CURRENT NOTES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17227, 5 April 1930, Page 11

CURRENT NOTES

T.B. in Cows. Tests arebqing made in the district more or less continuously in. order to determine whether dairy cattle are effected with tuberculosis. Occasionally a tubercular cow is discovered, its immediate -destruction b<*ng ordered, but it appears as tho.ug'ii. the percentage of cattle affected in .Poverty Bay is, very .small indeed. It is understood that tests made in the "Wniapu valley recently among a number of herds gave negative results. Wool Discoloration.

The complaints made in Auckland of the discoloration of wool have not been confined entirely to that district. There is usually a certain amount of discoloration' every year, but this season it has been more. pronounced in Poverty liny and in other wools that have found" their way to the Napier sales. The wet season and the state of the .wool}market were ad-, vaiiced as .reasons by a Gisborne broker. ."When we liavo low- prices on a falling market,.as; we •havo had' this season, .everything;is..w.i:p.ng. and the wool get.s..i!iisparing and often undue criticism.from, the buyers,;and their attention 'is"foeXisscd '-'on the in-, fcriorities ,ih ; tl((\,,W(3Dl;'; :.a.ojtfcd ~the broker, every 'line- '•■w.it.n, ;Vlfc. • keenness* but when the market is rising steadily and there is a keen demand many of the faults are overlooked." Most of the discoloration this season, he said, was on the belly wool.

Ensilage Making. The assumption that they have to resort to the use of thermometers in' the making of ensilage appears to have prevented a number, of farmers in Poverty Bay making use of this method in the conservation of their surplus grass, according to Dr. D. L. Freeman. Instead ,of using a thermometer, Dr. Freeman told the writer, farmers might use just as effectively an ordinary bar of iron for plunging into the centre of the stack. If tho right temperature had been secured, the bar on its withdrawal should bo hot, but not too hot for the farmer to hold; it should be hot enough, however, to make the farmer believe that he would not be able to hold it if the heat were greater. Dr. Freeman recommended that for a beginner it was better to commence with a stack rather than a pit. On the first day the stack should be built up eight or nine feet, and if this became too hot the material should be put together more quickly. With the temperature at the right level the .stack might bo raised by two to three feet per day, and, when the last grass was placed on the stack and the desired temperature was attained, about 18in. of earth should be put on the top. During the building of the stack an added proportion of salt sprinkled over the fodder would help to conserve it. About .lib of salt for every ton of green material was recommended.