STOCK DEMONSTRATION

Southland Times, Issue 18973, 21 June 1923, Page 6

STOCK DEMONSTRATION

SUCCESSFUL DAY AT CLIFDEN. BIG GATHERING AND GOOD LECTURES. The farmers of the Waiau Valley gathered at the Clifden Homestead yesterday, the attraction being a big field day by various lecturers on the points of live stock. Mr Carn .ye Gardner had charge of the arrangements and the day was conducted under tne auspices of the Waiau branch of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union. The demonstration was a success in every way and the various lecturers were given good receptions when they completed their tasks. I In cue morning Mr David Marshall, Waianiwa. gave an interesting demonstration on the qualities of Romneys and Mr T. Prendergast on the points of working dogs. The latter was assisted by Mr T. Miller, who gave a practical demonstration of yarding aaa driving sheep with his dogs. The work of the dogs was followed with interest, providing a pleasant interlude. Af.ci luncheon Mr C. P. Johnston, who demonstrated upon Border Leicesters, went over tne points of a young ewe supplied by Mr W. Kennedy, Otautau. “After last year’s demonstration ” said Mr Johnston, “I was anxi as to come back and assist you in your work. 1 am pleased that to-day’s outing was arranged by the Farmers’ Union, and that all would join. Practical knowledge is better than book knowledge and I am here to try and give you some of the know'ecige I have acquired during my experience with Border Leicesters.” He went on to say that the Border was the aristocrat of the sheep breeds. It was a good fattening sneep. There were two breeds of sheep in S ’ui'hland, which would never be dropped. Those were the Romneys and the Borders, and that was the best cross for fattening purposes. The Downs were all right for those who went in for yearly fattening, but it they were going to keep up their flocks they must have a nice little line of ewes with white faces. There was a good deal in the carriage of a sheep. A sheep that walked well was a good fossicker and hunted for its food. For this alone it was necessary for a sheep to be well set upon its legs, With the Border it was not necessary to have long legs to be able to walk well, as the nearer the ground the sheep was, the easier it was to fatten. Taking the head, Mr Johnston said the sheep should have a strong mouth with a good muziac. The nostrils should be wide so that the sheep could take in plenty of air to itb lungs. The head should be wide and strong, but not too heavy, as they wanted style with their sheep. The face and ears should be covered with soft hair, which was dowry to the feel. In young sheep they often f cund that the wool had a tendency to grow on the head, but after maturity this wool should not come more forward than the ears. The eye should be full and set fairly wide in the head with the ears well up. The neck was an important feature, a.; it denoted constitution in all breeds. The neck should taper gradually from the shoulaed to the head behind the ears. The chest must be full and extend out in front of ti c fore iegs. There should be no hollow behind the shoulder, as it was a most important point that the ribs should be well sprung, rounded and in no way flat, as this detracted from the value of the carcase. The backbone required to be straight and they should always endeavour to secure a sire with a straight back when buying for breeding purposes. Such a sire wouiu produce stock that would be easier tG fatten, than one with a roach back. Coming to the hindquarters, Mr Johnston said the sheep should come out square and not dioop in the rump. It should also be wide across the end.

“1 am only trying to give you my ideal type," said the lecturer, “and every breeder should have an ideal standard and endeavcui to breed up to it. If you have not an ideal then you will not get very far. Farming is not a haphazard business and in biceding stock it is difficult to get to the tcp. You can’t get the sheep to come as you like, as there are so many variations of the one breed. I hdve never been able to procure the ideal animal I am striving after, although I have been very successful in the show' ring.” Turning to the sheep again he said they should have full hindquarters, as it carried most of the flesh there. The bone of the leg must be long and flat and a round bone avoided. The Border should not be too close behind, and it was possible to get them too wide. The Border would resist foot-rot if the feet were of tDc right quality. These should not be too .oug in the pastern with the larts of the hoof well spread. If the hoofs were wide they would not scald and lead to the other foot diseases.

“I is important to have good wool,” he said, “and to have it evenly distributed.” There should be no weakness along the back, especially in Southland, where the sheep had to withstand a rigorous climate. To resist the rain it was necessary for the wool t-o be even both along the back and sides They should keep away from kemp, as this spoilt the fleece. The wool from the Border should range from 40/44, from a Romney from 44/48, while a Lincoln’s wool .should be from 36/40. The wool should show crimp from skin to tip, as this class of wool gave more weight and went further when spinning. “There is not enough attention paid lo wool,” he concluded, “nd exhibitors should be awarded points by an expert for their fleeces in the show ring. If a breeder got the right type of wool he should get credit for it, and I would welcome such an innovation in judging.” When he concluded with the Borders, Mr J hnston proceeded to give the various points of Shorthorn cow which was lead into the ring. He said that symmetry was an important point in the Shorthorn. Today uey had two Shorthorn breeds, the milkz. g stra.n and the beef strain. The Shor churn was a splendid doer and was very useful for crossing. A good Shorthorn should have a nice clean light coloured muzz'c with wide nostrils. The Shorthorns were valuable as milkers and were being brought up to a high point of perfection. The milking Shorthorn should be finer in the neck than the beef animal. For beef animals they could not get them too long in the quarter, while uhe bottom line required to be straight. The chest should be well cut in front of the fore feet. In fact they should endeavour to get the beef animal as square as possible. The milkers were finer in the flank and well spread behind, The skin must be loose and mellow and solt to handle. HEREFORDS. A fine Hereford bull, “Blue Rock,” was then ied into the ring for Mr James King to demonstrate on . The best judges are born not taught,” said Mr King, “and unless a man is enthujdastic over a breed he should leave it alone.” He went on to say khe Herefords were not so difficult to feed is other heavy breeds and did not eat so much. At the present time the cattle breeders are having a Lard time of it, and they should take this opportunity of culling and improving their iiercis when prices were cw. The head showed all the characteristics of a breed. When he went to buy an animal he always looked at its head and, if the head did not satisfy him, he did not touch the animal. The face should be short and it was a common thing, to find long laces.. They did not want the akin too tine, as m Southland cattle, were used to r.-ighhig it. In other countries they were xox the fine skin, but in New’ Zea?; rd they should stick to the present type (J skin. It \vas zmp-ortant that they shornJ get the backs of the animals straight and not have the quarters too short. It was necessary to have the chest well fleshed and the bull in front oj them was good in this rapect. In fact, ao was a typical bull, but waii showing age. They often got a difference in the hindquarters, but he preferred them straight. In Britain they favoured a low set animal, while in New Zealand *iiey went for one a little higher. He favoured the low set animal with bone that was rot too coarse. “I am a great believer in Herefords,” concluded Mr King. “There are t.v.o breeds that we can feed in Southland and tney are Romney sheep and Herexrd Cattle.'’

FRIESIANS. The next demonstration w r as upon the useful Friesian cattle and Mr W. Brash, Bainficld, had charge of this section. “We want to increase our herd production,” said Mr B.ash, “and Southland was going ahead in this direction, as the figures for the past year Lowed that Southland exported more dairy j roduce than any other South Island prov.ace. Fr’esians will go a long way in helping to increase the herd production.” He went on to relate his experience of Friesians He said that in 1908 a Friesian bull was ntroduced into the Bainfield herd of crossbred cows, which w’ere mostly Ayr-shire-Shorthorn cross. He commenced taking record in 1912 and, during the 1912 i 3 season, 20 cows produced 9501b5. of milk with an average of 3331bs of fat. For the 1914-15 season 21 cows produced 11501bs of milk with an average of 3841bs butter fat. The next year 1915-16, 20 cows and seven heifers averaged 11141bs of milk and 4081bs of fat. The herd was then divided into purebreds and crossbreds and 60 of the former were tested. The 30 cow’s averaged 624'lbs of butter fat and the 30 heifers 5001bs cf fat. Those were the reasons why they had decided to go into Friesians at Bainfield. Turning to the cow paraded, Mr Brash said a good dairy cow should have an alert look as this indicated a good nervous system. The alert cow attended to its business of producing milk while the sluggish looking cow did not produce as much. The neck should be clean and free from dewlap; clean cut under the jaw. The shoulder required to be fairly sharp but there should be plenty of room for the heart and lungs to operate. The cow was a producing machine and should have plenty of capacity to consume food which she could turn into milk. The back line should be straight and as level as possible. They wanted a well sprung rib with a good depth of flank. The length of the udder could be estimated from the distance between the pin bones and hip bones, a good length at this point indicated plenty of room underneath for the udder. They also wanted plenty of width between the legs for the bag, which should be well forward and extend well up behind. They wanted a flat bone of fine quality while the hoofs should be black for preference as they were harder. The better veined a cow was underneath the better flow of blood she possessed and this was a big asset in a heavy milker. The udder should be fine and soft to the touch. If they had a hard udder they were never sure whether it contained milk or not. “I prefer to have a cow whose udder milks down,” concluded Mr Brash, “and this cow is coming into favour.” CLYDESDALES. “Well you have heard about cows and sheep” said Mr J. Ewan as a Clydesdale was lead into the ring, “but here is the animal that produces the feed and does the work” He said the first Clydesdales were imported to Southland about 60 years ago from the Clyde Valley, where they were produced. The outstanding features of the Clydesdales were weight, size and activity combined with wearing qualities. If they wanted a good house they always laid a solid foundation and the same applied to the Clydesdale. A Clydesdale must have a good set of feet. He preferred the blue foot’ as it was tougher and stronger in the wall than the white, which was inclined to be shelley. They should aim for a wellspread foot and endeavour to get a wide open hoof head. The pastern shculd be slightly long as this gave elasticity, which stopped the concussion on hard roads. The shank bone should be broad and flat with fine silky hair down the back. The knee should also be broad and flat, while the forearm must be strong and show plenty of muscular development. The head wanted was wide and tapering towards the muzzle, with a prominent eye; the ears tapering towards a point. The ideal - neck was strong and nicely arched with a shoulder permitting of a long quick step to carry the horse over the ground in its daily work. The ideal back was short denoting strength while the ribs required to be well sprung. The quarters should show plenty of strength and the thigh display muscular development necessary for a hard day’s toil. . The propelling force of the horse was derived from the shank bones which should be broad and thin and have the same silky fringe down the back as the frent legs. “I would like to impress upon Clydesdale breeders/’ he concluded, “the necessity for having their Clydesdale stock registered in the stud books.- There is an important export trade springing up with Australia and the Australians will not allow’ any animals in without registration.” At the request of an onlooker he then displayed the Clydesdale in action. In reply to a question as to whether there was any truth in the statement that ’no Southland horses could be found fit enough to ship to Australia, Mr Ewan said that northern breeders had the advantage of better sires than the Southland men. “We have not the good quality sires in Southland,” he went on, “but we still possess the mares and if good sires were secured we could breed stock equal to the best. It would pay farmers to club together and import a good sire and secure some of the export' trade.” HORSE AILMENTS. An interesting lecture was then given by Mr Blair on the common ailments of horses. Using a chart to illustrate his lecture Mr Blair said that a large percentage of the horses examined for remounts during the Boer war were found to be unsound. This lead to the introduction of the Sound Sires Bill, but this was defeated. Another attempt to pass similar legislation was made later, but met with the same fate. In Britain they had such legislation and any sire travelling had to carry a certificate of soundness. During the Boer war examination, the largest number of unsound horses suffered from sidebone which in technical terms was an ossification of the lateral cartilage. The pedal bone was elastic and permitted the expansion of the foot when the weight was put upon it. When sidebone formed it stopped this expansion and cramped the horse. Sidebone was seldom found in light horses as they did not have the same strain on their front legs as Clydesdales. About 75 per cent, of sideb.me cases were caused from concussion, but sometimes it was caused by inflamation of the feet which spread to the cartilage and hardened it. Badly formed feet with short steep fetlocks assisted sidebone which was seldom found in animals with a good spread of hoof. There was no cure for sidebone. Ringbone was another ailment which horses suffer from and it differed from sidebone in that it was found in the hind leg. It was an outgrowth of bone and was designed “high or low” according to its position. The main cause of ringbone was strain and this was greater on the hind legs of a horse than on the front. The usual treatment was firing and blistering. The formation of the leg assisted ringbone as when they got a short leg the strain was greater and ringbone more frequent. The hock joint gave more (rouble than any other joint in the horse. Two ailments of the hock were bogspavin and thoroughpin. Two conditions of confirmation were responsible for the larger number of cases of these diseases. A hock that was predisposed to strain was more inclined to develop into one of these diseases, while a hock that was stilty and did not have sufficient, flection was also liable to develop either of these ailments. This condition was amenable to treatment where the hock was broad and in cases of this sort it should not occur again. Associated with these diseases was blood spavin which was a dilation of the vein which ran down the front of the hock. Curb was a common trouble in light horses which was caused by strain on the ligament behind the hock. The thickening of this ligament was called curb. Bone spavin in the hock was an outgrowth of bones due to strain on weak sickly hocks. String halt and shivering were other ailments for which there was no- cure and in most cases these were hereditary. Roaring was a common trouble and was caused by the paralysis of a cartilage of the larynx and 75 per cent, of these cases were hereditary, but some were the after effects of strangles and colds.

Mr Cussen then gave a demonstration on poultry for the benefit of the women present. and this lecture was an interesting one. At the conclusion speeches were given by Messrs A. McKenzie, D. Gilchrist and G. P. Johnston on Union matters and votes of thanks carried to the demonstrators and Mr Gardner for his interest.