factories in certain places, but as rapid transport was now available the position had altered considerably. A motion was agreed to that, with the approval of the Australian Dairy Council, the Dairy Advisory Committee of the Bureau Dairy Board and the State Advisory Board be amalgamated. “POLITICALLY PARTISAN.” Exception is taken to the alleged political partisanship of the Farmers’ Union journal, Farming First, by the Waikato sub-provincial branch of the union at the last meeting. Mr Henderson said he considered the paper run in a spirit quite contrary to that in which a farmers’ paper should be run. It contained, he said, matter and cartoons impregnated with rancour, and it was really a scandal that such matter should be put out as the feeling of the farmers. Mr Hanna (Te Awamutu) said that when he pointed out that the interests of the Farmers’ Union were being subordinated to those of the Farmers’ Political Party the editor partly admitted that such was the case. Other members declared that the Farmers’ Pinion was a non-politicaJ body, yet there was no doubt whatever that the official journal was taking up a political attitude. It was decided to support a motion from Te Awamutu in protest against the journal’s policy. JOIN A COW-TESTING ASSOCIATION. Every cow owner should join a cowtesting association, for, as dairying is the keystone of agriculture, so is cowtesting the keystone to profitable dairying. As. has been said, the greatest enemy of the farmer is waste. Without milk records he cannot feed his cows economically. Without milk records he cannot cull out the bad ones or select the best, as foundation cows intelligently. Two factors determine whether a cow is going to pay her way and leave a profit. The first is her “ inheritance,” and the second how she is fed. The dam and sire should be of good conformation, and the dam and sire’s dam should have yielded at least 800 gallons as a five to an eight-year-old. — A cow must get suitable food to maintain the functions of the body and must get an additional quantity for every gal- ! lon of milk she yields. If it takes, say. 16lb hay and 2st roots to maintain the body functions, then she must get 31b to 41b of suitable foods, concentrates, for every gallon needed, and the more she yields the cheaper the cost of production per gallon. It would be well if more attention were given to the growing of field beans and field peas, oats and vetches, and the various clovers, so as to provide foods rich in nitrogenous matter. These legumes take nitrogen from the air and enrich the land and balance up the other homegrown foods. Farmers should not hesitate about giving liberal dressings of slag, ground rock phosphate. etc., but particular care should be taken of the liquid manure and farmyard dung, and not allow a bit to go to waste.

brother Nature concocts a salubrious brew From the sweet-scented clover, the sun and the dew, So we’ll drink of the liquid that Nature supplies. That brings pink to the cheeks and a gleam to the eyes ; And we'll pledge every meal so that none can forget: “ Here’s to milk, the one beverage without a regret! ” SCOTTISH WOOL. Very great.-success has been attained by Scottish dockmasters in the organised marketing of their wool clips (says on.’special correspondent). This was, in fact, the first important venture of cooperative pooling on the part of farmers, and it has been followed by other schemes on similar lines, which have proved the possibility’ of agricultural economic development along safe lines. The first year’s results of the trading of the organisation, the Scottish Woolgrowers, Ltd., were disclosed at the annual meeting. held in Edinburgh. Mr W. Cassels Jack, Robiesland, Lanark, who presided, declared that they were eminently-satis-factory. The membership during the 12 months had been doubled, the capital increased by fully 50 per cent., and the number of guarantors and the quantity of wool guaranteed for the period of three years had exceeded all expectations. Mr Jack then entered into some explanation ci the working of the scheme. He said that while the expenses had naturally been heavy for the first year in organising a new business, the cost per lb of handling wool had been very favourable, and at the same time the interest

earned on the share capital as at January 31 was fully 81 per cent. The society was now in a particularly strong position. A very large proportion of the total Scottish clip had been handled, producers had been well satisfied with the service and prices they had received; and, on the other hand, buyers in tlie home and foreign markets had also expressed their satisfaction. So far as future prospects were concerned he looked forward with the greatest confidence. Outlets had readily been found for the large quantities of wool received, and there was no doubt whatever that the society would be in a position to place much larger quantities on an equally satisfactory basis dumng the coming season. Mr Milne Horne, Irvine House, Canonbie, another of the speakers, indicated that it had been necessary during the year to find additional storage accommodation at very short notice to cope with the rapidly increasing business. The cost was consequently high. This, however, would be saved during the coming season, as the society had now secured large premises of a very suitable nature, well equipped, and at a very much lower cost per square foot. The society agreed to accept the recommendation of the committee of management that no dividend be paid in respect cf the first year, but that the profit earned be added to the capital in order to strengthen the position of the society. THE EMPIRE’S AGRICULTURE. The occasion of the Imperial Agricultural Research Conference held in Great Britain in October and November, 1927, marks an historical development of the Empire’s agriculture. The conference was attended by delegates from all countries in the Empire. The report of the conference just issued contains a full account of the events leading up to the conference, the recommendations there made and the views expressed by the delegates attending. The recommendations deal with the following subjects:—The establishment of an Imperial chain of Agricultural Research Stations. The establishment of Imperial clearing houses of information. The recruitment, training, and interchange of scientific workers in agriculture for the whole Empire. The action immediately necessary to secure co-operative work in such specialist subjects as veterinary science, animal nutrition aud genetics, dairying, soils and fertilisers, plant breeding and pathology, fruit growing, entomology, "reservation and transport, 'and agricultural economics. The report of 250 is obtainable at the low price of Is (with postage Is sd) and can be obtained from Messrs Gordon and Gotch, Ltd., Dowling_street, Dunedin.