STOCK RETURNS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1217, 28 August 1911, Page 8

THE IXCIiUA's® IN CATTLE. A summary of the stock returns taken at Hie recent census was published in these columns recently and wo now* take the following diiVeront'ly compiled statistics bearing: particularly on cattle, from the Cliristchureli 'Tress." Other than sheep, no returns of stock had been taken since 1!)(J8 until the present year, so thai the increases t-liown are since 11I0S. There are now 401,281 horses in the Dominion* as compared with ;1G3,2"i!) three years ago, an increase of 41,025. Thern were Til!) asses and mules in 190S, hut this number'has been reduced to 101, the cutting «P of largo stations where mules wero used for packing purposes no doubt largely accounting for the decrease:,. Cattle havo increased during the last three years from 1,770.32(i to 2,020,171, or an adilition to the herds of just on a quarter of a million. Dairy cows account for Ki3,7a?» of the total number of cattle, and heifers to calve for dairying purposes {'his «?asou number 170,313. Tho large increase is fairly evenly distributed, the' only district showing a decrease being Otago, and that, is no doubt due to the exceptionally dry seasons in Xorfli Otago during tho last' few years. Auckland, with 180,386 cows and 59,411 springing heil'ers, heads tho list; next comes 'l'aranaki, with 134,241 and 31,010, ■ and Wellington with 114,7-41 and 31,212. The larger proportion of heifers in tho Wellington district as compared wil'h TaranaM indicates a greater expansion in tho dairy industry in the former district than in the latter. Pigs hnvo increased from 245,092 in 1908 to 318,745 in 1911, but with tho increase of dairying, and the establishment; of an export trade iri frozen pork, there should he a larger number of pigs kept in tho Dominion. The pasteurisation of skim milk and whey to ensure tho health of the pigs is, therefore, a highly important matter. Angora goats have increased in three years from 2494 to 0119, or mora than double. Their value as destroyers of useless scrub and blackberry, as well as producers of mohair, is evidently being better recognised.