FARMING NOTES

Wairarapa Age, 19 November 1919, Page 7

FARMING NOTES

Tho ordinary Masterton stock sales take place at the Colombo yards today. A few outside buyers were operating at the cattle sale in Master-on yesterday. Forty acres of land in the To Ore Ore district recently changed hands at £IOO per acre. Very little cropping is being done at Te Ore Ore this season. The land which a few years back grew prolific crops of oats and wheat has been con-ver-ed into rich pastures for stud sheep and cattle. Prime Fat bullocks realised £25 15s at the cattle sale in Masterton yesterday. Eight fat bullocks, a prime butchers' line, were purchased by Messrs Ogilvy and Son at £22 2s od. Another line of butchers' beef realised £2l 2s 6d. Fat cows brought £l3, and a line of fat heifers were sold at £9 14s. The dairy season experienced in the Dannevirke district up to the present has not been a rosy one for dairy fanners. The scarcity of feed in the winter, together with the inclement weather in the spring, has resulted in a considerable decrease in the yield of milk, and what is not usual, a decrease also in the average butterfat test. A noticeable feature at the cattle sale,in Masterton yesterday was the fact that, no matter how a line was dragging, the bidding became ani.nated so soon as io was announced that the cattle were to be sold to she highest bidder. Judging by this the shrewd vendor is he who instructs tlie auctioneer to announce before aking bids that there is no reserve. This seems to engender confided among purchasers. Reserves are all right when the demand exceeds the •supply, but on a fractious market they are best dispensed with. "This is what a New Zealander writes," says a London correspondent. "I think the way our New Zealand meat is handled and shown to he public is simply disgraceful. Only this morning I saw marked up 'New Zealand Lamb' in a dirty little shop, marked a butcher's shop, and it was repulsive to look at. The meat was oovered with flies, and looked green, and I, knowing as I do that our best lamb is sent from New Zealand, think 'it disgraceful to see the condition '.u which it is offered to the poor public of England." ' Messrs Abraham and Williamß, Ltd., held their annual meeting on Monday. A dividend of 8 per cent, for the year Was declared. At an extraordinary general 'meeting following the capital of the company was increased to. £500,000 by the creation jf 50,000 shares of £5 each, 10,000 }f such shares being preference shares carrying the right to fixed cumulative preferential dividend at the rate oi > per cent, per annum, and 40,000 ordinary shares of £5 each, payable 10s on application, 10s on allotment, alxd balance by calls of not less than £l.

. A number of the successful farmer! in the vicinity <of Masterton have during recent years erected very fine homesteads, and others are preparing grounds in readiness for building sc soon as there is an indication of a decline in price. One of the most commanding residences iB that occupied by Mr. Oswald Percy, at the junction of the Bideford and Te Ore Ore roads. Mr. Percy is at present completing the laying out of the grounds, the plaqs for which were prepared by Mr, Buxton, the wellknown landscape architect,, and when finished they will add beauty to a home that promises to be a credit to the owner and to the district. Provision is made for attractive drives and walks, lawn tennis courts, lawns, etc., and as the soil is of the finest quality a few years should see the scheme in full bloom and Mr. Percy and his growing family enjoying to the full the fruits of his enterprise. V The cattle sale held at Masterton yesterday was devoid 0 f animation, except when 'butchers' liiies were offered, and clearly indicated that cattle were a glut on the market. It was not altogether unexpected, though some vendors cling to the belief that the values offering are not justified by circumstances,' and held on to their stock. Time will tell whethei their judgment correctly sizes up the position. The known fact that there is a great shortage of cattle feed, which is amply testified to by a great proportion of the stock passing through the yards, must have a material bearing on the prices ruling for ca'tle. The conditions obtaining are not likely to-improve if it rains for a week, and hence the wiße farmer is letting his stock go for whatever it fetches at auction. He has got to in order to conserve his grass, ft is an unfortunate predicament, but cannot be obviated, and someone must lose money. A line of twoyear empty heifers, certainly in poor condition, changed hands yesterday at £4 14s, while only £4 was offered for a similar line. ' The state of the market f can best be indicated by the fact that £4 5s was the highest bid for two-year-old steers, mixed colours, and in poor condition. The best offer for an even line of yearling Polled Angus heifers was £5. Two and three-year-old steers, an inferior line, were sold at £5 16s. A vendor refused an offer of £l2 Is for a very nice line of two-year-old Hereford steers. He wanted £l2 10s. Another vendor wanted £ll 10s for a choice line of two-year-old steers, but the highest bid was £lO ss. A pen of two-year-old empty Hereford heifers, done 'badly, changed hands at £6 12s. A fairly large line of Polled Angus cows were passed in at £lO. Big-framed station cows, ready for the fattening paddock, fetched £lO 17s. Young cattle in poor condition were passed in without a bi<i being ceceiveg in 'juanx cases*

Nelson Brbß. have declared a final dividend of six per cent, and a bonus of . five per cent, free of tax, and have carried forward £18,684.

Numbers of Eketahuna dairy farmers state that the season this year is fully a month behind the average in respect of growth of grass.

It is said that certain breeders of stud sheep in the vicinity of Masterton, who always command tho highest price owing to the condition of their sheep, never furnish them wi-h artificial feed. This to a certain extent is a fact. The particular breeders recentiy informed the writer that their lambs were turned on to rape and turnip crops in order to give them a good constitution. Rich pastures afterwards did the rest.

Mr. G. B. Shaw, a Californian pastoralist, in conversation with a Chris-church reporter, predicted that during the next three years there would be most active business relations between American breeders and those of New Zealand. Americans, he Baid, are fully alive to the necessity of increasing their 6heep flocks considerably, and they are setting about tho business bv securing the very best stud sheep procurable. New Zealand had a great name throughout the United States for its mutton and wool, and Australia, also, in certain breeds.