NEW ZEALAND FARMERS ABROAD.

Otago Witness, Issue 3993, 23 September 1930, Page 17

NEW ZEALAND FARMERS ABROAD.

LETTER FROM SCOTLAND

A member of the party of New Zealand dairy- farmers at present touring Great Britain and the Continent writes as follows from Glasgow-, under date July 19:The fourth week of our tour opened with crossing the border in Scotland, and we were immediately impressed with the similarity of the country to parts of New Zealand. We were welcomed in true Scots fashion by- a “ Scotch mist,” but

the warmth of the greeting in our hotels in Edinburgh gave us a promise of good times in Scotland, fully- borne out by our week’s travel there. Monday w-as a specially interesting day, a morning visit to the great Co-operative Dairy of St. Cuthbert’s and in the afternoon Dr Chalmers Watson’s farm at Drem. Here w-e saw a very fine herd of Ayrshires, housed under splendid modern conditions, milked by- machinery and supplying tuberculin tested grade A, milk bottled and despatched amidst a cleanliness and system which was a revelation to us. The most interesting experiment is the treatment of milk by exposure to ultra violet fays, a method which imparts certain properties to the milk of increasing the power of the vitamins and making the feeding of the treated milk to patients suffering from rickets and other diseases of great benefit. Tuesday saw us motoring through the Trossachs amidst beautiful lake and woodland ecenery to Perth. On Wednesday we saw 'some great Shorthorns at Mr D. MStewart’s farm at Crieff, and our first herd of Polled Angus at Mr A. T. Reid’s at Auchterarder. We w-ere specially struck with the fine way in which the farms are kept. On Thursday-, at Mr T. A. Buttar’s farm, a parade of half a dozen teams of Clydesdales showed us what these splendid horses really should look like, and we wished Mr Buttar the same success at the Highland Show with his champion Shropshire sheep which he had at the Royal Show last week. Continuing on our drive along the sea coast by Dundee and Arbroath, we reached Aberdeen in time to visit the North of Scotland Society’s show of Polled Angus. This is indeed a great beef breed, and next morning we were invited by Mr Hardy, of Smithfield, London, and the superintendent of the abattoirs, to see the shoyv cattle turned into beef and dressed for the London market. Later in the day we visited the North of Scotland Agricultural College. This is where we learned a great deal. One specially interesting experiment was being carried on at the experimental farm. Tyvo herds of Ayrshires had been started three years previously, one had normal feeding, the other exactly the same, but, in addition to the ordinary- rations, one-tenth of a gramme of potassium iodide per day was given to each cow. The effect of this was visible after the three years in the sleeker coats and general better appearance of the iodine-fed herd. We were further informed by the principal that no great effect was noticed the first year, but in the second the iodine-fed herd gave more milk, and in this third year the improvement was very marked. It was also believed that the systematic feeding of iodine in this way, at practically no cost, was havng a benefical effect in preventing abortion. The experimental plots of grasses, grains, and roots treated with various manures and sown with seeds from all over the world were of great interest. The system of pruning and training fruit trees was studied by our growers, and altogether this was one of the most useful and instructive days we have spent yet.