POULTRY INDUSTRY

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2770, 13 May 1916, Page 13

POULTRY INDUSTRY

(By CnANTECLEE.)

N.Z. UTILITY POULTRY CLUB ANNUAL MEETING. The annual meeting of the New Zealand Utility Poultry Cluib was held at Christclnirch on Tuesday last. The election of officers took place, Jlr. J. B. Merrett being elected president. In the courso of the inaugural address he gave after his election, the new president, al'tcr dealing with the work of the club, said: "It is gratifying that wo have this year instituted the single pen testing. This must reveal to -us many lessons in the breeding and selection of layers. In llawkesbury the whole, of the test last year was single'pen tested, revealing the layer of 282 eggs, as well as the slacker that, contributed only 73 eggs in the twelve mouths. The single pen testing has come to stay, and wo should certainly leave no stone unturned until.we are able to greatly increase our accommodation for this system. In the. matter of foods and feeding much remains to be investigated. The dry mash versus wet mash has not yet been put by us to a practical test. In. Australia both systems have been tried out with six birds per yeaT, as follow:—Dry Mash—l9ls, 1G90; 1916, 1638; total, 3337. Wet Jfash-1915, 1633; .1016, 1661; total, 3294. . This does not leave :t very wide margin 'of eggs in favour of either system, but the diffoience of labour and the comparative costs of foods in these systems are worthy of thought and furnish much information. Though wo have devoted much time to feeding, much lomains to bo learned. The possibilities of certain kinds of foods, their cost in relation to egg production are matters ' of keen' interest. The purity of our poultry foods, while outside the scope of the test itself, should engage our attention. A.,great deal of adulterated and cheap grade offal are being foisted on to us, arid we must protect ourselves either through legislation or counter-attractiou. To form a standard for our foods is somewhat difficult, therefore it would be hard to secure an enactment to protect us, but we midit induce enterprising millers to furnish us foods with a guarantee of' purity, give our uuited support and on advance in price for unadulterated foods. The miller could guarantee us, for example, not less than 5 per cent, crude fats, 15 per cent, crude protein, and no more than 10 per cent, crude fibre. If he were to adulterate beyond a specified standard lie would increase the waste in' fibrous matter, and an analysis would detect' him. Wo must -further consider the raising our standard of size both in the. bird itself as well as the egg. We. are passing through an ago when commercial values are based on quality. An egg to hav-) the highest value must have size, and equally important is it with the poultry used for the table. We are still meat-eating creatures, and while general progress is being made in advancing the value of'eggs as a food, compared with meat, consumers still continue to buy as much meat as they can afford. Wo should therefore urge the claims of dressed'poultry. Other moats must go up in price, and if we can present to the public a larger carcass, : well feel and inviting, wo are going to open up a profitable nrenuo for the disposal 'of the bird after lier laying, is done. Our birds can stand an increase of size without in any way diminishing their egg productivity, a'ud we should aim : to . achieve this end. On standard qualities otir club is doing good work. On every hand we see a tendency to include and encourage utility birds on our show benches.' Our yobug -bird shows arean educative factor, and should be encouraged. We must strenuously avoid even in our competition pons the acceptance of'birds that do not approach standard requirements. The mongrel bird lias had its day, and 'in economic production has not-a single claim in its favour. The education , of the young is a work in which our club might further exerciso its eood services. We are not

producing eggs sufficient for our rcquivcwnilo winter eggs are far too high in prico to encourage consumption. Eggs M 1 we a delicious food, and I sbould liko to see lha'.u produced at a prico tlwt every working man could nfirr 1 • lhe importations of foreign eggs are alarming, and we must encourage the ris--1 iig generation lo take an interest in poultryculture. An attractive text book on poultry-raising Tvould provo 1 {■] 10 most popular.subject among lx>ys and girls. Jlio pecuniary gains of poultry keeping would bo to them an incentive, iu addiS n j*° " le fccination bird lifo always nlt orris. On tho imirJcfctin? of eggs nud poultry much improvement is needed, and while through tho multiplicity of duties assigned td us in production, ve ?i S a it"' 3 arn lm aMe to do much to furtlier tins better marketing of our products, we should give all the encouragement wo can by personal attention to what we have to pass on to the consumer, lo the Department of Agriculture we owo our best thanks. The poultry instructors are keenly interested in our work, and look "upon the club as an educative force that ably supports them. They are always ready to assist us in our undertakings, and their association -with us has P, roT ®£ great value to all concerned, ior the purpose of giving a better status to our work, and an official seal to our returns, we oniy hope tho Government will co-operate with us more closely in the conduct of the tests. We are proud to have contributed from our ranks poultrvmon who have proved themselves good soldiers in th 9 present war. , itany of tliem lie on the shores of. Gallipoli, others are in training ready to do their share. We must all feel proud of Sergeant C. E. Eiiwlingji, ft'ho' was at the landing _ and one of the last to leave Gampoli. -His arrival in Now Zealand to take up instruction work will give ng an opportunity to shov him how much we appreciate his services. As a pouJtryman he was an enthusiast of the first order. I make an earnest appeal for you to help mo during this, coming year. It is a time when the Empire loolcs. to us to staucl side by side. Let us be united in our efforts. "Wo cannot look for unanimity in' thought and opinion. Such a stereotyped form as this would 'hinder progress, In an industry so full of experimental work we are Ixjund to meet with conflicting results, but there need be no conflict in the spirit with which we work, and I feel sure you will help mc to make this, the twelfth year, the most advanced and. successful,of our. club's career." N,Z. UTILITY POULTRY CLUB'S NEW I COMPETITIONS. '

Tho official results of ths fourth week of the iNovr Ucalaud Utility Poultry Club's twelfth egg-laying competition &r fowls for tlio week, enaed Tuesday, May S, are as follow.— LIGHT BREEDS. * Total Total for 10 wei'li. date. Verral Bros., B.L 25 97 Brackenfield Farm, B.L. .-. 18 M W. Bnvey, W.L 22 • 38 J. B. Merrctt, W.L. 25 93 11. G. Shearman, W.L. 17 55 Ileretaunga Poultry Co.. WjL. -5 5 H. Ball. W.L 23 70 11. A. Ouvrin, W.L l(j 52 Dalmuir Poultry Yaids, W.L. ... 27 115 Mrs. Ji. Graham, W.L. 26' 33 J. -Wordsworth, W.L. 7 12 11. E. Rose, W.L 16 .43 H. 11. James, W.L : 9 16 C. J. Norton, W.L. 1.... 27 72 Alfred Eaton, W.L. v. 22 .68 M. K. Walkor. W.L. 15 -32 Green Bros. (No. 2), W.L. 17 83 11. Leger, W.L 6 23 .1. Nftnca-nw. ,-W.L 16 72 Calder Bros., yf.L 25 '89 It. Pouusford,' W.lf 18 53 A. W. Adams, W.L 14 51 A. E. Phillips,- W.L IS 85 T. Kennedy, W.L. ■ 5 23 V. ,T. Bill, W.L 25 61 B. P. L. Clayson, W.L 25 77 'I'. E. Conway, W.L 13 22 Horetaunga P. Co. (No, 11, W.L, 15 62 Rangiuru Egg Ranoh, W.L: ...... 22 70 S. Dick, W.L. 9 51 G. Gee, W.L -. ; 21 85 11. C. Yates, W.L ; 22 70 K. P. Amyes, W.L 50 110 A. E. Wilson, W.L 16 77 Mrs. J. Hills, W.L 23 77 A. G. Brailey, W.L 10 47 Green Bros. (No. 1), W.L 21 64 Atkinson Bros., W.L: 16 .43 A. A. Iloare, W.L, 15 20 L. 1\ Wright, W.L. 11 15 To Anali Utility Stud, W.L 13 60 T. M'llwraitli, W.L - - U. A. Lazarus, W.L 25 64 IT. W. Bower, WIL ; 13 £0 If. H. Woodnorth, W.L 19 52 Hokowhitu Poultry Co., W.L. :.. 24 94 Caldcr Bros., W.L 23 53 J.. 31. Jlerrett (No. 1), W.L 15 53 Jack Green, W.L, 23 95 Totals 864 2808 THIItD HEAVY BKEED TEST. Total Total for to week. date. T. Kennedy, W.W. — — Green Bros., W.W .'. 5 21 W. Knight* W.P.R 4 16 A. S. Cooper, K.I.R- 11 47 Miss E. Willis, 8.0 17 63 C. J. Norton, 8.0 — — T. E. Conway, '8.0 23 fjj ■T. Nancarrow, 8.0. 23 83 Kiss J. .Tames, 8.0 '..... 23 101 T. Dowthvaitc, S.W 5 17 A. W. Adams, S.W 0 — — Total* . .....116 413 FIHST SINGLE PEN TEST. Total Total for to week. date. A. S. Cooper, R.I.K. r 24 R-. H. James, W.L 6 21 T. L. Wright, W.L - - 4 Raugiuru Egg Ranch, WX 5 13 Green Bros., W.L 3 '17 Calder Bros., W.L ;... 6 23 V. Davey, W.L. 6 11 J. B. Jforrett, W.L. t 14 A. E. Wilson, W.L 3 17 Mrs. J. Mills, W.L. 6 22 Atkinson Bros., W.L 5 13 B. P. L. Clayson, W.L. -6 ' 2fl J. Wordsworth, W.L : — 2 , Totals 57 201 T OR BUCKS. Tho New 7/ealand Utility Poultry Club's seventh ess-laying t-cst for ducks. 'Returns for tho fourth week are ns follow:— Total Total for to „ „ week. date. W. Knight, I.R. 1 Z Hcretaunga Poultry Co., I.E. .... 41 Oi H. W. Bower. I.R. '. 33 S3 1 Totals 75 lsj