DISTRICT NEWS

Southland Times, Issue 20011, 27 October 1926, Page 8

DISTRICT NEWS

PUKERAU NOTES. (From Our Correspondent.) An occasional! short period of good growing weather has been experienced here during the past few weeks but the good of these has been discounted by the drying winds which inevitably follow. At present the need is for a good copious rain to stimulate the pastures to a more rapid growth. The paddocks on the whole are looking very well and stock of all kinds are thriving. Some farmers still have patches of swede turnips to eat off and certainly have an advantage over their less fortunate neighbours in this respect. When a cold snap in the weather comes swedes are still relished by the dairy cows.., The daily intake of milk at the local cheese factory is in the vicinity of 1500 gallons which is just about the same as last season’s intake at this time. The docking of the lambs is nearing completion and some percentages out of the ordinary are being reported. In the Benio district Mr E. France has 200 pairs of twins out* of a flock of 580 ewes some of which are still to lamb. Mr J. Cunningham has a similar return from a flock of 600. Both flocks containing a fair proportion of two-tooths. Most farmers now have their oat crops sown and judging from information gathered from various quarters there is a considerably decreased area under this cereal compared with last year’s sowings. Froiji £> to 15 acres seems to be the general area sown although in some cases 30 to 40 acres have been put in. On all sides one hears complaints of the ravages of slugs among the young vegetables and these combined with several rather severe frosts earlier in the month have left gardens in a backward state. The herd testing officer of the PukerauMataura group Is at present in the district but strange to say there are no new members testing at this end and with several members dropping out at the Mataura end five herds from as far afield as Kelso had to be included in order to make the group up to the required number. Mr Keen, a theological student from Dunedin, has been appointed temporarily to the charge of the Presbyterian parish and will occupy the pulpits of the parish on Sunday next. The appointment is for a term of five months. Mr Alex McDonald (Otikerama) had the misfortune a few weeks ago to break two small bones in his foot, the result of a can of water dropping on it, and his enforced idleness at this season of the year is unfortunate. >