On the Land

New Zealand Tablet, 30 May 1912, Page 51

On the Land

GENERAL. Sir Walter Gil bey, in a recent pamphlet, shows by statistics thai: an increase in the consumption of milk means a decrease in the spread of tuberculosis. - English seedsmen consider that seed of last year, which was very dry, has a higher germinating power than usual, which will compensate for the decrease in quantity. The Chinese have known the value of bones for manuring since before civilisation began in Europe. Two thousand years ago they applied bones reduced by burning to their land. A registered Holstein cow in the herd of Mr. Townshend, Cheshire, England, yielded 1778 gallons of milk for a lactation period of fourteen months, the twelve months' record being 1647 gallons. The export of wool from South Africa has increased in ten years from 140,000 bales to 377,000 bales, the quantity in 1910. The purchase of so many high-class merinoes from Australia and Tasmania has led to a great improvement in the quality of their wool. It may not be generally known that the fertilising ingredients removed from the soil by crops have been studied with some degree of chemical accuracy. . Swedes, on an average, will remove about 981 b of nitrogen, about a little over 201 b of phosphoric acid, and about 801 bof potash. The grain of wheat lakes twice the amount" of nitrogen away from the soil that straw does, but when it comes to consideration of potash, the straw takes twice as much from the soil as the grain. At Burnside market last week 235 head of fat cattle were yarded, the greater proportion consisting of cows and heifers, which met with a dragging sale. Quotations : Best bullocks sold at up to £l3 10s : good do, £lO 10s to £ll 15s; medium, £8 10s to £9 15s; best cows and heifers, £7 10s to £9 : extra good, to £lO 10s. The yarding of fat sheep totalled 3120, consisting principally of ewes, there being a few very good wethers forward. There was brisk competition, this being partly due to freezing buyers operating for both ewes "and wethers. Quotations: Best wethers up to 23s 6d; good, 18s 6d to 21s 6d: best ewes, to 30s 9d; good, 15s 6d to 19s. There was a fairly large yarding of fat lambs (2480), including a number of very good quality, which met with very keen .competition. Prices, as compared with previous sale, were, if anything, a shade better. Quotations : Heavy lamb, up to 20s 6d ; good, 16s 6d to 18s 6d; light and unfinished, 13s 6d to 15s 6d. There was a large yarding of both store and fat pigs, for which prices were easier than at previous week's sale.

At Addington last week the entries of fat cattle totalled 254 head, the major portion consisting of. cows. Values all round were easier. Beef realised 22s to 25s per 1001 b, according to quality. Steers brought £7 2s 6d to £ll 17s 6d ; heifers, £6 to £lO 10s ; and cows, £4 17s fid to £9 12s 6d. The entry of fat pigs was large, and was made up in about equal numbers of ewes and wethers. All prime sheep met with good competition, while secondary quality was not so much sought after. Towards the end of the sale ewes showed a little improvement. The range of prices was: Extra prime wethers, to 23s lOd; prime, 18s to 21s; lighter, 16s to 17s 6d; prime ewes, 14s 6d to 20s) extra, to 20s 9d. The yarding of fat lambs totalled 7750, which consisted principally of good quality. There was a keen demand on the part of export buyers, and prices were firmer by fully 6d per head. Tegs sold at 17s 9d to 20s; extra, to 245; average freezing weights, 14s fid to 17s 6d ; light and unfinished, 13s 4d to 14s 3d. There was a medium entry of fat pigs. The demand at the opening was: dull, but firmed later, closing firmly. Choppers made £3 to £5 7s 6d ; heavy baconers, 70s to 80s; and lighter sorts, 50s to 60s—equal to per lb. Heavy porkers realised 38s to 45s ; and lighter, 33s to 37sequivalent to s|d per lb.

THE JERSEY COW. The Jersev is the most refined in build of all cattle. The bone of the legs is fine and compact, like that of a highly bred carriage horse. The head is fine, with a dished face and large, prominent eyes. The jowls are free from flesh, and the whole head has a thoroughbred appearance which appeals to the lover of the beautiful in animals. The neck is long and thin, and the withers are thin at the setting on of the neck. The back is generally straight, and the hips are very broad in proportion to the rest of the body. The tail is set on well up and very generally ends with a heavy switch. These general characteristics, combined with the ability to give the richest of milk, make the Jersey the ideal family cow. SHEEP AND WOOL. In Europe (says an exchange) there are 183,301,261 sheep, Australia being next with 116,034,173, South America following with 99,592,967, Asia 92,848,787, North America 58,623,834, and Africa 50,293,014. The world's wool production is given as 2,919,657,5201 b, which is equal to about 8,341,879 bales of Australian size. Australasia leads with a total of 820,012,4491 b, or 2,468,750 bales, equal to nearly 30 per cent, of the world's production. North America produced 337,751,9001 b, South America 499,645,1601 b, Europe 814,077,0111 b, Asia 273,146,0001 b, and Africa 174,919,0001 b. The predominance of Australasia is more real than apparent, even in these as the whole of the Australasian exports are high-class wools, whereas most of the wool from Asia, some from Europe, and much from South America is of a coarse, low grade, used generally for making carpets, common and similar goods. Taking the world's sheep figures and the total production, gives an average yield per sheep of 4.81 b, which is little more than one-half of the average weight of fleece of Australasian sheep, the Australasian average being 71b 4oz, and this from chiefly merino sheep.

DRYING OFF THE COW. My twenty years with dairy cows have convinced me that continuous milking is not desirable, and I doubt whether it is profitable (writes Mr. Charles Evans in the Country Gentleman). It is not unusual to find a. cow that shows no inclination to dry off. .Such an animal exhibits an excellent dairy trait—persistence in yielding milk. No cow should "be forced to go dry against manifestly natural resistance. If, however, the milk has an unpleasant taste and turns creamy she may as well be dried at once, regardless of the date, for her milk will not be good until she is fresh again! This condition as a rule does not occur until a short time before calving. I am sure that better results are to be obtained from cows that are given a rest—not too long—to allow recuperation and furnish the strength to be imparted to the rapidly-growing calf. My observation leads me to believe that the cow that milks up strongly until she drops the calf is sapping her vitality and that either the calf or the cow or both suffer. However, the mother will tear down her own body to build up that of the calf as long as possible, the results snowing later on in the reduced milk yield.