IN THE MANAWATU

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 227, 20 June 1921, Page 8

IN THE MANAWATU

IMPROVED FEED PROSPECTS

PROBLEMS FOR DAIRYMEN

(From Our Own Correspondent.) Palmerston North, Jit*ie 17.

Another week of fairly warm weather, with occasional showers, has caused the continued growth of grass, and has still further improved feed prospects for the winter, while it is also bringing on the crops of early-sown oats, which are look' ill" extremely well in most cases. While dairy farmers are congratulating themselves on the improved prospects, those who ploughed up their land for fallowing purposes are complaining of the lack of frosts, which, do so much towards disintegrating the soils on the morn ctavey lands, and some graziorsi would welcome frosts to kill the grubs' which arc now beginning to put in their' devastating work on pastures The stock markets continue to snow an improvement. Both fat cattle and sheep have risen fully a penny per lb., and if prices continue to advance, it is> quite on the cards that the meat auctions. which have been very successful up to now, may have to he discontinued. There can ho no doubt that these sales were the means of bringing down tho retail prices of meat m the autumn.

The Dairying Season. In spite of all complaints the dairying season' which is practically closed, has been anything but a. bad one, as most of the factories have had a good J«HFor instance, the Co-operative Factory, which has 201 supplier®, experienced a record season. The. quantity of butter-fat received was 058,18/Ib., a., against 380,1941 b. from L>o suppliers fdr ?he previous season. The butter manufactured amounted to 300 tons, as against 200 tons for the previous year, Leatin the highest previous output (in l-H-D by the week I was able to have a run round the Colyton, Mokino. tonham Kimbolton, and other districts n tho 'northern end of the Manawa . n. It is evident that feed prospects on tins higher country are not as good us they are in the rest of the of the k.rrv is very prevalent, on rome of tue XerHes ol Hie downs, while many paddocks are covered " r ". no attempt, appears to hcw . ™liy good patch? of early-sown oata. and on the him >l- - road some really T'bein® old Cheltenham dairy factory m bein„ dismantled, the company having acquired the premises ° W ” Thwe the Glaxo Company at Makmo. 1 are being enlarged, and it .is intended to concentrate tho butter -industry at that place. The company, a co-opena-five one. collects the crea "\ “ home-separated, by means of en and is being well supported by a large number of supplier"- j n -?rv The principal talk around the dairy factories, where farmers congregate is of herd-testing, and the necessity of carrying out practical testa i" eider t eliminate unprofitable cows, as with t high prices of land nnd the need Jo* more intensive cultivation, to keep cows in proper condition, it does not. pay to retain any but the most prolific animals, Quite a number of herd-testing societies arc being formed, and the Agrcultural Department has already been approached to institute a. 3M-day commercial test in addition to the present 3G5-day C..0.R- test. While talking with some factory managers on the importance of herd-testing, q„ 0 nf them said: "When you are advocating this necessary improvement, in production, you should not n.cgiect another, very important point in tion with dairying, and that >8 tlio n. - cossity for absolute cleanliness lx>th in the bvres and the milking. He asserted that 'it was a common thing for milk which was quite unfit for human consumption to reach the factories, and m spite of every care taken there,. it ivas often possible for some of this inferior stuff to get through. Ho said that he felt confident, and in this ho was Ixicked up by others, that the use of machines was responsible for ft great deal of the trouble, ns too many of the. users did not take the precaution to scald and sterilise their plants and utensils properly. It is stated on good authority that some of the milk sent doivn to ton from here has not been all that could bo desired. Tho result was that tho citv milk supply officials sent an inspector round the farms of the suppliers with the result, that on account of tho conditions existing at some of them their milk was declined. Growth of Lucerne. The question of lucerne growing is being taken up in a manner which bids fair to lead to some practical results. The matter was discussed at a meeting of the Manawatu A. and P. Association this week, when Mr. H. Akers stated fhat a number of farmers had started to grow this leguminous plant, and had already discovered some of its advantages and' disadvantages, but. it would take time for them to find out tho best treatment for growing the crop successfully. The wet weather has made harvesting of the hay rather difficult this season, and this had somewhat disheartened some "rowers. He suggested that qualified men should be engaged to give lectures on lucerne growing. Other members expressed the opinion that Kairanga land was too wet for tho purpose, the water being too close to the surface. The association decided to take steps .to promote the growing of this fodder plant.