LIVE STOCK AND THE FARM

Southland Times, Issue 19508, 6 May 1922, Page 7

LIVE STOCK AND THE FARM

CLUB ROOT..

CANADA’S NEW SHEEP.

(BY

“HARVESTER.”)

CLUB ROOT SPREAD ASSISTED BY IGNORANCE. SOME PREVENTIVE MEASURES. Many turnip and winter crops throughout Southland have been infected with club-root this season, and many farmers have asked the wnter about remedial measures. The disease is caused by a soil fungus, and experiments have proved that the fungus will live over in the soil for six years. Many farmers are ignorant of the cause of the disease, and have unwittingly assisted in its spread. One farmer said that he had turned over a lea paddock, which had been down many years, and when his rape crop matured it was badly affected with club-root. He had never had club-root in that paddock before and was at a loss to account for the disease under the circumstances. The writer then questioned him with regard to the other paddocks of his farm, and was informed that a crop of turnips of the previous season had been slightly infected. Questioned further, he admitted that he had fed off the turnips, infected with club-root on the lea paddock, and the mystery of the spread of the disease was at once clear. He himself had infected the paddock by carting those turnips out for feed. From the infected roots The fungus dropped into the soil, and there awaited an opportunity to attack the next suitable crop sown. That fanner is typical of many in Southland to-day. When he was informed that he himself had spread the disease on his own farm his astonishment was great. How many Southland farmers are to-day assisting the spread of club-root in the same manner? Knowing nothing of the disease, they are actually assisting its spread by ignorance. Feeding stock on an infected break and allowing them a* run off on a pasture paddock is another method of spreading the disease. Another farmer saia that in one of his paddocks the club-root infection was strong around the gateways, through which the cattle passed on their way to pasture from the turnip paddock. The stock had carried the fungus on their hoofs and had brushed it off near the gateway as they passed through. These are two methods by which farmers are assisting the spread of one of the most deadly diseases known on the farm, and one which is particularly hard to eradicate. Another cause is the taking of the sam» crop year after year from the same paddock. This cause can be eliminated as farmers are well conversant with crop rotation. Farmers, if they are going to control clubroot, will have to watch closely the first two causes of spread, as they are the most dangerous, being the least known. If a farmer is forced to feed off club-root infected turnips, he should do so on the youngest pasture he possesses, and not on one that is earmarked for a crop Hable to infection. If left without a suitable crop the fungus will gradually lose vitality, and the longer it is starved, the better chance the farmer has of controlling the disease. The safest way would be the destruction of the infected crop, and the sowing of the paddock in pasture, thus depriving the fungus of a host plant. Many farmers are not in a position to sacrifice their winter feed in this manner and their only course is to adopt precautionary methods. Pasture and short rotation cereal and grass crops will eventually reduct? infection.

In some instances club-root is due to the acidity (sourness) of the soil, and in those -cases the ground should be liberally treated with lime and then sown in pasture or short rotation cereal crops. Above all any farmer, who finds his land infected with club-root, should avoid the use of superphosphates, as manures of thia variety only assist the growth of the fupgus. Although club-root has been a dangerous disease for many years no other means than those mentioned have been found to combat it. Experiments are still being carried out with e the disease in the hope that some effectual means of eradicating it will be discovered.

CANADA’S NEW SHEEP. CROSSBRItD* EXPERIMENTS. Flockmasters of America and Canada have been greatly interested in the developments of crossbred sheep which have been evolved by an Alberta breeder, Mr R. C. Harvey, who has attained much fame on his extensive holdings at Leithbridge, in the southern portion of .Alberta, and in connection with the development of a special crossbred, he has also given some attention to the utilisation of some cheap feed, the by-product from the elevators. These elevators, used for storing Canada's immense supplies of grain, are especially prominent features of the landscape in the prairie centres, and particularly at Fort William, and here Mr Harvey has been conducting an interesting experiment this winter, with the hope of developing a channel which would relieve the present, more or less, sheep congestion throughout the Canadian West, and also make use of certain waste produce which accumulates in tremendous quantities in some elevator regions. Approximately 7000 animals have been taken to Fort William from the western ranches owned by this enterprising breeder, and in from'6o to 90 days fitted for market on a ration of cheap refuse screenings mixed with little higher-priced grain, and some hay, though the latter is not an important item. The sheep, which are a very hardy type known as the Romneliet, and which were produced by Mr Harvey ‘ in Alberta some years ago, are given no i shelter other than that provided by the high board fences surrounding the feed lots and the feed-troughs. Despite these conditions, and the fact that the present winter has been pone too mild in the Fort William district—zero temperature being prevalent for several weeks—no losses have occurred. “Indeed, to my knowledge the animals have never experienced a set-back through weather conditions,” says Mr Harvey. The last of the sheep in Northern Ontario, a flock of 600, have just been marketed, being despatched, as has been the case with the whole 7,000 to Toronto and Buffalo These animals, according to Mr H. P. Kennedy, of the Toronto Union Stockyards, were by long odds the most evenly-finished 1 animals that he has handled in the many years of his lengthy experience. The sheep were fitted to perfection, carrying the exact amount of fat required. While other lambs were selling around 13 dollars to 14 dollars, those from Fort William topped the market at 15 dollars. More than a dollar premium (4s 2d nominally) was received by the Westerner over Old Ontario shippers when all charges were considered. As previously intimated, these sheep were produced by the man who has completed the Fort William feeding experiment. The Romneliet is the result of a cross between the Romney-March and the Rambouillet, the former constituting the top-cross Foundation stock was imported by Mr Harvey from some of the best flocks in England and Australia. This sheep produces a splendid quality of wool, ranging from medium staple to fine, and has brought top prices on the Canadian market for a number of years.— Press. , BRITISH DAIRY HERDS. SHORTHORNS PREDOMINATE. In the report regarding the milking, capabilities of some of Great Britain’s best dairies it is interesting to notice that more J twcminrUß qi she aggregate Shor;-

horns with 153 giving a thousand gallons or over. In point of quantity of milk the Shorthorn takes second place to the British Friesian, the latter having a splendid record of achievement on deep milking. Nine of the breed head the list of notable individual records, with the famous cow, Hedges Moss Rose, first, with 1958 gallons or 19,5801 b. in 265 days. The best Shorthorn record is 1375 gallons by Ruby, in 343 days. It should be noted that the yields are not fog the lactation periods, but for the year October 1 to September 30, and hence the variations in the days in milk. In all 265 cows attained the fthoueandgallon level, and of these 155 gave over 1000 and less than 1100 gallons; 63 gave over 1100 and less 1200 gallons; 28 between l£oo and 1300 gallons; 13 between 1300 and 1400 gallons; and over 1400 gallons, up to the great record of Mr J. H. Bean’s British; Friesian cow, which headed the list in the preceding volume also with 1570 gallons in 303. days. While the betterknown breeds are still prominent, they are not by any means having things all their own way. Crossbreds are well in the running, as might be expected, but the inclusion of a Jersey, a Kerry, and a cow of the White Park breed in the list t>f thousand gallon cows, as well as three South Devons, is instructive and very pleasing to the supporters of these valuable varieties Two Herefords just miss the thousand-gallon level, and are marked on the 900-gallon line, a creditable performance for a breed so famed for its beeving properties. The need for increasing and cheapening production increases as wsges and other costs advance, and the principal of the milk recording system is one of the safest and most effective in surmounting the economic difficulties of the time. OAT STATISTICS. Apart from the reduced sown to oats for the 1921-22 season, it was generally recognised that the yield would be substantially less than that of the preceding season. That view was held largely because of the damage done to the crops by caterpillars, and especially as many growers cut their crops on the green side to minimise losses. It is due to this cause that relatively few good milling oats have been offered this year. The decline in the yield is perhaps larger than was expected, as the total production of 6,082,258 bushels compares with 10,907,191 bushels for 1920-21, when the yield in ordinary course would have been largely excessive, but with the shortage of bran and pollard consumption was very heavy. Compared with 1919-20 the yield is a little more than 500,000 bushels below the 6,603,067 bushels garnered, while it exceeds that of 1918-19, and is only a little less than that of 1917-18, The area and average an acre, and the total yield of oats for past seasons, compare as under:— Area. Yield, Average.

ISLA BANK. Farmers are unanimous in the opinion that 1922 is the worst harvest within their experience. Rather more than the usual acreage was sown in oats in this district, that is if the average for the last five years be taken as a standard. All the harvesting operations were difficult. Wind and rain made the cutting unpleasant, and some very rough tying was the result. The high cogt of new machines is an important factor in this connection, and some “old timers” have been kept in commission rather longer than their condition warrants. Badly tied, consequently bad to stook, and almost impossible to stack sums up the history of more than three quarters of our crops. As usual the farmer won out, and, as far as can be seen, there is very little really wasted. 'The grain will be discoloured, and smut is common It will be difficult to forecast the yield as no one has threshed as yet. Three mills are converging on our district at the moment of writing so the grain will soon be in the bag. Dairy herds maintained a good yield throughout the year. Grass was plentiful though there was a slight shortage just recently, on account of the stubble not being available. Several dairymen grew subsidiary crops for use in the fall, and the practice, is likely to become general. A serious position has arisen in connection with our dairy men. The Underwood lorries are not to run next year and the fanners are confronted with the problem of disposing of their milk in some other way. It is pro-, bable that a factory will be erected within the next few months Turnips are fairly good. The ground is so very wet now that there will be considerable waste in feeding off. The practice of carting out turnips to cattle is becoming general again. The state of the Waimatuku is causing uneasiness to the holders of land on the river level. This stream has been j in a chronic state of flood for weeks past. There are so many impediments to the rapid discharge of water that a few hours rain will put the river over the banks. The Waimatuku River Board may have floated out to sea. JOTTINGS, I To give some idea of the fattening quality of Winton district land, this season xMr John Keane, of Limehills, took a high percentage of fat lambs off their mothers. From 1770 shorn ewes he sold 2179 fat lambs, giving the very satisfactory return of 125 per cent. The lambs were of the Shropshire cross. The condition of the Wyndham saleyards last Thursday, after so much rain, was the subject of general complaint, and a Wyndham Herald representative was specially asked to express the dissatisfaction of a number of farmers. Animal droppings and mud were churned into pulpy slush that defiled boots and clothing. One man said: “It is an insult to ask decent ji&ople to walk in such a sea of filth.” Another: “It is disgraceful. It is a fair tiling to ask that the the yards be cleaned. The Saleyards Company ought to have money, or what do we pay dues for?” The yards have been built for many years, and in great part require renewing, and no doubt when the renewal is begun a modern plan will be adopted whereby the races and pens may be easily kept clean. Drained to a sump, there would become available a lot of valuable manure which farmers close at hand would be glad to utilise. That would be putting the matter iii its proper place. The farmers of Lady Barkly held a successful harvest home ball recently in Mr A. S. McNaught’s barn, about 250 people being present. The guests thoroughly enjoyed the evening, and at an interval Mr J. R. Hamilton, M.P., thanked the farmers of Lady Barkly for their hospitality. On behalf of the farmers Mr McN aught replied that if all had enjoyed themselves the committee and workers had been more than compensated for the preparations. Chatting to a West Plains farmer during the week he stated that the crops in that district had been good, and, although harvested late, a few straws taken from a stack showed that the grain was sound, but slightly discoloured. The winter feed pros- , ©eot» were grad, end there was an abun*

dance of rough grass feed to help throuh the winter. There was little blight in the potato crops, and they should turn out good. The Mokau correspondent of the Taranaki Herald writes facetiously:—“One of the members of our Progressive League recently installed in his milking-shed a device for recording the weight of each individual cow’s milk. The simple part consists of a face with an index hand similar to that of a clock. Just as the milking of a cow is finished the hand records on the dial the weight of the milk given. As showing the marvellous pitch of intelligence reached by the modern dairy cow, the owner vouches it to be a fact that the very first day be set up the machine each cow on backing out of the bail immediately turned round and scanned the face of the dial with the greatest interest. Later on he said he noticed all the cows in the yard having an argument among themselves, presumably as to which had given the greatest quantity of milk/’ A farmer in the neighbourhood of Palmerston North told a Manawatu Times representative that a large number of immigrants had called at his homestead lately in search of work. Several of them had offered to work for their bare food and shelter.

A Manawatu farmer who employs many casuals, says the old-time English farm servant, of whom there are still a few arriving, is the best and most contented in the world, consequently he succeeds where all others fail.

Acres. Bushels. Bushels. 1911-12 , 302,238 4,585,326 15.17 1912-13 . 439,242 8,323,639 18.95 1913-14 . 422,060 8,890,324 20.11 1914-15 . 43,815 1,608,419 3.70 1915-16 . 353,032 9,328,894 26 36 1916-17 . 441,598 8,289,289 18'77 1917-18 . 293,214 6,141,287 20.94 1918-19 . 342,867 5.274,984 15.38 1919-20 . 559,547 6,603,067 11,80 1920-21 . 443,636 10,907,191 24.59 1921 22 . 318,681 6,082,258 19.09