GENERAL NOTES

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2680, 28 January 1916, Page 8

GENERAL NOTES

A sheep-race of novel aiicl ingenious pattern, the conception' of Sir. Duncan Sutherland,;--has r open. successfully installed at'Omai'ama.v One sido of - the race carries vertical 3in. rollers -at short intervals;'-and the other is' adjust- . able, so that the width of the race ..may be altered to'suit circumstances. 'The race narrows gradually,, from the entrance to the exit, where are .the familiar three-way gates, and the advantage ■of the whola. arrangement is that two Ebeep cannot jam at tho wide-end,' Bo- .' cause the sheep on the roller side "always Las the advantage of'the' other. "I'Jio more the slieep on the plain side, pushes the more the rollers help his competitor to keep, ahead,, and eventually to show Lim his ; ail. Sheep't-aimot damage each other m -.the race by crusTiiii;;. The adjustable width porniite of tho . advantages .:r.f the raw being utilised whatever size,of sheep h ijeing handled. —Oarnaru "Maii."v

As showing the disastrous effect of: tho. lack of rain in the Shag Valley district) a Dmvidia resident, -who nas just returned from a holiday- trip to Dunback, states that a. southern farmor recently purchased 22 head of cattle there at a cost of £21. The sun has burnt out tho grass ..practically all over 'theShag.'.ViUeyj.'aiid.inconsequence of the lack'of-grass the-small farmers are" be-' ing forced to kill off their cattle and breeding pigs. Grass seed that was put down last"'season' has,'' iif: the absence of moisture, failed to come away, tho paddocks being as bare as the day they vera sown. ' v . .V,

The contractors: for tliß erection of the new freezing works at Aorangi, near Feildirig,-for the Oroua, Farmers' Freezing Company, are making rapid progress with the work. Tho whole of the walls are. completed, the smoke stack erected, and the men are now busy. putting the finishing touches to the'roof. When in full swing it is expected that the works will employ fully two. hundred hands. —"Daily Times."

Mr. W. J. Young, in his shed at' Monnfc Stewart (reports the "Rangitikei Advocate"),. shore a hogget and a five-year-old Tam for Mr. Gray, of Mount Stewart-Sandon ' Road, whoso clips were remarkably heavy. Tho hog-, get-. had 14 to 15 months' growth, and gavo 271b. of wool with a staple over 15' inches long, and the ram, wlioss teeth are worn level with the gums, gave a weight of 261b. after twelve months' growth. Seven' lambs"gave each 61b. after three months' growth. The animals were . crossbreds.; ; Mr. Young .vouches for the -truth of ; the,-above-figures. - - Threshing a field of, Garton oats on Mr. A. M'Laughlin's' farm at Taumutu (says the Christchurch "Press"), Mr.\ M. Moorhead's machine put through 1816 bushsis in about noure.