NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3995, 7 October 1930, Page 12

NOTES ON RURAL TOPICS.

Old or Young Ewes.

It has often been remarked that some lambs do much better than others, although running on similar feed and sired by the same ram. Various opinions have been expressed as to the reason for the disparity in the fattening process. One concludes generally that some ewes are making more milk, and so furnish the lamb with all it requires to make quick gdins. One readily admits that necessarily the older ewes are better yielders of milk, but young ewes are superior mothers in some respects. At a Government agricultural research farm on the Continent experiments to determine the influence of the age of ewes on the rate of growth of their lambs were carried out. All the ewes were served by the same ram, and the lambs were divided into two groups. The weight of the new-born lambs from the young ewes was much lower than that of the lambs from the old ewes. The increase in weight up to weaning time was greater in the progeny of the old ewes. As soon as the lambs became independent and started grazing, those from the young ewes grew more quickly and soon overtook those from the old ewes. The milk "lands of the older ewes having been Letter developed accounted for their lambs doing better while suckling than those of the young ewes.

Farm Work for October. It is usual to roll and harrow forward cereal crops at this season, but. owing to the cold weather experienced, the growth has been checked. If the crop is being fe'd off, it is not in the interests of the crop to feed it once the knots are visible on the young plants. Feeding should be effected with a big mob of sheep, and care taken not to allow a few to nibble as they please. All grass paddocks intended for hay should be cleaned up of sticks, stones, wire, etc., and the land well harrowed, in order to scatter the droppings, and then fertilised with, say, liquid manure or soluble phoephatic manure, or use a nitrogenous manure. All mangels and potato crops should be planted tin's month. Leave ample space for intercultivation. Sow field carrot seed or drumhead cabbage foi- feeding to dairy cows in the early autumn or in late summer, when the feed is losing its succulence. All land intended for rape and turnips should be got ready. The sowing of a few pounds of oats with the rape is a good plan, as they are in the milk stage when the rape is ready for feeding off. The sowing of grasses and clovers will now engage attention. See that both early and late grasses are provided, and make use of some certified seed if permanence is valued. Feed working horses generously from now on. Infoal mares may continue to do light work. See to all dairy cows, especially those likely to get milk fever. Feed all calves their milk at blood-heat. A cupful of limewater in their milk occasionally will serve as a tonic. Keep all pigs clean and warm. Dag all sheep before shearing. Clean lip the woolshed of sacks, seeds, etc., and disinfect shed and holding pens. Skirt fleeces lightly, removing stained pieces, and class to quality, but avoid making too many classes. Note all lame sheep and dress their feet. Cull sheep in the wool, and out of it. If classing is done (when small lots are handled) before the sheep are put in the shed, it helps considerably when shearing. Run the coarse and finewoolled sheep into the shed separately. Turn out all shorn sheep in a workmanlike manner—culled, branded neatly, and ages and numbers, etc., noted.

Lowering Cost of Production. Various factors are cited as being more or less explanatory of the decline of agriculture, and why lower prices for live stock products have to be accepted. 'When all is said, prices are ruled by the supply and demand. Yet it is interesting and well worth while to review some of the reasons advanced from time to t me. More and more the prices of agricultural products are controlled by world production. In other words, a given set of production conditions in the country of origin may not indicate th e price received for. the product. The law of supply and demand exerts itself, not only locally, but. all over the world. Meat and dairy produce marketed under lower cost conditions ou the other side of the world control the prices of these products in the Dominion. Prices of most live stock .products in New Zealand, in a general way, have been at a high level compared to values realised in Britain, and tend to rise or fall in sympathy with Home values. On the assumption that the producing farmer is powerless to control the destiny of his product once it leaves his own farm, it would appear that the lowering of its cost while under his control is his one and only- salvation to-day. Unfortunately costs cannot be reduced overnight, but the farmer has either to produce at lower cost or find some better way of making a living. Lower costs imply better farming methods: that is to say, greater acre production, by milking better cows, ultilising better grasses and higher yielding

cereals, together with judicious treatment and fertilising of pastures, while not overlooking the fact that correct feeding of stock in the final analysis is of supreme importance. Adequate farm land power is essential if costs are to be lowered, but it must be cheap, and although we live in a mechanical age, the horse will be wanted. A few good brood mares, bred regularly, will help laj’ the foundation for a- regular, supply of farm power. The old slogan .of the successful breeder —breed, feed, and weed —should be expanded—breed, feed, weed, and farm.

Wool and the Scientist. We look to the scientist to create the much-desired demand for wool. Delegates from nine countries of the Empire are attending the Imperial Wool Research Conference in London. A little late in the day, woolgrowers have become convinced of the imperative need for a thorough scientific investigation of the hitherto unexploited possibilities of their product. Remarking on the fact that such an important Imperial product of agriculture should have been allowed to remain scientifically neglected for many years, Dr Barker, director of the British Research Association for the Woollen and Worsted Industries, asks, “What do.we know of wool—not from the textile point of view, not from the production point of view, but as a material substance of a highly complex nature ? ” It has been pointed out that wool has extraordinary properties, both chemical and physical. It is highly elastic, extremely sensitive to moistures, has the property of retaining warmth, creates heat in itself when wetted, transmits ultra-violet radiation, and is durable and strong. None of these properties has been scientifically exploited. Clearly the aim should be to bring the grower, the manufacturer. and the scientist to the conference table for a dicussion of ways and menus of developing the industry. What seems to be required is the precise defirfition of the manufacturer’s requirements in good wool and the methods growers must adopt to meet these requirements. This has been done in the case of artificial fibres. The latter industry (it is pointed out by an exchange) has been linked up by the scientist into a single entity. It is a competitor to be reckoned with. The competition will continue to be severe unless and until in the woollen industry a place is found for the scientific investigator. Artificial fibres are produced iinder strict chemical supervision and designed with a definite consideration of the finished product into which they are to be woven. With a similar practical objective in the woollen industry, systematic research should afford the producer information as to which characteristics of the fibre shbuld be encouraged and enhanced, and in what directions methods of nutrition, environment, pasturage. breeding, and selection should be modified. The London Conference now sitting should at least be able to laydown a definite and progressive programme of investigation covering all phases of the industry. It is satisfactory to note that New Zealand is represented at this important Imperial discussion, from.which, it may be hoped, far-reaching decisions may emerge.

AGRICOLA.