STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3912, 5 March 1929, Page 19

STOCK AND GRAZING NOTES.

W*:kly Stock Salat. Burnside, Wednesdays. Addinjton, Wednesdays. Waiareka Railway Junotion, Toesdaya Fortnight:?. Btrersdale, Fridays (March, April, and May). Wallacetown, Tuesdays. Ashburton, Tuesdays. Ueriot, Thursdays. Wint<sn, Thursdays. Wyndham, Thursdays. Clinton, Thursdays. Balolutha, Fridays. Gore, Tuesdays. Monthly. Edendalc, Ist Monday. Palmerston, 4th Thursday. Winton, 4th Tuesday. Mataura, Ist Thursday. Tokanui, 4th Monday

Msnthly (eenttnuML Duntroon, Jud Wednesday. Woodland*, tns ffa*. nesday. Milton. Jnd Tuesday. Balfour, 3rd Thursday. Thornbury, Ist Friday. Otautau, Jnd Wednesday. Rirersdale, 3rd Friday (except March, April, and May). Waikaka, last Friday. Clydevale, last Friday Periodically as Advertised. Lumsden, Mossbarn, Orepuki, Waimahaka, W aikouaiti. Riverton, Ngapara, and Otego Central Salsa.

WOOL SALE DATES. The following wool sales for the 192829 season have yet to be held:— 1929—March B—lnvercargill.8—Invercargill. March 12—Dunedin. March 15—Christchurch. March 20—Wellington. OTAGO. ' Weather conditions in Otago have been delightful during the week. The root crops have rallied as a result of light rains, while fair progress has been made in the harvest fields. The rainfall last month as recorded at Dunedin was but 1.46 in, which is low for February. In North Otago only. 61 points were registered, and at Hillgrove l.Olin. At Ophir (Central Otago) 35 points were recorded, which is much under the average of the past five years. BURNSIDE MARKET.

Supplies of fat stock at Burnside were fairly large, fat sheep particularly being yarded in considerable numbers. Fat cattle comprised a moderate lot, with fat lambs about the same as the previous week.

The fat cattle entry, 165. compared with 226 the previous week, generally lacked the quality of recent yardings. Some nice heifers and a few prime bullocks were included, but cows were mostly featured. There was a very fair but irregular demand, and for prime cattle no alteration in values need be recorded, best prime cattle making close up to the previous week’s rates. Beef may be quoted as making up to 43s per 1001 b. The 2668 fat sheep (2174 last sale) comprised a good selection, ewes being prominent. Some of the consignments were of good quality. Medium ewes and wethers were in evidence. The demand opened 3s to 4s lower than was the case a week ago for heavy sheep, and prime light wethers eased Is per head, with ewes generally in poor deman 1 at a decline of a few shillings per head. Some lots were passed in. Butchers’ wethers, average weights, eased 2s per head. Wethers may be quoted as making to s|d per lb, and export wethers to 7d per lb. Some 511 fat lambs (509 last week) evoked fair competition at Is decline. The quality ranged from fair to prime and some unfinished. Lambs of light (but prime) weight made to 94d per lb, heavy lambs 84d to Bfd per lb. The fat pigs totalled 151 (117 last week), and eased 5s per head. Some stores; 28 (66 last week), were cleared at unchanged rates.

The entry of store cattle, about 280, was made up of cows of medium quality, about 50 medium two-and-a-half to three-year-old steers and some 30 mixtd yearlings. There was a very fair demand and values were well maintained, and in places better than a week ago. Three-year-olds of medium uuality made £8 10s to £lO. two-and-a-half-year-olds £B, and mixed yearlings £4 to £5 ss. STOCK NOTES. There is little change in the stock market in Otago since our last report. Fat cattle and fat sheep also lambs seem to have touched bottom prices. The demand for store cattle does not appear to have abated, the prices paid at last week’s Burnside sale being very fair, considering the quality and the wobbly demand at present for fat cattle. Young cattle and breedings cows are in good favour at present. The schedule prices for fat lambs, wethers, and ewes for Otago and Central appear elsewhere in this issue. Lambs, it will be noted, if of the desired weight, are making up to 9Jd per lb for first quality, w'ith light-weight wethers (481 b to 7id per lb, and ewes (481 b to 5Jd per lb. These prices are being paid, it will be observed, for'qualities and weights which are not readily obtained at this season, and this strikingly stresses the wide difference in values of prime lightweight carcases in the London market. Fatteners must, in their own interests, watch the trend of the demand at Home, and market small, well-finished bodies. It is true that the comparatively heavy weight animals do bring more money per head, but wool counts for a good deal in estimating the price per head. If wool were to fall we should soon see a collapse in the price for heavy weights, while the fact that a deal more feed is consumed than if earlier fattening were the rule must make for uneconomic production." It is a safe policy to supply the market with

what it looks for—small, well-finished carcasses.

No fewer than 151 Holstein-Fricsian cows. in North America have produced over 10001 b fat in a year. Of these 127 belong to the United States, and 24 to Canada.

Mr G. Richardson, of Kingston, Tasmania, _ who in June last year landed a consignment of Friesian heifers from Messrs North and Sons, Omimi, Otago, has already achieved much success. Championships With the stock have been annexed at the leading shows in that state, and the high dairy quality of the females has been demonstrated.

A Hungarian Simmenthaler cow, Augusta twenty-sixth, is said to hold the world’s record for butter-fat production. Her record is stated to be over 365 days, when she produced 28,0061 b of milk, with an average fat percentage of 6.04. This was her fifth lactation period, and corresponds. with 1691b«Jjutter-fat or 19171 b ■commercial butter. Her average a day was 76.731 b milk, with 6.04 per cent, of fat.

In September last a New Zealand monthly pastoral paper published an article (says the Journal of Agriculture), based on news from Argentina, regarding the slaughter in that country of a pedigree bull which was stated to have been affected with foot-and-mouth disease on arrival from Britain. A paragraph to this effect quoted in the article was apparently from the Review of the River Plate. That publication, however, has since corrected its original report of the case with a statement that the animal in question was slaughtered owing to tuberculosis, and .was not affected with foot-and-mouth disease. In conveying the facts of the case to the New Zealand Government authorities, the English Ministry of Agriculture states that it knows of no case in which foot-and-mouth disease has been carried to another country by means of an animal shipped from Great Britain.

Early in 1928 the success was reported of Mr Grosvenor Berry’s Postmistress’ in securing the world’s Jersey milk record. Now by the performance of another Jersey, aptly named Jersey Surprise, owned by Mr H. S. Mountain (Groombridge Place, Kent), another world’s record for the breed is held by an English-owned animal. Calving on November 25, 1927, Jersey Surprise produced during a short lactation of 278 days 1,070.481 b of butterfat, equivalent to 12601 b of butter, thus exceeding the world’s record by nearly 2001 b of butter-fat.

EXPORT PRICES FOR SHEEP. The following prices are being paid for stock for export in Otago and Central Otago:—

MECHANICAL WOOL CLASSER. A description of an instrument which has been designed to assist in judging the quality of wool is contained in a publication which has been received by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research from the British Research Association for the Woollen and Worsted Industries (says an Australian exchange). Although .’t u admitted that great proficic cy has been attained by the expe.t wool sorter the publication points out that the new instrument. aims at eliminating the human element as far as possible. To use the instrument it is only necessary to place a small bunch of fibres between two glass plates and insert these in the holder provided. By switching on an electric amp a magnified projection of the fibre appears on a screen, and is ready for measurement or comparison with images from a set of slides made from standard types. The operation of inserting the sample and comparing it with the standard slide occupies less than a minute. . Il is understood that the cost of the : nstrument is approximately £2O. It is alreadv in use in Great Britain and is being sold in South Africa. Further particulars concerning it may be obtained from the director of the British Research Association for the Woollen and Worsted Industries, Torridon, Leeds (England).

BOYS’ MIGRATION TO AUSTRALIA. Referring to the statement by Sir Arthur Duckham, leader of the British Economic Mission, that Australia had an opportunitv to make room for 4000 colliery boys from the distressed areas in G~eat Britain, members of the Developmen and Migration Commission o aid that in the last three years, with the approval of tlie State Ministries concerned, more than 7000 boys had arrived in Australia under the assisted passage arrangement between the British and Federal Governments. It was pointed out that the essential condition attached to the migration of boys to Australia was that they must be prepared to engage and remain in rural work. Tn 1928, it was stated, 2356 boys reached Australia from Great Britain, the majority of them under the auspices of organisations such as the Big Brother Movement, the Breadnought "’rustees. th l Church of England Council for Empire Settlement, the Young Australia League, the Salvation Army, and the Boy Scouts’ Association. They were r° ruited solely for farm work, and many were given opportunities for special training in Australia to enable them to qualify for this class of work. “The State Governments have on the whole dope very well in the absorption of boys in yural work.” add® a statement issued by the c nmission. ■“ Voluntary organisations in the Commonwealth have been carnally successful ,i” placing boys in emnloyment and attending to their welfare.”

THE CATTLE TICK. At a meeting of the Auckland Provincial Farmers’ Union a letter was received from the Matamata branch stating that considerable alarm had been caused by 150 store cattle, badly infected with cattle tick, arriving there from ■ the Bay of Plenty. The cattle, brought over to n sale, were supposed to have been dipped

three day 8 previously. Fear was expressed . m tlck Bhou ” 1 the Waikato and Thames dairying areas. The Minister had already been advised by the Matamata branch. Mr W. H. Allen said that the tick “is spreading even to the South Island. It may never be stopped, but it should be restricted and dairying districts kept free. There must have been some neglect. It was decided to write to the Minister suggesting there had been some on *ne part of the departmental officials. The Minister for Agriculture, Mr G.- W. Forbes, wrote stating active consideration was being given to the suggestion that the Government should take over the. liabilities of all cattle dips. Data were being secured to enable a decision to be reached. The speaker who said that the tick was spreading “ even to the South Island ” is astray in his facts (says the Christchurch Press). The tick has not made its appearance here, and is unlikely to if proper vjgilance is exercised. rp he trade in North Island cattle with the south has been small this last couple of years, and this has lessened the danger of infection. However, if the present safeguards of the department to prevent the tick spreading are as ineffective as the foregoing report indicates. South Island farmers’ organisations should be ready to act without delay if necessity arises. The declaration of Cook Strait as a “ tick boundary ” would be quite a simple matter —and effective.

NEW WOOL PACK. Representatives of wool interests gathered in the storerooms of Goldsbrough, Mort, and Co. on February 14 to examine a new rubberised wool pack invented by Mr P. Finlayson, a London chemist, in collaboration with Mr W. W. Gunn, of Crossover, near Warragul, and his brother, Mr M. D. Gunn, resident in Melbourne (says the Australasian). ' For many years attempts have been made to produce a smooth-surface pack which would eliminrfte the mixing of jute fibre with the wool. One of the chief problems confronting Bradford spinners is that of removing jute from the wool, and shortly before Mr W. W. Gunn left London in October last year a conference of wool shippers and spinners was held at which, a resume of experiments during the last 40 years having been made, three different wool packs were tested, one of which was that made of the material invented by Mr Finlayson. After the test one of the leading Bradford spinners (Mr Dawson) said that wool spinners had been looking for 30 years for a pack which would not result in the mixing of jute and wool. He added that the pack invented by Mr Finlayson was the only satisfactory pack that he had seen. Mr Gunn said that no dissentient voice was raised against this opinion.

The experimental pack which was shown weighed 5 Jib, compared with 11 Jib, the weight of the ordinary jute fibre pack. Hooks tore the pack, but Mr Gunn said that it was probable that fibre of greater strength would be used in making packs for commercial use. In any case the new packs would be lighter than those at present used. The process consists of treating jute fibre with a special rubber solution so that the fibre is absolutely incorporated into the final material. The process has been patented. Mr M. D. Gunn will leave in about a month for India to make arrangements for the establishment of a factory at Calcutta for the production of the new packs. One thousand will be ready at the end of the present wool season, to be used in a trial shipment direct to Bradford. and it is expected that the new factory will be able to cater for a considerable proportion of Australia’s wool clip next season. Mr Gunn stated that the price of the new packs would be the same as that of the present jute fibre packs.

STATISTICS OF FARM MACHINERY AND ENGINES. Following is a summary of farm machinery and engines employed on rural holdings (outside borough boundaries) in New Zealand for the past five years:—

Lambs.—To 361b, 91d lb; 421b, 8|d lb; 501b, 8Jd lb: over, 7|d lb; 2nd to 361b, 8Jd b. over 36ib and seconds, 7Jd lb. Wethers.—To 481b, 7|d lb: 561b, 61d lb; 641b. 5JJ lb; 721b, 4?d lb; 801b, 4Jd lb; overs and seconds. 3d lb. Ewes.—To 481b, 5|d lb; 561b, 4?d lb; 641b. 4d lb. 721b, 3Jd lb; 801b, 2Jd lb; overs and seconds, 2|d lb.

Class of Machinery, etc. 1924, 1925. 1926. 1927. 1928. Milking plants 14,553 15,561 16,391 17,090 18,049 Cream separators .. 42,473 44,656 45,765 45,246 45,246 Shearing machines — Plants 5,480 5,728 5,949 6,305 6,518 Stands 17;844 18,445 18,797 19,269 19,077 Wool presses 8,035 8,601 8,641 8,832 9,504 Agricultural tractors •. 512 1,026 2,025 2,588 2,883 Reapers and binders .. 15,048 15,881 15,574 15,287 15,432 Threshing machines 332 377 361 364 406 Chaffcutters 2,970 2,903 2,865 2,562 2,326 Water wheels or motors 871 846 817 784 932 Electric motors 2,587 3,451 6,356 8,436 10,806 Steam engines 620 622 473 435 505 Internal-combustion * engines 18,864 19,894 19,584 18,885 18,321