FARM AND GARDEN

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15152, 27 January 1923, Page 15 (Supplement)

FARM AND GARDEN

AGRICULTURAL EVENTS FOR WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 3. TUESDAY. Sheep Fair at Oparau. Stock Sale at Ngatea. Stock Sale at Hamilton. Sale of Milling Plant and Timber, Stanley Road, Te Aroha.

WEDNESDAY. Sheep Fair at Rangiriri. Clearing Sale at W. B. Hughes’, Tui Pa, near Te Aroha. Stock Sale at Cambridge. Stock Sale at Matamat'a. THURSDAY. Sheep Fair at Kauroa. Stock Sale at Claudelands. FRIDAY. Sheep Fair at Corqmandel. Sheep Fair at Ngaruawahia. SATURDAY. Stock Sale at Te Awamutu. ( l THE SHOW DATES. February 28 —Rotorua. i NOTICE TO FARMERS. Recognising the importance of giving the farmer highly scientific advice, we have made arrangements for articles to appear weekly from the pen of a recognised authority on agricultural matters. Farmers are invited to address any queries on farming matters to “Practical,” care of Waikato Times, and they will be answered in the suoceeding week’s issue.

A wonderful' cow. MELBA XV. *S GREAT PERFORMANCE THE. DARBALARA STUD. (By “Practical.") When I saw Melba XV. recently she was in the seventh month of her lactation period. She had got beyond her peak production. She gave, howefer, 90£lb milk and 5.031 b butter the day I left Darbalara Station. I felt then that she would break her previous record as the best producer in the world among Milking Shorthorns, but it did not occur to me that she would break the world’s record for all breeds. She has done it. In 3G5 days she has produced 13161 b butterfat, equal to 158641 b butter. A Hol-stein-Friesian —the property of a Can-adian-held this coveted honour until Melba’s performance. The Friesian had 12701 b butter in the twelve months period to her credit. Mr J. T. Cole, the breeder of Melba XV., and "manager of Darbalara, is to be congratulated on the great feat achieved by this animal. As a four-ryear-bld, aftar calving on, Apnl 28, 1920, she began her test on May 9 following, and in the 365 days test gave 21,63541 b milk with an average test of 4.4 per cent, equal to 95441 b butter and approximately 11501 b of commercial butter. In Australia they usually quote their records as lb of commercial butter, not as we do in New Zealand, namely, as butter-fat. Her mother, Melba VII., still on Darbalara, gave 102141 b commercial butter in 365 days, when at her best.

Mr Cole’s Ambition. I had the privilege of spending two days with the manager of Darbalara. Mr J. T. Cole is now 68 years of age, and in chatting about his work as a breeder he became reminiscent. He was born in the famous Illawara district of the South Coast of New South Wales. This part of the Mother State is chiefly devoted to dairying. At the little town of Jamberoo, outside of Kiama, on the old homestead known as “Poplar Grove,” the two sons of an old English breeder of Shorthorns first got their inspiration to breed stock. Instead of being at school, young J. T. Cole often wagged it to see some stock which had arrested his attention or gained hiis admiration. After spending the early years of his life at Jamberoo he took charge of Bolaro Station, in the Monaro district. This is on high country, part of a plateau south of Goulburn, not far from the waters of the stream immortalised by Banjo Paterson with his famous hero, “The Man from Snowy River.” The famous bull, “Banker,” bred by J. T. Cole, and ' ‘ Heather Musket n. of Shoalhaven, was taken to Bolaro, and when the present manager of Darbalara left Bolaro Banker was taken down with other cattle to start the herd on the present station (Darbalara) owned by the Scottish Australian Investment Company. When one spends a couple of days with Mr Cole, one appreciates the charming personality of the breeder of the world’s champion. He is quiet and easy in manner, speaks deliberately, but is a man' of comparatively few words. His ideals made him aim high, and after nearly three score years and ten he has attained his ambition in breeding a world’s record cow. When questioned about travelling abroad, he said smilingly that he was not a good sailor, and moreover he has stuck too closely to his work to spare much time away from the stock. His heart is in his work, and by singleness of purpbse, with long and careful application to his life’s work, lie has achieved a great ambition. Though not educated in the usual academic sense, he is a weil-read man, and is surrounded by books dealing largely with breeds and breeding in relation to live stock.. These volumes, I presume, are daily (or nightly) companions.

Darbalara Station. The station is 8800 acres in extent land is pleasingly situated near the junebion of the Mumimbidgec atnd Tumut Rivers, about 16 miles (not 9) from Cundagai. The Adjungbully creek, a snow-fed stream, runs through the estate. The area is well watered. There are about 8500 acres of alluvial river flats, varying from a heavy dark loam to a sandy alluvial soil. The remaining portion of 5800 acres is a •rich volcanic soil consisting of undulating to hilly land. The homestead Is a brick building of the old type, most of the rooms opening out on to a wide verandah which runs around the side and front, and standing as if does on a pleasant rise, commands a panoramic view which takes in the rich lucerne flats along the river with wooded heights on (lie right and a blue range of hills towards the horizon. The gardens and shrubs around the homestead are kept in good order, and on the occasion of my visit last soring the stocks below the verandah nerfumed the air delicately, while the wattle was a blaze of colour in the bright Australian atmosphere. Frosty ujjpts and clear warm days added to the charm of my stay at Darbalara teomestead. A Little community. There are eleven share farmers on fl*rbaiara. On the average each jnij v r»r jmMis i.ad acres at river

flats. Four of the farms have frontages to the Tumut River, and each carries about 50 milking cows. Altogether there are about 1500 head of cattle on the estate. As there are about 180 people on Darbalara, it has its own school. Dairying is successful with family labour. There is a butter factory owned by the company. The pastures consist of natural grasses, the chief constituents being water couch (a species of paspalum) and Warrego grass with crowfoot (Erodium sfp.) and two species of trefoil. Warrego grass provides good summer feed, while barley grass-(Hor-deum Murinum) supplies a succulent winter and early spring stop-gap. I saw a little perennial rye in the sward. The autumn is usually dry, but lucerne (and it flourishes on the flats like the proverbial bay tree) comes to the rescue. Green maize also is grown ana fed Mr Cole believes in maize, and claims that it helps to produce a good Arm butter. Questioned in regard to fodder crops he naturally places lucerne first, then maize and a good third to green oats. There are doO acres of lucerne on Darbalara.

The Ideal Dairy Cow. ’ Apart from minor points Mr Cole liked a roomy animal, with a good barrel and plenty of heart girth. A good udder is essential of course. A loose skin is always looked for, while yellow colour present around the eye points to a good doer. There were plenty of good doers on Darbalara, and one is not surprised when one sees how liberally the animals are provided for with fodder crops in addition to the rich natural pastures. A good deal of cob maize Is grown and fed to pigs in addition to the other stock kept. ' _ , . The Strain in New Zealand.

At Ruakura Farm of Instruction there is a herd of Darbalara cattle, the original animals having been brought over some years ago by the N.Z. Government from Darbalara, near Gundagai. They have justified themselves and the high reputation they have gained in Australia and other countries. The stock will be found distributed over many parts of the Dominion. At sales they bring. big prices. At Dilworth Institute of Agriculture a cow fetched 365 guineas. The rich succulent pastures to be found in the Dominion with the congenial climate suit admirably the Short.horn. Given the right strains of foundation stock, and the continued freedom from the worse forms of cattle disease, it is more than likely that with the mild climate we possess, New should produce stud stocS second to none in the world.

KIDNEYS IN LAMBS.

VIEWS OF ONE IN THE TRADE.

A gentleman closely connected with the frozen meat trade of the Dominion, discussing the vexed question of retaining the kidneys and kidney fat in lamb carcases, remarked to a representative of the Wellington Dominion that the crux of the question was what the consumer wanted: if he wanted the kidneys left in the carcase let him have it so, but if he wanted them out, keep them out. If New Zealand did not comply with the demands of the consumer, there were others who would. In support of this statement there was produced a copy of the Imperial Food Journal and Empire Produce News of November 23, in which Messrs W. Angliss and Go.

(Pty.), Ltd., Imperial Works, Melbourne, advertised that “all lambs 371 b and upwards shipped with kidneys and kidney knobs removed.” This Arm deals in Victorian lambs and mutton, and has a London office at 64 West Smithfleld, with a branch office at Liverpool, and it was obvious from this advertisement that there was some advantage to the buyer, or it suited his requirements to have the kidneys removed. Continuing his remarks, the gentleman interviewed stated that when a London butcher cut up a frozen carcase of lamb, the cleaver cut through kidneys and fat, and the latter were trimmed off and thrown aside as waste; and the butcher had to allow for this waste in the price paid for the carcase. Another point was that lambs were graded as follow; Under 321 b, 321 b to. 361 b, 371 b to 421 b, and over 421 b, and gach grade had a particular value, the lighter grades being in most demand were worth practically id per lb more than the heavier grades, although both lots might be prime quality. By leaving the kidneys and the kidney knobs in the carcase, the weight was increased, and it was quite possible that a certain percentage of the lambs that would otherwise be graded in the light grade must go into the heavy grade, and the distributor at the other end would cut out the kidneys and - fat and reclass them, and thus secure an additional profit that should really belong to the New Zealand grower. The Meat Board, in a statement published some time ago, estimated the loss to the producer, by the kidneys being removed, at ,£140,000 per annum, but this statement has never been substanOnly one firm in New Zealand had kept a record -of the kidney fat taken from lambs, and over a long period they show an average of .56 of a lb per lamb, which is very much less than the Meat Board’s estimate. The kidney packed and sold apart from the carcases would be worth considerably more than if left in the carcase. The consumption of kidneys in Wellington is enormous, and practically ilie whole of the supplies of the focal works arc consumed in the city,

and the prices paid are very much higher than could be got by leaving them in the carcase and taking the cost of transport into consideration.

" In certain works where oleo is manufactured the value of the kidney fat is very much greater than it is when converted into, ordinary tallow. These portions of the carcase, together with other offal such as tongues

and runners, are all taken into account in fixing the freezing charges, so that

the producer ultimately gets the benefit of the enterprise of the freezing companies. If New Zealand fails to meet the requirements of the consumers, our competitors in South America and Australia —and both countries are now shippers of large quantities of lamb —will take advantage of Ino

situation, and although at the present lime our standard of quality is admittedly superior, ttie persistent clTorts of foreign concerns to work up to the New Zealand standard will eventually meet with success, so that in ordei to keep in the forefront we must be tain the goodwill of our customers. It would be safer to allow the industry to develop on the most efficient and economical lines without interference or restrictions.

THE FARM SCHOOLS. COMMENCE ON MONDAY The. season's series of farm schools Will imminence at Rua. Uu: a ftu.

when some seventy teachers will enter the farm for a period of instruction extending over the week. A comprehensive syllbus of lectures and demonstrations has ben framed for the school’s curriculum, and the course will prove one of great value to the students from all parts of the province who are taking it up. The following week a special refresher course for instructors in agriculture will be held at Ruakura. This course will be the first of its kind in New Zealand, and will be attended by about 30 persons, comprising instructors from the Department of Agriculture and from the Hawke’s Bay, Wanganui, Taranaki and Auckland Education Boards, as well as teachers of agriculture in the secondary schools. Most of the agriculture research workers of the Department of Agriculture, in addition to Professors Johnson, Burbidgc, and Bartrum, of the Auckland University, and Dr. D. L. Freeman, of the N.Z. Farmer, are among the lecturers for the course. It is hoped that Mr A. E. V. Richardson, M.A., B.Sc., Agricultural Superintendent of the Department of Agriculture, Victoria, will also be present.

AN AMERICAN VISITOR.

STUDYING DAIRY PURSUITS. MUCH IMPRESSED WITH WAIKATO. During the day that Miss S. Van Hoosen Jones, a Doctor of Agriculture of the University of Wisconsin, had available in visiting the Waikato this week, the American lady showed very keen interest in gaining as much knowledge as possible of the dairying and general agricultural pursuits of the district. This is primarily the object of her trip to New Zealand, as part of a tour she is making of various parts of the world, which will occupy well into 1925. Miss Jones has her own farm at Rochester, where she is concerned in the marketing of milk for town supply. She is especially interested in milking machines and made very exhaustive inquiries during her stay here into the workings of the various plants, which are so extensively used among the dairy herds of New Zealand. Miss Jones told a Times representative that there was some prejudice against the machine in America, where it was only used sporadically. She had at one time used the machine in her herd, and intended going back to it. During a visit of inspection to the butter factory at Frankton and the glaxo factory at Matangi, the American was intensely interested in the manufacturing processes to be witnessed at both places. She remarked that the State of Wisconsin went in for a good deal of butter and cheese manufacture, but was little conversant with the dried milk process. The Ruakcra Farm of Instruction greatly interested the visitor. The land prices of the Dominion were a topic in which Miss Jones displayed keen concern, and when acquainted with some of the figures ruling in this area she remarked that they in instances eclipsed the, value of her own farm holding, which was situated within 30 miles of a big city. TJie wonderful pasture land of this country was an eye-opCner to the visitor, who commented upon the large measure of grain feeding that was required for stock the whole year round in her country. This adequate pasture provision made for simpler farming methods and less equipment than was necessary in America. From what Miss Jones had gathered of labour conditions in the Dominion she inferred'-that the rates of payment were about on a par with those of her home land, while the country here, except the trees, reminded the American very much of home.

Some of the dairy herds of the Waikato were inspected by Miss Jones during her visit. On her own farm Frisians predominate, a breed of cattle which is .very popular there and in other parts of the States. On the whole the New Zealand types were heavier than the American, but that could be readily understood, the visitor remarked.

The visitor will spend some little time in Wellington and then cross to Australia, going on later to China and India.