FARMING AND COMMERCIAL.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 813, 10 May 1910, Page 10

FARMING AND COMMERCIAL.

IMPROVING DAIRY CATTLE. v • HOW DENMARK DOES IT. . .VALUABLE HINTS FOR NEW ' ZEALAND. One of the greatest problems before the New Zealand dairy-farmer is the improvement of the quality of his herd. It is therefore interesting to learn what is being done to advance dairy cattle breeding in other countries. In tho current number of the "Journal of the, Boar.d of Agriculture" is printed the full text of an exceedingly valuablo paper on tho Danish system of cattlebreeding read to the British Association by Herr Morkeberg, Live Stock 'Commissioner to tho Danish Government. Dairying first attracted attention in Denmark about, 1850, when it was taken up on tho largo estates. Twothirds ot. Denmark is occupied by peasant proprietors in holdings averaging 90 acres each. With tho introduction ' of co-operation in the middle eighties daily farming became general on the , smaller holdings, and from that time has been the chief sourco of income to the whole country. From 1870 tho two national breeds, of cattle have been kept pure. They are the Jutland dairy cattle, found in Jutland, and tho Red Danish cattle, with their-homo on the islands. The first step to . improve tlio cattle was - the introduction. of shows., 'At first all breeds , competed together. Later the breeds were separated, aiid in order to discover tho best herds prizes were awarded in 1870 for collections of cows, instead of for individual cows. This system has continued to tho present day. Bull and Herd Competitions. ' In tho eighties the State caused special shows for bulls over three years old to be held. The object was to encourage farmers to keep their good bulls for a longer time. At these shows tho bulls are judged in conjunction with ; their offspring. Prizes are hot awarded for bulls five years old or older unless their offspring, which, must be judged before the show, have been found satisfactory. The judges do not restrict themselves to a consideration of the points of the exhibited animal, but also take into account' in the case of bulls 'the pedigree, and information as to the milk production of tho dam; grand dam, etc., and in the case of cows tho milk production, both as regards quantity and quality. ■ Another method of improvement has .■been by the'systematic selection of the ifcest herds, , which are officially designated "Breeding Centres." Competitions are held lasting two years. A committee of judges visits each competing. herd five or six times on the farms, and is assisted by young men who .on eyery twentieth day during the two years visit each of tne competing herds, weigh the milk of each cow, test its percentage of: fat, weigh the fodder given to each cow, and draw up the family Tierd book, etc. A detailed report on the herds is published so -that farmers know where to look for' the class of stock they desire. In 1897 the State gave a grant of £4000 yearly to assist these herd-testing competitions. This encouragement had a great effect, ana the attention, of the whole farming community was awakened to the need for securing good bulls. Tho State grant has ; been discontinued, but the State still-pays for the administration of the competitions, which maintain their popularity.

Co-operative Bull Ownership. In New Zealand a Dalefield syndicate :>of five is this year joining in the cooperative purchase of two bulls from 'America. Co-operative bull ownership las" been the custom in Denmark for a quarter of a century., There are now 1300 of these associations of cattle breeders, owning. 1500 bulls. ' The State gives a yearly grant of £8 tor .each bull on condition that it has taken ,a prize, that is examined by a veter- ' -inary surgeon twice a year, that the 'best cows only of tho members of tho association are-selected by a committee to bo served by the bullj and that tho committee at least once a year inspects all the herds in the association as to their health. : Tho prices paid by the association for young bulls vary, but average about £40. Some have paid as much as £170. About 80 cows arc served by one bull, and the annual subscription of members averages about 3s. 6d. per selected cow. The member's subscription is kept down by the State ' grant, and also by the money prizes won at the shows by the bulls. Cow-Testing Methods. In 1895 an important m herd-testing began with the formation of milk control associations. Tho farmers within a limited district jointly appoint a young manias "control assistant." Every iourteen or twenty days ho. visits each member, measures the quantity of one day's milk yielded by each cow, estimates the percentage of fat by the Gerber apparatus, weighs the food given to each cow, and keeps ' account ot all this. Ho also keeps a list showing when the cows were served, when they calved, tho sex of the calves, and what has become of them. From this is drawn up the family herd-book kept on each farm. There are now 479 control unions, comprising 10,925 farm, ers, with 187,345 cows, or mbre than 17 per cent, of tho total number of cows in'the'kingdom. There are over 500" control assistants. The State gives £14 per • union" per annum, but not more thp.n £6670 in a year. Tho subscription of the members is two shillings per cOw per annum. The result of all this may be judged by the average yield of butter from the Danish cows. In 1864 it was about 801b.; in 1887 1161b..; and in 1900 2221b. of butter. Forty thousand cows in the control unions of Funen averaged 2851b., and the average yield of best herds is more than 3301b. of butter per cow. \ \ pahiatua-akitio a. and p. The balance-sheet of the PahiatuaAkitio Agricultural and Pastoral Association shows the sodety.to be in a very sound position financially, ihero is a credit balance in the bank of £(8 14s. 6d., 'and the assets-over liabilities . total 4129 10s. The </lection of officers resulted as follows President, Mr. W. Tosswill; vice-presidents, Messrs. C. Avery, W. Mitchell, and Capt. J. B. Whyte; patron, Mr. T. P. Girdwood; secretary, Mr. W. Wa?sh; : treasurer, Mr. 6. A. Burgess; auditors, Messrs. G. C. Miller' and G. Moore; committee, Messrs. N. Avery, J. P. Beech, J. Bourke, T. Boyd, J. G. Brechin, W. W. Dunning, M." Galvin, P. Halliday, L. Jobansen, J. Manson, J. Mathews, A. M'Farlane, 1 J. M'Carthy, K. J. M'l/ennan, V. J. Pressor, O. Ross, S. V. Rodney, J. W. Sturton, W. D. Taylor, J. B. Westlake, and J. D. Wilson.

Tho Maclcan Co-operative Dairy Company, Ltd., New South Wales, manufactured for tho month of March 54,38G1b. of butter, being au increase over the corresponding month of last year of 11,91711). Suppliers were paid lOd. per lb. llet for superfine, 9Jd. net first-class, and 9d. net second-class. Rain has been' very heavy fot tile last month or two in the district, hut with a w<ek or two of dry weathor tho winter prospects for dairying are very good.

NEWS AND NOTES,

PAHIATUA' CENTRAL.

SOUTHERN SHEARING DISPUTE TROUBLE IN CANTERBURY. The action of the Canterbury Sheepowners' Union ■in applying to have a dispute heard by tho Conciliation Council has rather taken aback tho Shearers' Union (says'the Cliristcburch "Press"). Mr: M. Larac.v, the' secretary of the News Zealand Shearers' and Wool Shed Employees' Association 'of' Workers, states: "After the conference, recently held in Wellington, of representatives of tho different shearers' unions in tho Dominion, an application was made for a conference with the Federated Sheepowners of New Zealand, for the purpose of drawing up an agreement under which both shearers and shed hands and employers could work amicably. That application has been completely ignored, as has been, also, a later, letter. The filing' of this dispute has come, consequently, as a shook. While we havo been waiting for a reply, they have got ahead of us, and we feel that a mean advantage has'been taken of us, as they did not havo the, courtesy to acknowledge, our request for a conference. In our opinion this strategy on the part ; of the Canterbury sheepowners is due to their desire to prevent the ' shed hands having the advantago of tho protection of, the Arbitration Court; hitherto these workers have not been under an award, and they have been getting anything from 15s. to 40s. per. week and found. Although shearers are paid 18s. per 100 under the award, 20s. per 100 is more generally paid throughout, the country; those who are getting the advantago of the' award rate are the big sheepowners who are paying tho award rate and nothing more. One thing I want to make a point of is this: Wo are not thinking of trouble; we do not wish to cause any trouble or strike; we are simply going to make it a 'stay-at-home' affair. Wo think we can live through one shearing without them. I sent tho following cable to-day:—'Editor, 'Worker,' Sydney. . Trouble brewing Maoriland. Advise shearers consult officials/ hero ■ before engaging.' We have no doubt about the assistance of our fellow-work-ers in Australia, or of those in the Dominion." FARMERS' UNION MEETINGS. PALMERSTON NORTH. " A meeting of the .Palmerston North branch of the Farmers' Union was held on Saturday, Mr. J. Balsillie presiding. Arrangements. for the annual dinner were announced as being well in hand. Mr. R. C. Bruce, - the well-known speaker, and Mr. C. J.'Reakes, Chief Veterinarian, notified thoir acceptance of the invitation. The dinner will be held at Dawick's Buffet on Tuesday, May 17.

The following remits for the Provin-. cial Conference, to be held at Marton on May 24 and 26, were passed:—That when permanent Government reserves adjoin private holdings (freehold or leasehold) the Land Department should pay half the cost of- fencing and keeping the fences in repair, and destroying noxious weeds. That when stock is submitted for public sale, the. auctioneer be required to' state the name of the vendor and the name of the purchaser. That when motions' are confirmed by the Dominion Conference they should be forwarded to the members of Parliament favourable to the farming community with a view of having the necessary ' legislation introduced in accordance with the termß of the motions.

The Hon. T. Mackenzie, Minister for Agriculture; has intimateH that he will be delighted to attend the annual dinner of .the Palmerston branch of the Farmers' Union, if he can possibly make his engagements fit in.

At a special meeting of the Pahiatua Central branch of the New Zealand Farmers' Union, held in the office of the secretary (Mr. J. A. Walsh) on Saturday last, it was resolved that the following remits adopted by the meeting be sent to the Provincial Conference, to be held at Marton on May 24:— "That it be a recommendation from this conference, to the Government to at once place upon tho Statuto Book an Act enabling owners of sheep to register a brand for marking bales of wool, such brand to be the property of the person who registers it; and that it be made an jllegal offence for anyone, other than" the person who registers the brand, to use it for the purpose of ..branding bales or • bags of wool." "That breeders of stud pigs be not .allowed to sell pigs for stud purposes unless a certificate from a qualified veterinary surgeon is handed to the buyer to the effect that the pigs are free from disease." "That this conference requests the National Dairy •Association to formulate a scheme of dairy inspection." "That the . conference talce steps to consider'the most effective means of coping witli the noxious weeds question." Mr. T. Quirk will represent tho branch at tho annual Provincial Conference,. to be held at Marton on May 24. Mr. J. C. Cooper and Mr. J- A. Walsh were unanimously re-elected president and - vice-president respectively. CO-OPERATIVE FREE ZING. WORKS. FOE MANAWATU. i — A.'proposal for the erection of a cooperative meat. freezing works in the Manawatu district has been discussed by several prominent farmers. At tho meeting of 1 the ■ Palmerston North branch of the Farmers' Union on Saturday the chairman, Mr. J. Balsillie, referred to the proposal, and said it had been decided to ask tho various branches of the union in the Manawatu and llnngitikei districts to discuss tho proposal, and they would be asked to send delegates to attend a general meeting of tho representatives to be held at Palmerston North on June 1, when the proposals will be fully gone into. 'He moved that, in the opinion of this branch, tho time, had arrived ivhen an effort should be made to establish a Farmers' Co-operative Freezing Company for the West Coast of the Island, and that "the various branches be invited to send delegates to attend a meeting to consider tho proposals. In speaking to tho motion, Mr. Balsillie explained that if tho company was formed it was intended to provide cool storage for dairying products, and also work the bacon industry in connection therewith by curing bacon and exporting. The motion was seconded by Mr. Wingate, and carried.

Home separation is evidently finding 'favour with dairy farmers 'in ,the jFeilding district. . The "Star" states that a proprietary company operating in the district is procuring from America a tank wagon, to bo used for tho collection of cream. The idea is to run the wagon through the locality, weigh and test the cream at each farm, and then tip it into tho tank.

The secretary of the North Island Beo Keepers' Association states that thero are <4,000 hives in the Dominion ,aml not half tho odd 4100 are under inspection.