FARM AND STATION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume L, Issue 16545, 27 September 1924, Page 10

FARM AND STATION.

STATION WORN DOR THE COMING WEEK.

On a great many of the lull'stations docking is still in progress, but those farmers who had early lambs will now be preparing for shearing, The dogging of the dry sheep is an operation which requires to be carried out soon as possible, If dirty sheep are allowed to go into the shearing shed, much of the clean wool is dam.aged, and. in'these days of goocl wool prices, damaged wool means a serious loss to the farmer.

DISTRICT NOTES. Farmers in the Whatqtutu district have now practically completed their docking, and the percentages have been quite satisfactory. The lambing there, especially among the two-tooths, was fairly erratic, and some of those who docked early, will have a lot of long-tailed lambs to deal with at shearing time. Several fairly large stations appear to have averaged in the vicinity of 80 per cent., and when a reasonable proportion of two-tooths are included in the flock, this percentage must be regarded as quite satisfactory.

Seldom at this time of the year is the district seen, to such advantage as at present. The mild weather throughout August and the present month has caused a very good growth of feed, and the stock are in splendid order. Cattle generally throughout the district have come out of the winter well, and had it not been for the heavy evvc losses during the lambing, farmers could regard the winter as the most satisfactory experienced for many years. * # # # Shearing operations for the year have commenced again, and several Coast stations arc busy with the hoggets and wethers. In view of the exceptional nature of the season, it is likely that the dry sheep will come out of the wool in splendid order.

There has been a fair amount of foot-rot in many parts of the district during the winter, this being partly due to the nature of the season. The trouble appears to be getting better, and many farmers who were attending to their sheep during the docking found that the soreness had practically disappeared. The trouble seems to bo in between the toes, gud is njoro in the nature of severe sculd than actual foot-rot. *■ * * * A feature of the lambing season this year was the very small degth rate among tjjc lambs. During the whole of tlje lambing only one cold southerly snap was experienced, with the result that very few of the lambs succumbed. As. tho lambs qro now fairly well grown, a cold snap would not do a great deal of harm. Those farmers who docked fairly early and who took the precaution of using Stockholm tar, have had small losses through blood poisoning—in fact, the position may be summed up in the statement that for many years the lambs have not been so good as at present. DAIRYING AT OPOTIKI. A SUCCESSFUL YEAR. From the annual report submitted by the directors of the Opotiki Dairy Association, it is evident that the Association has experienced a very satisfactory year. The total payment for butter-fat during thc-season was 1/7 i a pound, while the dividend to shareholders amounted to 6 per cent. The factory made 687 tons of butter during the season, this being an increase of 48 tons on the iigures for the previous season. Of tho total quantity manufactured 202 tons were exported and 455 tous sold ill Zealand. The company added-considerably to their premises during the year. The architect was instructed by the directors to take into consideration the possibility of cheese being at times a better proposition than the manufacture of butter, and sufficient accommodation has been prov ided in the southern gable, for extension, necessary for cheese manufacture, should that proposition at any time become sufficiently attractive. The report also states: “The local market has again been unsatisfactory owing to the. unfair competition which, our esteemed Auckland agents have had to contend with, resulting in considerable losses based on export parity values.

“It is satisfactory to report that the high standard of quality has been maintained during the year, and it,.is. gratifying to learn .from bur Auckland agents that the : consistent high quality of Opotiki butter has been their greatest weapon in fighting competition; and the directors would urge upon all suppliers the necessity of doing all in their power to supply only the highest possible quality of cream. With the Department of agriculture raising the standard of first-grade it will be necessary to make our standard of first grade cream correspondingly higher. ’ ’ WOOL FOR AMERICA. HIGHER PRICES FOR WOOL GOODS. Mr. G. A. Somerville, New Zealand representative of Marshall Field and Company, Chicago, has been advised, under date Chicago, August 12, with reference to tho raw wool market as follows: —

“Mr. Wood, president of the American Woollen Company, says as follow: High Prices for Wool Goods. — ‘My reports show retail stores all over the United States practically bare of goods. Even in New York friends of mine have found difficulty in buying, tho selection is so limited. In the West, North-West, and South-West of the United States not only are the stores of textiles abnormally low,-but the selection is practically rcducei} to Hobson’s choice. The ro.'ient upward tendency in the world's woo) market is fundamentally sound. The Uni leu States grows about 10 per cent, of the world’s wool clip, yet consumes 30 per emit, of all the wool grown in the world. In .11)23 we consumed some 800,000,000 pounds of grouse wool, and as this country has done very little importing for a considerable period, when we do begin, as we surely must before long, it is not reasonable to suppose that American wool-buying will re-

cjuce woo) prices any in the primary markets. These markets without oui liclp have already shown considerable strength, so that the present average of wool prices, not including carpet wools, is up some .10 per cent, the past six weeks. There is nowhere anything to indicate a recession in prices. Foreign exchanges have also advanced in view of the better outlook in Europe. This means we will have to pay more for foreign wools, and the past twelve months we have imported less than one-half the wool imports of the previous twelve months, excluding carpet wools. As for our domestic wools, fine Ohio delaines arc publicly quoted at 1.35 clean. Comparable foreign wools cau be bought for 1.2 S in bond or 1.51) out of bond. When it is considered that this country grows only .10 per cent, of the world’s wools, and that foreign wools are already higher than domestic wools, is is not reasonable to suppose that the tendency of prices from now on should be upwards? This country is short on wools and short on cloth and only recently has an increase in interest among buyers been noticeable This is likely sooner or later to run to the other extreme. The general advances in commodity markets show clearly that the tide lias turned.’ ” INTENSIVE DAIRYING. SMALL HERD WELL FED. The man who can secure a limited area of good land at a reasonable price and work it thoroughly himself is the man who is mostly likely to make money out of dairying in the Waikato, says the New Zealand Herald. An example of this is provided by Mr. 11. Fawcett, of Paterangi. Mr. Fawcett purchased his farm prior to the boom period at a moderate price. It consists of 68 acres. ,

A visitor is at once impressed with the excellence of tho farm arrangements, the abundance of feed, the sleek condition of the cows. The herd consists of 31 Shorthorn-Jersey cross cows. No bull is kept except in the mating season. Mr. Fawcett arranges for the purchase of a bull for this period and disposes of as soon as the mating season is over. No calves are reared, every acre being devoted to the cows and the 36 pigs running in the open paddock. Two horses arc kept, but both are .indispensable. Besides an abundance of grass there is a fine stack of hay and crops of green oats, turnips, and'kumi-kumis. At tho homestead is a vegetable garden and a well-stocked orchard. The pasture lands arc kept top-dressed and by a system of rotation the cows pass regularly from paddock to paddock. They are milked by machines and a careful record is kept of the production of each animal. CAUSE OF BUSH SICKNESS. IRON STARVATION. After about twenty years of investigation by various State officials a definite theory that the cause of “bush sickness r ! is deficiency, of iron in “the pasture has been presented by Mr. B. C. Aston, chemist to the Department of Agriculture. In the concluding article of a series describing the department's investigations, Mr. Aston reviews tho evidence and his conclusions.

Ever since 1912 'iron deficiency has been the guiding light by which it has been sought to further elucidate the correct treatment of bush-sick lands, and animals, a light which has never j failed to penetrate obscurity when it, seemed most dense. It is now advisable that the misleading term “bush sickness’’ should disappear, and be supplanted by tho name “iron starvation.’’ The adoption of such a name ( would do much to bring, if not correct treatment, at least adequate general recognition of the cause oftthis diet-1 deficiency disease. | The methods by which iron-hungry, pumice lands should be improved arc: j (1) Appropriate mineral manuring; (2) green manuring, and, where prac-1 ticable, application of other organic manures; (3) compaction by rolling; (4) application, where -practicable, of any available deposit of greater clay, or iron content. The mineral manuring should aim at supplying iron and proSphates. Basic slag, which con-, tains a considerable amount of iron (from .15 to 23 per cent, of oxides), is alkaline, and not so efficacious as when applied with an equal amount of superphosphate.

There exist at least three other areas outside New Zealand where a simiuar disease exists, none of which has been traced to its cause. One of those, in North Britain, has been known for the past one hundred years. The New Zealand disease is the first occasion, so far as one learn, of progressive anaemia in ruminants, being.credited--to lack of iron in the, green'’.pasture.- The importance of the matter to New Zealand is shown by the fact that large areas of land in the North Island have practically been kept idle, because they were believed to be what is called bush-sick- One of the errors made by the officials appointed to find the cause of bush-sickness is that, they have been prone to magnify all its difficulties, and to credit areas of land as being affected with a mysterious malady, when in many cases, it was only suffering'from bad farming. Keeping the pastures fairly closely grazed or cut at all times of the year; top-dressing with phosphates and lime, supplying root crops, fodder crops, and hay in the winter season, and never allowing stock to feed for months at a time on nothing else but clover, are among a few of the necessary precautions; and then, given good ordinary farming methods, a regular succession of suitable grasses and food crops, and the country, which has been under a ban for so long, can be successfully settled and profitably worked.

SOY BEANS. ANOTHER REVIVAL. For the past 25 or 30 years the soy bean has been suggested periodically to New South Wales farmers as li commercial crop, says an exchange. The bean, however, when tested never gave encouraging results. The Department of Agriculture’s / own experience was. so attended with failure that, further trials were practically given up some years ago, even as an experimental crop on the State farms. It was found on the coastal farms whore soy beans wore tried that they lmd too strong a competitor in cowpens, which made much more vigorous growth, and were already largely in

use by farmers on the coast for green manuring purposes.

A pioneer farmer in the soy bean industry stated recently in a letter to the Department of Agriculture: “Where we grow maize we are not able to get the crop harvested til! June. It is then too late to have the paddock ploughed for wheat or oats. We therefore want a summer crop, a legume if possible, that we can harvest before ploughing early for wheat. This is where the soy beau is valuable. It is about eight years since wo grew the first soy beans. They made a very fine growth, and the sheep grazed the crop to the ground. They were very keen on them, and this 'wo have found is also the case with horses and cattle. ’ ’

Good reports concerning the growth of the beans in other cold districts have also been obtained from Ben Lomond, Crookwell, Bat low, Uralla, Tarana, and Oberon. Mr. H. Weller, of Ben Lomond stating that they grew 51't. high with him last season.

in America leguminous crops in similar districts occupied a very large acreage, but with the war, and its consequent demands for increased food production, there came a still greater reduction in the legume acreage, until at the conclusion of the war in 1918 the legume had practically been crowded out of the thousands of farms in the corn belt.

With the readjustment of farmingsystems after the war, the legume naturally came in for consideration. The increase in the acreage devoted to the soy bean crop each year since .1919 is nothing short of phenomenal. From 190,000 acres in 1919 the soy bean crop was planted on over two million acres in the United States in 1923. in one State alone (Illinois) tho area increased from 39,000 acres to 635,000 acres in these four 3'cars. Three main factors were responsible for this increase in tho area of soy beans in America. First, the soy bean crop was one of the few legumes which had no difficulty in growing well on tho somewhat depleted soils, which had been rendered worse by the intensive grain farming system during the war. Second, the oat crop seemed to offer loss financial returns each successive season, and became less popular throughout the corn belt (which is also the case in our tableland districts). Third, the comparatively few farmers who had been producing and using soy beans on their farms were finding them excellent feed, and all reports had shown the crop to have great merit as a homegrown feed.

It is not only as a green fodder crop, but as a hay (drop that soy beans have so largely come into use in America. Little dr no experience has been had with them iii Australia vet for hay, and tho type of the plantpwith its apparently woody stems, does not give it a promising appearance, but large quantities of hay are being produced in America, where it is regarded as quite the equal of lucerne bay, owing to its |exceptionally high palutability, in addition .to its high feeding value. WOOL PRICES. POSITION IN AMERICA. Thing arc moving along about as they diil before you left, except that Boston seems to bo holding for higher prices in wool, by 4 or 5 cents a pound, than they were willing to sell for back in June,’’ states an American manufacturer, writing under date August 21 to Mr. James Wilks, of Christchurch, the well-known woolbuyer. “Business is still in very bad shape,’’ states the American, “and wo do not look for very much real business until after election, and not then, unless Mr. Coolidge is re-elected. Your remarks about tho strength of the foreign markets are very true. It would seem at this time as though it would be impossible for us to buy wools abroad and market the cloth in this country. Things may have changed very much, however, by the time you receive this. In any case, this letter will not necessarily reflect the true conditions here when you receive it. Competition will be vciy hard this coming season. The American trade has just opened its new prices on cloths for spring, 1925, and while the price reductions seem to be very small from newspaper accounts, in our particular case they have put a new number on the market at a lower price than ever before.’’ INTERNATIONAL SHOW AT, PALERMO. STRIKING SUCCESSES OF NEW ZEALAND EXHIBITS. Cabled advice has been received of the striking successes made by New Zealand stock in the International show ring. Readers will remember that in July last Messrs. Wright, Stephenson and Co., Ltd. on behalf of . various breeders shipped «/a small consignment, of Romney, Lincoln) Merino ami Cofriedalc sheep, and Friesian and Jersey cattle to the Argentine for exhibition and sale at tho International Exhibition at Palermo. This show is the largest in South America, and undoubtedly one of the most important in the world, as at no other show are there so many countries represented. Mr. C. E. Robertson was sent over in charge of their shipment with a view to furthering the interests of our export trade in stud stock with that country. The consignment could by no means lie termed a picked collection of our best stud animals, but was a fair sample of the various breeds and of the class of animal we have for export. Our -Corriedale is already very popular with the Argentinian and recent reports indicate very bright prospects for Merinos, Lincolns and Romneys, and our dairy cattle breeds.

No less than six countries wore represented. Although, we arc not in a position to compare tho entries numerically to those received last year, all classes seem to have been strong —the Shorthorn classes alone attracting 1110 entries. Only one grand championship conics to New Zealand, Mr. J. A. Johnstone, Bushcy Park, annexing this honor In the Corriedale section with a onosliear ram of his own breeding. Two other grand championship winners however were bred from N.Z. stock, although owner by Argentine breeders. The more notable of these was in the Romney section, which numbered 240 entries, including three English Royal champions. This is indeed a meritorious win and is conclusive proof that our Romney breeders have evolved n type superior to that now bred in its ancostral home from which it derives

the name. The other grand championship ryas in the Border Leicester section, Bir Herbert Gibson, of the firm of Gibson Bros., Buenos Ayres, winning with a New Zealand bred ram. In addition trio reserve grand championships come to New Zealand- —Mr. G. F. Watts, of Marlborough, securing one •with a four-shear Merino ram, and Mr. Charles Goulter, of Hawkesbury, Blenheim (who is at present in the Argentine), the other with his Jersey cow, Hawkesbury Ladyship.