THE FARM.

Thames Star, Volume LVII, Issue 15115, 28 December 1921, Page 8

THE FARM.

JOTTINGS OF INTEREST. Quito a number of Canterbury '’wuici'S hav<s disposed of r sh'eep.~ - •• r.rivately in t’i? their wool clips t ' *•- - few. weeks (states the Sun).-. Sales J of good halfbreed clips have, bfen 1 made at 13d to 14d per lb, s “I think the lines of stock to go in f or just now,” says a gmior, ‘'are wcaner and. 18-mon fh heifers. In 12 months tho former will bo worth £4 and the latter up to £lO. These'are tho only classes of stock there is money in at pro- . sent.” A questioner at tho Falmcrston Citizens’ Lunch Club asked Mr. C. I)ahl, who has returned from a visit to Europe, which product it would b 0 wisest for the Now Zealand farmer to go in for this season—butter or cheese. Mr. Dahl did not commit himself definitely on the point, but ho pointed out that most of the other dairying countries would ho exporting butter. Ho was very much inclined to think that chocs© would play an important part in tfie value of bur products this year. Sheep statistics issued by tho Soviet Government of Russia show that while the numbers returned in 1919 were 71,000,000 head, they dropped to 47,000,000 in 1920, am to 40,000,000 last year. Tho practical use of an aeroplane on a station was recently illustrated by Capt. N./B. Lowe, when returning to Sydney from a trip to Richmond, Queensland, in connection with tho Northern Territory Aerial Service Company’s business. "While flying south _of Tambo Capt. Lowe observed two large flocks of sheep, which ho. determined to muster. Not only did ho succeed in doing this, bull he was also ablo to drive the - lot into a corner of tho property. NOTES. f > _ The Kaponga Co-op. Dairy Company, Ltd., is having a record year in regard to milk supply, the followj ing being the figures for the five 1. months ending November 1 30, the figures for the corresponding period ; last year being shown in parentheses : Milk, 8,950,1121 b (7,385,8531 b) ; but-ter-fat,, 328,2621 b (267,9291 b). MILKING SHORTHORNS. At a sale of pedigree and grade milking Shorthorns at Christchurch last week, pedigree bulls brought up to 23 guineas, and cows to Stud yearling heifers, made to 24gs, and calves to 36gs. Grade cows, sold at from 6gs to 15gs. CORKSCREW GRASS. Disastrous as were the recent fires in the western division of New South Wales, they had one result which ■counterbalanced in some degree the destruction of fences, crops, grass, and stock —they Aviped out many 'thousands of acres of “corkscrew” grass. This grass, sometimes called spear grass, is said to have covered millions of acres of grazing land this year.. It is so-called because the seed, with its barbed point, “worms its way speedily through the wool and skin of sheep coming in contact with it, getting right into the flesh of the animal, and irritating and torturing it beyond endurance until it will literally lie down and die.” It also gets into the animals’ eyes, setting up irritation that blinds the victim's, and the blowfly often 'complete’s the injuries caused by the grass seed. This has been a season of such extraordinary growth in New South Wales that 20 times as much stock as the State holds Avouid not, it is asserted, have kept the corkscrew grass in check, and a Sydney paper declares that more ■ sheep have been killed by corkscrew grass this season than haArn been lost through the bush and grass- fires. There is thus a bright side to the spectacle of some hundreds of thousands of acres of fire-swept grass country.

HOME MARKETS. GREAT SLUMP IN MEAT PRICES. LONDON, October 27. The Leicester cattle market was filled yesterday with gloomy fa'ces. The farmers are face tq. face with a big crisis. The pastures have gone, and the fat cattle must be cleared off the lands, regardless of the sacrifice. There were 600 head of big, fat bullocks, and 2000 fat sheep. The cattle dropped in price by £8 to £5 per head, compared with last week, and 'some could not be sold at any price. Bullocks that were bought as stores at over 100/- per live cwt, were sold yesterday at less than 60/- per live cwt. On one lot the farmer lost £240, leaving out of account the interest, rent, wages, cake, and pasturage. Big graziers say that their losses range from £4OOO to £BOOO. Prime bullocks fetched from 10 d to 1/1 per Tb, and cows 8d to 9d, a decline of 2d per lb in the week.

1/2 per lb, and big Aveights lOd or lid. Ewes went slumping doAvn to 8d or 9d per lb. “I have no sympathy at all Avith these butchers and their prices. The price of cattle has fallen consider- c ably, and still a person-has got to c the same price for beef as when the submarines. AVdC t]lG i said the Recorder of Dvlbiiifi IN LONDON. PACKING AND MARKETING MEAT. ;■ j While in England, Mr Dahl, Danish Vice-Consul, visited Smithfield Mar- ‘ ket, and. looked into the manner in ( Avliieh New Zealand meat Avas ban- . died, and his observations have led . him to the conclusion that the sys- j tern adopted is detrimental to the interest's of our products. When he arrived in London at the beginning of the present year, NeAv Zealand beef and mutton were realising good prices, the latter making up to 1/9 per lb, retail, and for this meat the producers had received exceedingly low rates, which left them practically nothing for the cost of production. The Imperial Government held at that time in store thousands of tons of . beef, Avhich 'was deteriorating from long storage. It Avas hard to understand Avhy. they did not reduce the price of this, and give the people an opportunity of getting cheap meat, instead of allowing it to deteriorate still further. The continued holding of it inevitably - results in a still further loss. Several visits to Smithfield during his stay in London forced him to the 1 conclusion that no improA-ement had been made in the handling of New ' Zealand meat since he Avas there seven years before, and it appeared ' to him that some of the. mutton AA'hich left the Avorks here in prime condition AA r as so knocked about by rough handling that it Avas scarcely presentable to tbe English consumer. He could not plaee the blame on any L particular shoulders, but the fact ' remained that something Avas Avrong someAvhere. It AA r as an extraordinary ® fact that the Argentine meat Avas * handled in a much more satisfactory manner than ours. In this connection he pointed out that the South American meat Avas packed in double bags, made of material of the stockinette variety, while the single gauzelike eoA'erings on New Zealand mutf ton did not afford sufficient protection. If Zealand Avished to keep f up its good name, considerable improA'ements would have to be made ’’ both in packing meat at-this end and the handling of it at its destination.