FARM NEWS IN BRIEF

Taranaki Daily News, 24 November 1934, Page 24 (Supplement)

FARM NEWS IN BRIEF

YOUNG FARMERS’ CLUBS PROGRESS IN HAWKE’S BAY. The Young Farmers’ Club movement, which has proved of great value in the South Island, where it was inaugurated, in encouraging a love of agriculture among the younger members of the community, is taking hold in Hawke s Bay. Mr. J. W. Palmer, instructor in agriculture in Hawke’s Bay and wellknown in Taranaki, has successfully inaugurated a southern Hawke’s Bay club at Dannevirke and is moving with a view to establishing a similar club at Hastings. At Dannevirke the club has the support of the Farmers’ Union, the A. and P. Society, the chamber of commerce and. the Rotary club. Grasshopper Plague. In New South Wales the grasshopper now has a special Act of Parliament designed for his destruction, and it would seem that other States will be compelled to follow the example that has been set. So far the great grasshopper army has shown no fear for official action, and has been advancing on a wide front —a front so wide, in fact, that it has been impossible to take effective measures to check the invasion. It was thought that the heavy rains which occurred recently would have assisted in ridding the country of this great pest, but this was not so, and the problem is as great to-day as ever it was.

Rye-grass Certification. For the third season in succession there has been a steady reduction in the acreage of rye-grass entered for certification under the Government certified seed scheme in Hawke’s Bay. In 1932 10,000 acres were entered, in 1933 4000 and this year the figure will be about 3200 acres. Poverty Bay figures are not yet available, but is anticipated in some quarters that the reduction, if any, will be less marked than in Hawke’s Bay. In 1932 approximately 4800 acres were entered in the Gisborne district, and 2000 acres in 1933. The season has been less backward from a fattening viewpoint in Poverty Bay, and there should consequently be less necessity for using pastures which would otherwise have been shut up for grass seed production for grazing purposes.

Sorrel Poisoning in Sheep. Successful curing of sorrel poisoning in sheep was an interesting portion of research work conducted by Canterbury Agricultural College, Lincoln, described in the half-yearly reports of the college. The report explained that the symptoms of sorrel poisoning were very similar to those of milk fever. The research discovered that the blood of sheep affected showed an abnormally low calcium content. The injection of calcium gluconate had been used with outstanding success, and except in one desperate case, effected complete cures.

Waxing and Pasteurising. Should milk he pasteurised for cheesemaking and should cheese be waxed ? These two questions were mentioned and briefly discussed at a conference of dairy representatives at Invercargill without any definite conclusions being reached. In regard to pasteurisation one speaker contended that New Zealand consumers found cheese made from milk that was not pasteurised much more palatable, but,others stated that in the British market the pasteurised product was preferred. A side issue which was briefly debated was whether pasteurising killed tubercular germs in milk. Sb far as the merits of waxing cheese was concerned, Mr.. Dynes Fulton, the deputy chairman of the Dairy Board, said that his investigations in Britain had left him with an open mind on the matter, Since the opinion of those handling the cheese seemed to be evenly divided.