CATTLE LOSE CONDITION.

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1425, 10 November 1923, Page 6

CATTLE LOSE CONDITION.

TOO HURRIEDLY DRIVEN. A well-known local authority on cattle, in conversation with a Wanganui Herald reporter on thin cattle appearing in the yards at this season of the year, explains that while this is due to overstocking on farms, it is also attributable to another cause. Many dealers nowadays will not take the time with their stock on the road, but rush them through from one point to another to perhaps save droving fees for a day or so. result is that the stock being driven rapidly lose condition. There is also another difficulty in getting good paddocking accommodation, and when stock are put in for the night they do not get sufficient feed to satisfy their appetites. The stockman quoted instances of several years ago along this coast, where the drover who could concentrate his mind on a book for several hours daily down a back road was the man who got the job. While be was reading, the stock were fattening. Then, again, some of the old type of dealers were very careful how the stock was handled. If a drover came along with too many dogs and started off to rush the cattle, he would be politely told to put the stock back in the paddock, and the farmer would get one of his own permanent men to do the job.