FARMING NOTES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 10, 12 May 1939, Page 6

FARMING NOTES

PEDIGREE PIGS

TASM A i\ IA N IM I»() MTATIOXS The Pig Club movement is growing in Tasmania, and its sponsors are starting right by insisting on quality stud pigs as foundation stock. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, Limited, sent forward its third consignment to Tasv mania, recently, when the Waltnki sailed for Melbourne with an aristocratically bred young Berkshire sow, Rosanagh Dulcic 3rd, from the Stratford stud of Messrs H. C. Taylor and Sons. Dulcie is by the imported sow "Woodburn Rosa Belle, also imported to New Zealand and who took the last Royal Championship at Hamilton. Dulcie's dam is Rosanagh Dulcie, a prize winner at leading shows, bj- Dominion Nauini Reo 1, winner of eight championships, including two New Zealand Royal supreme awards, from that grand old show and breeding matron Rosanagh Mabel. i Tasmanian pigmen are building on a sure foundation and should scon be reaping the reward of their enterprise. FISH PRODUCTS RICH PROTKFN , CONTENT An interesting summary on Investigations concerning the value of fish meals for livestock, and particularly pigs, appeared in a recent issue of the Canadian jour.'al. Scientific Agri culture. T'rs eowrs trials cnnducVr'u in aJniO't every important country, and includes a report of original experiments enndue-ted by S. A. "ITil' ton, over 1"> years at Nappan, Novr. Scotia. Extracts of particular interest to fanners in tills paper include the following: "Fish meal i> rich in both proteins and minerals, and is composed almost entirely of the materials required for growth. Rarely, if ever, do fish meals properlv main. factured, contain less than i>s per .cent protein. As a rule white fish contain 60 to over 70 per cent.» This fish meal, as shown by Orr and others, is highly digestible, the pig being able to utilise more than 90 per cent of the intake. Protein Content "Tlie 'quality' or protein, or amino acid content, is even more import, ant. Fish meal is recognised as being particularly high in the amino adds essential for growth and reproduction. The beneficial result secured from fish meal may, 'to a large degree, be attributed to . its mineral content. This is borne out by results secured at Nappan, where miiier.il deficiency crippling has seldom occurred when the ration contained \ per cent of fish meal. In another part of the paper it is stated that 15 per cent of fish meal is included in the standard protein mineral supplement to grain ralions given to pigs at the Advanced Registry Test Stations in Canada, and in a single test made in 19:17, white fish meal was found to be supciio.- in feed cost and rate of -gaia lo the more complicated protein mineral supplement of itlie test station;. A point that emerged from ':he Nap pan trials was that cull potatoes could be marketed with considerable profit through the bacon, pig if fed together with white fish meal, carcases oj , good quality being produced INOCULATING HEIFERS PUKVEXTIOX OF MASTITIS A research officer from Australia, Mr R. O. C. King, has recently returned from the United States and Canada, where he has been studying the American method of inoculating heifer calves against contagious abortion, and mastitis. Mr Hindmarsh, director of the Glenfield Veterinary Research Station, speaking at a recent federal council meeting of the Australian. Dairy Cattle Research Association, said that Mr King found that the results so far achieved by the, new vaccination, treatment of both contagi-j

ous abortion and mastitis were very promising. The principle was that if a calf were vaccinated before ilt attained breeding age it would present Mich. a strong resistance to the disease; f that it was not likely to be affected ' later in life. Experiments in this method are to be conducted at Glenfield in the near \ future, and will be closely watched by New Zealand dairy farmers. If .successful they will mean the saving ] of enormous annual losses to farmers.

PRODUCTIVE FRIESIAN

In the Friesian merit list for February Bushlea Peach, owned by Smart and Son, Tikorangi, maintains her place in the three year old class with a milk production of 1185.Sib of milk a,nd 44.921b of but. terfat for the month. Her total figures for 168 days in milk arc 86to. Hi) milk and 322.641b butterfat. FUTURE ASSURED "I stated last year that I was of the opinion that the future of this district was assured and that young farmers, through experience gained through the Young Farmers , Club organisation, would be well equipped to meet and surmount any situa-* tion that may eventuate,'" said Mr H. J. Lancaster, chairman of the Manawatu Young Farmers , Clubs' district committee, at the conclu- . sion of his report to the annual meet ing held last week. "There is 'imple, evidence that this opinion is more than fully justified and that we can look forward with confidence to »';■« even better year in 'the season now opening," be added. CARRY-OVER OF PIGS Adverse circumstances have necessitatis! the carry-over of an unusually large number of pigs this autumn stated the supervisor (Mr K. VNielsen) in his report to the annual meeting of the Wellington District Pig Council. A poor growing sra-on in the spring has reduced the normal yield <>|" ro °t crops, while an exceptionally dry summer has caused a great scarcity of milk. Wherever possible eflorts are being made to cooperate with producers in devisir.g supplementary rations which will en able them to carry 'their pigs through the winter in healthy stowing conditions.