CATTLE SHIPPED TO CHINA

Taranaki Daily News, 11 September 1934, Page 12

CATTLE SHIPPED TO CHINA

COMMENTS ON CONDITIONS. HEAT CAUSES FEW CASUALTIES. Marton, Sept. 8. Observations regarding the recent shipment of New Zealand dairy cattle -to China were made by Mr. Ashton Trotter, Marton, who has just returned from Shanghai. He was one of the party which had charge of the animals on the voyage to Shanghai on the steamer Winifred Moller. “We had an uneventful voyage,” said Mr. Trotter, “and of the 248 head of cattle only seven were lost. Eight calves were bom on the trip. Actually only three cattle died during the voyage, but when the boat arrived at Woosung wharf it was ordered out into the stream again for two days and, with a heat-wave raging, four more animals were lost. The heat was terrific,” remarked Mr. Trotter. ; When the boat berthed about 1000 coolies arrived on the scene to unload the cattle, he continued, over eight men to one beast. The proverb that many hands make light work did not apply in this case, for the task of unloading took 24 hours, compared with four hours loading in Wellington. About 150 of the cattle were taken to Hangchow, which is 150 miles inland from Shanghai, the balance being distributed among the various dairies in the big city. Cattle in the Shanghai province were worth £4O a head, and the milking life of a cow was only three years, said Mr. Trotter. They were milked three times a day and the milk was sold at 7d a pint. All the leading dairies were run, and well run, by Europeans. The animals were housed in cattle byres and fed on cotton plants, soya beans and other concentrated foods. The Chinese grass was very rank.