GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1210, 19 August 1911, Page 8

GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

The export .trade in cattle' and sheep from ■Wellington' (luring, the present year does not bulk- yery'large;' As far as slieE-p aro concerned,'only 31' were shipped'for abroad during the first'six months-of tho year, but 'during July anil, up to ..the middle of tile present inonih a further 241 were pent away. Only five head of cattle have been shippsd from Wellington oversea during the year. A; .consignment .of 27 half-draught horses, mostly from Feilding, was shipped for Sydney in tho Jlbaua yesterday by Jlr,'P. B. Watts. ■' "• ' ' : Some farmers in the Dunsandel district' (Canterbury) complain' of losing ewes through turning dizzy, but this no doubt ', is th. , ? remit.of too much dry feed during tho: winter months, and those ■■ farmers who have been Hie heaviest/losers find that changing tlibir.Ghben oil to greon oats or young gra.=s has hnd Iho;."good • result of stopping tlio'- : mortalitjv -■■<■:. . ,:

Artificial'stock feeding has been adopted, m 'many quarters'in Ashbtirtan during tho past few'months, owing 16 the shortage of feed. One' farmer-' has brought several thousand sheep" over the past two months by feeding them on oat-straw chalf. sprinkled with . diluted molasses, which was fed oiit in-feeders. This was siipjilenionted.br an occasional, load of turnips. Other'farmers have., been feeding" their sheep oii.ihaiijioWs, which, when tho sheep once take to'them, they devour voraciously. The'-flocks-ar-a. said to have como through.the winter■ very well, and tho cost has not been so ■ great. It is probable, according to a Southland farmer, that this season oats will ba sown in preference to barley in most cases. This, it is stated, ■is'owing to a great extent to'the action of the brewers in importing barley, and thus lowering to au almost unpayable price the local article. The farmer.-; feel- that they haveno guarantee that they may not again be treated iu a similar manner, so they are evidentl>; deciding 'to t:ike no risks It will be interesting.to see .'what the Marlborough .growers will do in this connection: Tim expression. of opinion given by Mr. Maclciiy, Marlborongh delegate to tho Farmers' Union Conference, ninilc it clear that in and around Blenheim tho feeling against last year's importations was very itrong. ' • • .. An EHham dairyman, who uses a homo separator and sells butter privately in town, according to the local paper, states that his returns from four cows last scnroii totalled .CSS for butter alone. This works out at'.£ll IDs. per cow. The d.iirvmnn referred to staffs that there is nothing special about his cows, which ho describes as ordinarv Durhams. He ulfo states that he is willing to lay his books open for inspection, so that Iho correctness of llio returns quoted may be verified.