FARMING.

Gisborne Times, Volume VII, Issue 327, 30 January 1902, Page 3

FARMING.

A representative of a Chicago packing firm, now in Sydney, says that he has remarked with surprise certain points in which Sydney is behind his city, one of them being the fact that cattle penned in the leading saleyards get no food, though they get water while in detention. _ It is not so with ns,” he says, “ the animals get as much as they can eat and drink, and it is the same, indeed, with regard to all our stock. Another thing that struck me as a mistake was in regard to the branding of the cattle. The iron seems to be put on anywhere at the nearest point, without any regard being had to the depreciation of the value of the hide, which we take into careful consideration, I can assure you.” Ho was obliged to admit, however, that Australia has got ahead of the United States in getting a first foot m Manila, and that it is doing a mighty good trade indeed. The Canadian Government ExperiI ment Station has made thorough investigations concerning the most economical method of feeding skim milk to pigsFrom their reports are taken the following conclusions: —(1) Skim milk may form the largest part ot the feed of young and growing pigs with advantage and economy, (2) For the fattening swine weighing on

I the average over 1001 b each, live weight, it is economical to give an allowance of ski no milk, not exceeding slb per head per day. (8) In every case the swine fed with part of their ration of skirn milk were lustier, more vigorous, and of a more healthy appearance than swine fed wholly on a ration of grain. (4) It is seldom profitable to feed skim milk or J buttermilk alone to swine. At the leas! 301 b of grain should bo fed with 1001 b ol skim milk or buttermilk. There are now twenty-five co-opera-tive slaughter-houses in JJenmark, which in 1899 killed about 739,000 head of swine, at a value of about 8,000,000 dollars. The largest slaughter-houses killed from 08,000 to 01,000 pigs in 1899, and the smaller from 9000 to 10,000. In 1897 twenty-one slaughter-houses were stated as having been established, and the I number of persons sharing in the profits of these twenty-one establishments was 41,738. These co-operators have bound themselves to send the whole or part of their swine to the slaughter-houses, and guarantee about three dollars a hoad for swine for funds and working capital. These co-operators share equally the

working expenses and the year’s surplus in the same mariner as the dairies. They employ 549 hands, besides managers and office staff. All of tho twenty-five slaughter-houses possess a common organisation and management, and a common office at Copenhagen. A striking example of the variation in the yielding qualities of cows comes from the Kansas Agricultural College. An experiment at the station brought to light

the fact that of two cows consuming practically- identical rations, one gave only 373 gallons of milk and 1571 b of butter fat (percentage of latter 4.21 per cent, fat) and 3831 bof butter fat. Reducing the figures to money, the butter fat from the former cost lOd per lb, and that from the latter 4d per lb. There are hundreds of horses and thousands of cattle in the Hawaiian Islands which never tako a drink of water throughout the whole course of their lives. On ali the islands the upper altitudes of tho mountains are given up to cattle ranges. The cattle run wild from the time they are born until they are sent to the slaughter-house. Except possibly for two or three months in tho rainy season, there are no streams or pools of water in any part where tho cattle roam, but everywhere there grows a recumbent jointed grass, known b,y the native name of maninia. This is both food and drink. Horses and cattle grazing on it neither require water nor drink it when offered. Dealing with the present position of agriculture in England, the Mark Lane Express thus begins a leading article : “If anything were wanting to prove that British agriculture has sally gone to tho dogs, it would certainly bo found in the preliminary statement of the agricultural returns for Great Britain recently issued.

Live stock, from which farmers nowadays must get their chief returns, have decreased, in numbers.” Thou tho article goes on to deplore the gloomy prospects of the agricultural situation all round.