BY THE WAYSIDE

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 17, 13 October 1937, Page 13

BY THE WAYSIDE

News of Interest to H.B. Farmers CHAMPI0N RAM SOLD The champion Southdown ram of the 1937 Melbourne Royal Show is to be shipped ehortly for New Zealand. He was sold at the show grpunds by his breeder, Mr C. G, Dane, winner of the Southdown Breeders' Blate at the current show The price paid was 11 guineas. The ram, Mundarra No. 109 of 1935, was sired by Aldenham No. ■ 822, of 1932$ who won the championship at the Melbourne Eoyal Show two years i ago — Mr C. C. Dane's first year as an exhibitor at the Melbourne Royal Show, New Zealand buyers also purchae'ed two Ryeland rams from Mr J. Mclntosh, one of which was a third prize winner : in the current show. Clydesdale Horses. Confidence in the future of the horse was expressed in the report of the Conv monwealth Clydesdale Hotso Society presented to the annual mepting of tho Federal council at the Melbourne show grounds. It is certain, the report stated, that if sufficient attention was paid to breeding animals which possessed size and good conformation, and ' were thoroughly sound, the advantages I of horse usage as the most efficieUt and [ economic, form of power would be so pronounced that it would defy competition, Remarkable progress was made , by the society during the pa«t yearMembership now totals 1820, representing an increase of 361. Tho bank balanoe increased by £1164. i j Valuable Wool Charts. I' Containing valuable information not only to producers, but to the public generally, wool charts have been again ; distributed by the National Council of-Wool-Selling Brokers of Australia-. By means of graphs the council furnishes a great deal of information pertaining to i the wool production of the Commonwealth.. It is shown, by the way, that the amount Tealised from saies through brokers last season was £60,175,497, which is th.e highest aggregate since the 1927-28 season, when the total amount realised was £60,585,815. iVlechaniaed rarming, If all farm work in Now lrork State were done by primitive methods, farmers would have to walk 100,000,000 miles a year, or enough to circlo the earth 4000 times a year, states Pro- , fessor H. W. Riley. of the Department i of Agiiculiural Engineering at Cornell. | If all ploughing were done with two- •' horse walkihg ploughs, one farmer alone ; would have to walk about miles to J plough a single acre, he adda. Tba i plough outs a f urrow a little more than I one foot wide, and' an acre contains • 43,560 square feet. "Is it any wonder," ' lie asks, ' ' that a cordial welcome has been given to the tractor that . will I plough two or three furrows at once J and ride the farmer; to the power 1 cultivator that completes two rows in- | stead of one as it goes along, and to | the power moWer that cuts cight feet ! instead of six, and goes fastcr than j horses, and does not tire in the hot sun? Not all ploughing, however, is done by tractons. Much of the State ;a fifteen or more million miles of single furrows ©ut each year are turned by sweating horses." __ I Bnglish Farming. Are farmera returning from muk production to the fattening of cattle? This . question is raised by the marked increase in. the numbers of heifers aucl cow-heifers being fattened for beef purposes. states a xecent issue of the

Farmer and Stock-breeder (England). Figures compiled by the Cattle Committee show that in every part of the country many more heifers were certified for cattle fund payments during the six months to February than in the corrasponding period a year earlier, Every area without exception showed heavier marketings of heifers. In the East Midlands the number increased by 11,362, and there were -gains of 4986 in the Northern Division, 3002 in the West Midlands, 2839 in the North-East, 2305 in Wales and 2028 in the SouthWest. The total iucrcaso in England and "Wales was 28,212. Numbers of cowheifers showed expansion in seven. of the line divisions, the net increase being 2330, The increased marketings of i'at heifers aud cow-heifers for beef purposos occurred at a timo when milk production was much below the praviou.i year's lovel, and costs of unlk production wero abnoriuully high. The numbors of steers eertified for eubsidy paymeut wero lower iu nearly all areaa compared with a year earlier. With beef cattle fetching better prices, and the payment on "quality" cattle about to be raised to 7/6 per cwt., a number of farmers who changed over from beef to milk production a few years ago are expected to concentrate on beef production again in the near future.