BY THE WAYSIDE

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 40, 10 November 1937, Page 13

BY THE WAYSIDE

News of Interest to H.B. Farmers N.Z. DAIRY PRODUCTION Of a total annual production approxiniating 160,000 tona of butter and 100,000 tons of cheese in New Zealand, 16.5 per cent. of the butter and 2.5 to 3 per cent. of the cheese i« required locally, and the trend is for an inereasifig exportable surplus. Practically the whole of his produce goes to the United Kingdom, where the Dominion has gradually assumed a dominaut position as supplier of cheese, and is now also the most important source of supply of butter on a quantity basis. Record-Friced Bull, A Scottish-bred ShQrthorn bull, Cruggleton Captivator, exported to the saies .at Buenos Aires recently, was sold at the remarkable price of 6000 guineas. This tclipses the previous Shorthorn record of 5000 , guineas for a bull bought at the Perth saies sonie years ago for export to the South American Eepublic. The breeder of the bull was A. J. Marshall, a South of Scotland herdmaster. His death has been announced in receut Home papers, but his son is carrying ou the herd. Cow Down a Well. Ufiusual niethoas were used to extricate a cow that fell down a welJ in the vicinity of New Plymouth. The cow fell 10 to 13 feet, and after efforts to rescue her had failed, a breakdown wagon crane proved successful. The cow showed little ill-effect of its adventures and immediately walked about with only a slight limp. Mass Production. On the sheep station of M«k L. T. Daniell, in the Masterton district, three sets of quadruplets have been born. The whole 12 lambs were reported to bo surprisingly big, with no peculiarities. Mr. Daniell has a flock of bobwoen 200 and 250, which was served by live Btud Bomney Marsh yams. The three mothers are a five-year, a sixtooth, and a two-tooth respectively. A feature ia that the six"tooth had a lamb as a hogget in 1934, twins in 1935, and again in 1936, and quadruplets this year. Triplets have been fairly common this year in some paris of the North Island, but the general average on the East Coast is down rather markedly.

Worthwhlle Beform. The draft allowance on wool is to be done away with by legislation which is the only way to eliminate what ias had a just grievance with sheep fariners and pastoralists in New Zealand; also in Australia, comments the Waikato Times. There is no excuse or reason for an imposition dating back for almost, if not quite, a century iu Australia and New Zealand from tho begipning of settlemeut. When prices are good, it means mulcting the producer in anytbing round about 10/- per balo; the bales are not aliowed for which means a variation of from 2/6 to 5/- more. These and other charges for handling and selling require investigation. Wool is one produet which the producer gets straight-out world's competition for, but the incidental charges require adjusting.

Germany's Dairy Imports. What appears to be causing anxiety in Germany is that her imports of dairy products are about the second largest in the world. The great aira is to be self-supporting, and with va cow population of about 10 millions the problem ts to increase the yield rather than the number of cows. Yet that increase has to be produced without. importing feeding stuffs. The dilemma becomes the more awkward when one remembers that the great Westphalian plain through which we travelled to Berlin is not a dairying country. .It comprises many hundreds of square miles of light, almost dusty, soil, cultivated in strips, with very few stock visible after the first belt of territory bordering on Holland is passed. But Germany is going to try to solve the problem. Every producer is registered aud every cow in milk is to bo recordod — ond gathers that only a few thousand are recordod at present.

Cows Honoured. ; Two f amo ua Cauadiau cows were honoured in Western Outario at ceremonies aiteuded by Dr. Herbert Bruce, Lieutenaut-Governor of the province, Mr. Duncan Marshall, Ontario's Minister of Agriculture, and hundreds of breeders and dairymen. Near Woodstock, Ontario, there was unveiled a life-sized metal statue of Springbank Snow Countess, a Canadian "Friesian Which held the title of world champion butter-fat producer. She mothered sons and daughters, most of whom were champions, one having been sold for £1000 to the Government of Japan as a yearling bull. "This is an attempt," said Dr. Bruce, "to express man 's sense of indebtedness to the most useful of all animals." The Countess wrs born in late 1919, started to produce millt in her second year, and when she died in 1936 had prodqced 207,505 lb. of milk and 9062 lb. of butter-fat. Forty miles distant, at Dundas, the same day a living cow, the Aryshire Ardgowan Yalda, imported from Scotland, was crowned with flowers as a year's tost of milk production was completed. In that year thec Aryshire produced 1356 lb. of butter-fat, an alltime record for a cow of any breed, and 31,158 lb. of milk, a new Ayrshirc record, the test bei ug lna'Jc under Dominion Department. of Agriculture efficiiUs. .