The Farmer’s Page.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XV, Issue 4087, 13 November 1911, Page 6

The Farmer’s Page.

FAT CATTLE. With reference to the enormous bullocks in the fat cattle class, in conversation with a Standard representative at the Manawatu show, a stock dealer of wide experience pointed out that it is only the big farmer who can alford to produce such immense cattle, which must be kept for several years at a heavy expense, on artificial 'food. The small farmer aims at producing saleable stock at as early an age as possible. “Those huge beasts,” he pointed out, are unsaleable. No butcher would take them, for the meat would be rejected by the householder, and the freezing works would not have them at any price. Where I think the A. and P. Association makes a mistake is in not having more sections for cattle between two and three years old, which is the age at which it pays the producer to turn them into cash. It could not possibly pay the small farmer to keep stock till they are five or six years old, on the off chance of winning a prize at a show. Those two years old would run from 7 £ to Bcwt, and beef is now worth 26s per lOOlbs. There is no profit he explained, in keeping a beast year after year, for the older it is after a certain age, it becomes less valuable.”

THE AYRSHIRE BREED. The Ayrshire Breeders’ Association met in Palmerston North recently. The annual report and balance-sheen were read and adopted. The committee had been urging the necessity of a testing association for purebred herds, and with this object' in view approached the National Dairy Association to bake the matter up. That body referred them to the. Department of Agriculture, and there was every prospect of getting assistance in the near future. The interest in the breed was keener at present than at any time during the last twenty years, and the demand was also greater. Dairy farmers were recognising the hardiness and usefulness of the breed, and the committee urged on breeders the necessity of allowing only first-class animals to be used as sires in their herds; also refraining from selling any males unless their dams produced a certain quantity of butter-fat during a season and the dam of the sire also produced the same. Officers for the ensuing year were elected as follows:—President, Mr F. At ilkie, Kawera; treasurer, Mr C. AVoodley, Palmerston; auditor, Mr G. Carter, Porirua ; secretary, Afr E. C. Benseman. Palmerston; committee, Messrs AV. P. Harre, G. Carter, D. Buchanan, F. Mills, A. C. Johnston, H H. Olson and J. Linton.

HOLSTEIX-FRIESIAXS. An extraorefinary general meeting of the Holst'ein-Friesian Association was held at Palmerston. The Council brought forward the matter of selling cattle. It was important for farmers to know what they were buying. It was considered that a person offering a HolsteinFreisian cow or bull for sale should state exactly what he was selling, and in what section of the herd book the animal was gazetted. It was decided that any member offering a beast, either male or female, for sale, must state exactly in what section of the herd book it is placed, under penalty of expulsion after consideration by the Council. NOTES FROM ALL SOFRCES. AY HAT OCR EXCHANGES SAY. Lambing in the district this year appears to be fairly good, but still the average, owing to the dry season, s-a ms to be hardly up to past seasons i av.-, the Poverty Bay Herald). |'n<a e are, however, exceptions; for instance a large station in the AYaipac ' Valley is reported to have obtained 101 per cent. Lambing in the Opr,tiki County also appears to have euffr red through the dryness, and it is stated by some farmers of longstanding there that the average is the poorest that has been obtained tor 25 years. A resident of Manawatu, who has been on a trip down south, .states that the country in South Canterbury i- looking magnificent after the recent rains. Slock are also looking remarkably well. Sr,me of the country which he passed through it would be difficult to beat in any part of the world. The prospect of farmers .in the North Otago district would appear to be better this year than for some seasons past. A gentleman who visited that locality a tew days ago states that the recent rains have effected a wonderful change in the appearance of the country, both in regard to pustules an! crops, and this even as far up as Iviirr.w. The lambing on the low country seems to be phenomenally high.

TALKS ON TOPICAL SUBJECTS.

NOTES FROM ALL QUARTERS.

Air J. Kyle, the retiring director of the Ayrshire Cattle Breeders’ Association, has unshaken confidence in the value of the cattle in whose interests the Association exists. AVhen acknowledging a presentation made to him by his fellow-members, he said that as a breeder for about tweny years, and as one who had been brought up in the home of the Ayrshire breed, lie had come to the conclusion that, if it was looked after as it should be, the Ayrshire was the cow par excellence. The Eltham (Taranaki) Dairy Company paid out to suppliers last month £5,746, at the rate of lljd per lb of butter-fat; 136,8651bs of butter was manufactured and the average tes* was 3.5. The Lowgarth Dairy Company paid out to suppliers Is lid per lb of butter-fat.

The supply of milk received at the AVaikouaiti Dairy Factory (Otago) is, so far, very small—only two vats being in use. At a meeting of directors it was decided to pay out for milk, as from the beginning of the present season, at the rate of 13d per lb of butter-fat until further notice. It is understood that, as the result of representations made by Air C. AVoodley on behalf : of the Ayrshire Breeders’ Association, the Government is importing a bull and several cows for the improvement of Ayrshire herds in this country.

Speaking at the meeting held in Palmerston North ,to form a Draught Horse Association, Air Archibald, of Hastings, stated that if they wanted a cart horse they should have one that would fill the shafts. A lot of the horses they saw crawling about the streets were more fit for a wheelbarrow than a cart.

Speaking of the Romney ewes exhibited at the Hasting Show, at which Air Hewitt, of Alangainaire, was a prize-taker, the judge stated that they were an exceptionally fine and even lot. The pens of five ewe hoggets were unusually good. He had considerable difficulty in each case of picking the first three prizewinners and placing them. The champion ewe was an exceptionally fine animal. The improvement in Romney ewes in the district during the last five or six years was very striking. A well-known farmer states that the percentage of iambs in the Alanawatu district has not been as high as usual, and that in many of the flocks there are as many as 21 and 23 per cent, of dry ewes. The lambing averages, with one or two exceptions, appear to work out at between 80 and 95 per cent. Some years ago this would have been considered fairly good, but during the past two or three years the percentages have been unusually high. 120 per cent, being not uncommon in small paddocks. The Cheviot estate is said to be looking well just now. Settlers are busy, and on all sides there are signs of prosperity. In the township, miles of tail, thick hawthorn hedges are in full bloom. They are covered with white flowers which gave them the appearance they have after a slight fall of snow, and fill the air with a pleasant aroma.

Air Ewan Campbell, of AVangantii, and one of the judges at the Manawatu Show, in an interview, quoted Belguim and Holland as examples of the growing tendency towards intense cultivation, and said that there the population was the greatest in the world per acre, England next. New Zealand was already moving in the direction of smaller holdings and intenser cultivation and this would be more apparent as years went on and the country became more populous. He pointed out that the average land in New Zealand carried two sheep per aci"', which would perhaps keep a family in meat for a fortnight. The same area cultivated, as the whole of Belguim was, with the hoe, would keep a family iri vegetables for a year. Shearing operations are now in full swing throughout Hawke’s Bay and there are prospects of some heavy clips. The AVaimarama, Te Ante, St. Lawrence, AVaipuna and Air H. G)a***brook’s sheds have “cut out,” and the Taurapa, Clifton, Te Alalianga, Te Apiti, Knikora and Hilton flocks are now being dealt with. At a meeting of the Herotaunga Dairy Company, the chairman announced that a shareholder had offered ten shares as a prize or prizes, as the directorate may decide, for the bast average butter-fat test during the coming year.