BY THE WAYSIDE

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 5, 29 September 1937, Page 13

BY THE WAYSIDE

News of Interest To H.B. Farmers N.Z. CHEESE EXPORTS Exports of Now Zealand cheese for the season ended July 31 wero 85, 169 tons, eompared with 83,928 torts in 1930-36 and 89,812 tons in 1934-35. The increased output for the past season was 1241 tons, or approximately 1.4 per cent. The incrfease is particularly encouraging in view. of the tendency in recent years for production to decline. Based on the guaranteed price of 6.81d a 1b. the returu to the industry was £5,415,34. Returns from butter, on the guaranteed prfce of 12.56 a lb, totalled £17,470,600. Not a bad season 's caraing fox« the cow. Competition For WooL "There- seems ttr be no doubt that .within the next ten years the thr.eat to wc?,ol from the competition of substitutes will become m'uch stronger," said Dr. H. G. Denham, in the courso of an address td members of the Canterbury branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand. He instanced the Tapid-ly-increasing production, of rayon in recent years. • The Guaranteed Price. "The guaranteed price haS cnabled ns to estimate the value of unsold stocks more accurately, but wc consider that with an open market wo should have realiscjil -as much if not more," said the chhirman of directbrs of tlie Raglan Co?operative Dairy Company, in presentiug the report and fmancial •statement at the annUal meeting of the company. T.B. Dairy Cattlr A protest against some cows inl'ected with tnbefculosis being exempt from slaughter because of the value was made at a meeting of the diseases of animals sub-committee "of the East Essex Agricultural Committee (England) recently. A resolution was passed expressing the view that the estimated value of an animal certified as sulfering from tubercuosis should not be allowed to prevent the ammal's destruction. •

lya.nunitis Controi. Good farm management is the dalry industry 's best weapon in the battle agamst mammitis, accordmg to Dr. G. F. Hucker, professor of bacteriology at Oornell University, Ithaca, New York, who addrassed the Federatioi^ of Taranaki Dairy Companies at Stratford. He was able to tell the ineet\ng of no cure for the scourge. If ho knew the cure of mastitis, as it was callecl in. ,the United States, he would never havo been let out of New York, said Dr Hucker. There were three' kinds of mastitis. The iirst was a septic sore throat type, which was relativcly rare, but once it entered an industry it was a difficult problem. There had just been a sore throat epidemie in England wliich had been traced to cheese. Thero was another type in which the cow became exceedingly ill and ha,d to be destroyed. The third type was common the world over, Eradicatlng Ragwort. An area of sdveral hundred acres at To Miro, in tho Waikato Cbuntry, whichc Was badly infested with ragwort last year, has sho'wn a great improvement this yoar as the res'ult of efforts made to eradicate the weed. The ragwort was cut last year, and later sheep were grazed over it. There is little to be seen of the weed at present, although it is yet early in the season. Steps are being taken by the Waikato County Council, .in co-operation with the settiers, to distribnte further applications of sodium chloride over the areas this spring in a final effort to bring tho weed Completely under controi. Spread of Hydatids. The spread of hydatids and the damage done by stray dogs among sheep at night were attributed by Mr W. Bnehan, at a meeting of the Temuka branck of the New Zealand Farmers' Union, to farmers keeping too many dogs and not being able to care for them. In suggesting a limit to the number of dogs farmers might keep on their holdings, he proposed two dogs for 500 acres and one dog for every 500 acres or part thereafter. The union dceided to forward a remit to the pro* vmcial executive urging more Tigid en forcement of the rogulations.

Sheep-Worrying. Sheep-worrying by dogs is reported to be causing selious losses to farmors on the outskirts of Wellington. Rei'erence to the depredations of the dogs was made at a meeting of the MakarnHutt provincial executive of the New Zealand Farmers' Union, and a resolution was carried protesting to the authorities at the damage done to docks. Ten members of the executive were present, and their collective losses through dogs durilig the last few weeks were stated to exceed 200 sheep. Substltutes in Germany. If Germany could finance wool imports upon an adequate scale probably less would be hekrd about substitutes (says . the Wool Record and Textile World, Bradford), but as things are it is manifest that the limited quantity of wool available is total ly insuiflicient t'or requirements. In some quarters it is thought that nr.Jess any untoward dovclopment occurs Germany will be ablo to lucrease rather than still further eurtail her wool imports. The Bremen correspondent of the Wool Record rep'orts that tho outlook for raw matorial snpplies is more satisfactory than was ttue case a f'ew months ago; but Germany cannot materially increaso her

imports in the near future, and the available supply of wood will still have to be supplemented by artificial fibree, lt appears that in Germany the prejudice against cloths ma.de from admixtureB of wool and artificial fibres is fast disappearing, but it is also significant that fabrics made from mixed iibres find their widest outlet in the women 's wear trade, in which, as in other countrios, durability is not of paramount importance. Dearer Sheep and CattJo Sheep and'cattle are bringing higher prices in the Stratford district to-day than at tho same time last year, and for the time of the year fat ewes are coinmandiug a higher figure than at h ny time during the past 20 years, except for a brief period after the war. The general market tendency is responaible for this to some degree, but the practice of inany dairy farmers of redticihg the number of tlieir hords and ruuning ewes is b&ving a marked effect Fat ewes had sold reeCntly at as high as £2 3/10 a head for a pen. Popular Ffiesians, Some idea/ of tho popularity of Friesiaus in other countries is gained from the fact that during 1935, 24,825 head were registered in the Canadian association's herd book. The total of all other dairy breeds was 5672 less. Membership of the association also reached a higli figure — 4751, as against the combined total of 4073 of ail other dairy brCed3' dsaociations. Saies of Friesians in that year reached 25,217 head. The aVerago production of Friesians in •Canada largely explains this, for, in 365-day periods all tested matures averaged 546 lb. of butter fat, the four-yoar-olds 524 lb., tho three-year-o]ds 478 lb., and the two-year-olds 427 lb. Canada 's governmentnl oxperimental farm, at Ottawa has done much to sat isfl dairy farmers of the Friesian brcod's great capabilities. This farm contains three separate herde, one being Friesian and tho other two of the next most popular breeds. The Friesians have returned a net profit, between calvings, of closo on £30 per head, excluding the value of the calf and the cost of labour, whilst the other two returned averages of £22 and £23, Similar results were obtaincd on the other Canadian experimental farras.

Friesians at Home. The hold that Friesians have gained and held in England 's dairying has been shown agaiu in the nineteonth issue bf the Goivernment 's register of dairy cattle. Actually it was seen in all the oighteen volumea that have been published through the years, for iu all of thom a Friesian has been iirst in milk production. The latest issue shows tnat Friesians won their way to the iirst five positions. All the recordiiigs are for three consecutive. years. The iirst Friesian gave 67,7081b. of milk and tho lowest of tho first five yielded 58,3861b. The fact alone that the yields cover three' consecutive yeark indicates the Friesian characteristic of consistency e.nd this is supported by the top cow being second last year and the second cow being first two years ago, and inorally first laet year, he'r owner merely omitting to apply for the necessary certificate. The third cow was too young for entry last year, indicating early maturity, the fourth was first last year and third two years ago, whilst the fifth cow was fifth in 1934. A Record Mllker. Milked twice daily by machines, a grade Jersey cow, Mildxed, has established a world'e record in New Zealand for association or group herd testing. In 355 days Mildred has produced 1199 lb. bi ttei'-fat Altliough not a pedigree oow sho is practically purebred, and her tiro Rosalind's Squire s a 3hi npion butter-fat bull under thc bull classification system o t the New Zealand Jersey Breeders' Association. Three years ago Mildred created a record for group testing when she produced 9091b. butterfat in 303 days. In the same herd two other Jersey cows are making exceptional performances. Kitty in 290 days has produced 8111b. while Lizzie has made 996 lb. in 306 days, a yield which has not been equalled until Mildred's remarkable achievo--Tbo-brecdmg^ of Lizzie is unknown. She was purchased in a sale yara because she looked likc bein» a heavy producer. N.Z. Meat. A prominent English authority in a recent issue of "The Live Stock Journal," states that "New Zealand has woh. her place in our meat market by ma'iiug better use of British pedigree breeds than we ouselves have done. Tho main fault in our sheep breeding is not that we have too many breeds. It is that we have too much haphazard crossing."