FARMING NOTES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 263, 27 January 1941, Page 3

FARMING NOTES

RESEARCH ON MILKING MACHINES Research work on milking machines is in full swing at the Animal Research Station, Wallaccville. Experiments are being conducted to determine the effect of various adjustments in the operation of milking machines in the production of mastitis. Investigations are also being made into the relative efficiency of the different types of accessories available. The collaboration of milking machine manufacturers and distributors is cordially invited. As indicated previously, they may have any accessory capable of measurement by pln\sica! standards tested free, and receive a report on its performance. This should provide distributors with valuable data concerning the performance of their machines, and should assist manufacturers in providing improvements where these are necessary. A number of dairy factories have placed orders for the mercury gauge to be installed for testing the accuracy of milking machine vacuum gauges. Unfortunately, considerable delay has occurred in providing these gauges because of the difficulty in obtaining mercury and the general disorganisation caused to manufacturers war conditions. However, it is hoped that some 30 of these gauges will be available early in the New Year. BLACK-LEG IN CALVES The number of calves vaccinated in the last financial year against black-leg in the affected areas were Taranaki 10,632, and Auckland 22,004, making a total of 32, 636, states the annual report, of the Director of the Live Stock Division. This shows an increase of 1787 on last year's figure and would suggest that the total number of outbreaks has increased. Control by vaccination continues to give good results, and the reports for the season are very satisfactory, the. actual number of outbreaks in the Auckland district being 200, compared with 222 the previous year, and the number of deaths 395, compared with 4£)B the previous year. # FESCUE GRASS NEW ZEALAND MARKET SAFE American production of Chewings fescue Avill never seriously threaten the demand from there for the New Zealand seed. This is the opinion of Professor James H. Gilbert, professor of Economics and dean of the College of Social Science at Eugene, Oregon, United States, who is visiting New Zealand.. Professor Gilbert was discussing American research into the possibilities of producing Chewings fescue in Oregon, a report concerning Avhich reached New Zealand some weeks ago. Practically the whole of the Southland Chewings fescue crop goes at present to the United States. In the small coastal valleys of Oregon, there were areas particularly suitable for the growing of grass seed, said Professor Gilbert. Some progress had been made in developing the production of Chewings of the Livestock Division. This fescue, large supplies of Avhich were imported from New Zealand. Seed from the Dominion was generally recognised as being of very high quality. "The areas in America Avhich are suitable for its production are very limited, and the United States market is far beyond the production from that source." The American market for a long time would be open to the New Zealand product and imports from the Dominion might even increase. The great and wonderfully fertile Willamette Valley which extended 125 miles south of Portland and which was 56 miles wide at its widest part, was not suitable for the growing of T v vns Hv valley which supplied America with ' ' walnuts and

BREAKING A HORSE FROM FENCE JUMPING The other day I heard an Omokoroa farmer describing a method he had seen adopted to prevent a horse from fence jumping. Horses which have this habit are a nuisance on a farm, and often all the more common methods of breaking them of this habit are useless. . The method the farmer described was quite simple. He put a bridle and bit on the horse,, and to the bit fastened a length of plough chain. He then put the. horse into a paddock fenced with an electric fence on full charge. The horse jumped the fence once,, but the shock he got quite broke him of his habit, and he will now always stay in the paddock in which he has been placed. REPAIRING WORN-OUT TANKS Under existing wartime conditions, when iron water tanks are both expensive and difficult to procure, any method which will prolong the life of a worn-out tank indefinitely and at small cost must prove of interest to many farmers. The method as demonstrated by Mr G. A. Anderson, of Matakana, can be successfully applied to any old tank even though it leaks like a colander and is worn in places to the thickness of paper. Provided the shell is still in one piece and is strong enough to act as a framework, it can be quite effectively repaired. Mr Anderson begins by filling a layer of 4:1 concrete mixture about 4 inches thick on the inside of the bottom of the tank., A length of wire netting is llien wrapped tightly around the outside of the tank and the whole carefully plastered over with a coating of concrete made up of a 4:1 mixture of sand and cement, any holes in the tank being also plastered from the ♦inside. This plaster coat "need not be very thick and about 1 inch from the bottom of the corrugations is quite sufficient.. When the work has been completed and the cement has set, the tank is coated with covering of tar to prevent weeping, and if the work has been satisfactorily performed a completely watertight and highly permanent job will result. DAMAGE TO WOOL For very many years the trouble caused by. the use of deleterious wool branding materials has been a subject of complaint from the wool buyers. This topic has been given wide publicity in the farming Press but the trouble still continues undiminished. The actual monetary loss is difficult to estimate, but there is no doubt that it reaches a considerable Him. One estimate from a reliable source is that last season 2 per cent of our greasy wool was spoilt by brands, and/the value of good type, crossbred wool is lowered on this account. Other types of wool are also affected. There is no need for this loss to continue, and the - Department of Agriculture has under way a comprehensive trial of all the commercial marking fluids, raddles, and crayons, besides a variety of other concoctions used at times by farmersj It is not expected that very many of the commercial products will be found at fault, but it is essential to check up on this point before proceeding further in the campaign to eliminate the trouble.